We have had a pool for 8 years and have always maintained it ourselves. We use a Polaris pool cleaner to clean the pool and we drop some chlorine in the pool once a week. Occasionally, other chemicals are needed but you can tell by sticking a paper stick in the water to let you know. If the pool looks cloudy or if algae takes root, we take a sample to the pool store and they give us a printout of exactly what to do. This latter step only really happens if we let the maintenance go for a while, but it does happen from time to time because we sometimes forget about the pool. It is not hard at all to do this yourself. You don't need a book. Just buy a bottle of testing strips and the chemicals you need and get started.
If you are paying $220 per month, this seems like an ideal expense to cut out. It is very easy to do this yourself. As a caveat, we do not have a bunch of trees around our pool, so it might not get as dirty (and as quickly) as yours. Good luck!