John the only problem I have with the old books is when they discuss the release. I have read most of the books on your list and many of them talk about lifting and turning the ball, or the hand shake release. The handshake release got my Mother and Father to throw a full roller and me stuck with 90 degrees of axis rotation my whole bowling life. Lifting is detrimental to modern bowling as it causes the ball to bounce into the lane and reduce rotation and hook or bounce back up on top of the oil instead of sitting down into the oil. When the ball bounces up on top of the oil it will hydroplane and skid past the break point and having lost some of the axis rotation on impact, the ball doesn't have the energy to make it back to the pocket, or it comes in behind the head pin. For those reasons I would recommend the more modern books.

Tom Kouros Par Bowling the Challenge even mentions this even though it is an older book I highly recommend this one.

Not to worry, Coach. While I do refer to the older books on occasion it is just to note various positions in the stance etc as a couple of these older books have a good number of photos. Most of my reading pertaining to more modern techniques is based upon articles appearing in Bowling This Month as I am a subscriber and have been since 1997.

I Love BTM too, I have been a subscriber since 94, Bob Summerville always had the best articles rip Bob we miss you.

I refer to the older books myself, but some of them have old school mind sets that don't work any more and are hard to unlearn.

I just purchase several books on ebay and what a difference it has had in my game. I averaged 183 for that last 5 weeks in my summer league and the highest I have ever finished with was a 156. The books I have read this following summer where:
1) From Gutter balls to stikes
2) bowling strikes
3) bowling 200+
4) bowling 300
5) The Pro Approach.

I'm not sure who the authers are as I passed them to a bowling friend as I finished each one and told him to pass to another freind. The best advice I got from these are unmuscled swing, stay low, and keep hand behind the ball on release. Also keep a cool head as the only shot you can control is the next shot. They are all older books 80's early 90's but found them all a very good read.

Hey everyone, in your own opinion do you think that coaching is better than reading books or vice versa? Possibly both used together?

I would say it depends on the coach and it depends on the book.

I got to a 208 average on my own without coaching, getting by on books and BTM for many years, the problem is that what you are actually doing and what the books tell you to do are usually two different things. Another set of eyes that know what to look for is the best way to go, but if your only other set of eyes don't know what they are looking at then buy a video cameras and see for yourself.

Completely agree with "from Gutterballs to Strikes" (correcting 101 comon bowling errors)by Mike Burbin and Dan Herbst? One of the best books for beginners and others for getting a quick, simple understanding of errors we make bowling. Great book.

Oh and also "Bowling Steps to Success" by Dan Wiedman.

my wife is wanting to get better but i cant really help her. is there really that big of a diference between men and women bowling and what would be a good way to help her out?

I agree with CoachJim, Although books will help you out a whole lot, just because you read the book and think you are doing/using the tips it gave you doesn't mean you are or that you are using them correctly. A coach can watch you and tell you if you are doing it correctly but a book can't.

JJ, there can be a big difference between how men and women bowl but that doesn't mean there always is. The natural curvature of a woman's arm is more conducive to a back up ball, which is a when a ball hooks the opposite way of how it should be. For instance a right hand bowler the ball hooks left to right when it starts to hook, like a left hander. If you catch it early it is pretty easy to correct. Also most men's games are based on power while women are more about grace and accuracy. I would look into a good coach for both of you.