Customer Reviews

The Art of Storytelling: Easy Steps to Presenting an Unforgettable Story

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The preceding two reviews are each from opposite camps, and are both equally useless. One says the book is completely bad because of its religious bias, which I don't think is fair or accurate. The other review says that the first reviewer is wrong good without any discussion of why. This book is not useless, even to those outside it's target audience; neither is it particularly good even for that audience, and I dispute the implied claim that being written from a Christian perspective makes it inherently better than a similar secular book.

What this book suffers from is not bad writing; it's a bad title and description. This is NOT a secular book. While it's an exaggeration to say that God or Jesus are mentioned in every line, this is quite clearly written by a Christian, for other Christians, and the entire work is steeped in biblical references.

However, that doesn't make it a "piece of crap." What it does make it is a poorly-titled and (at least here on Amazon) -marketed book. This work should state its bias, if not in the title, then at least in the subtitle. It is NOT a general guide on storytelling, which is what both its title and ad blurb appear to indicate. It contains enough Christian references to distract even most Christians I know, never mind someone not from that religious tradition. And that is exactly what Christianity is; a religious tradition. It is NOT the one and only source of grace or divinity.

So, that statement ought to help you determine whether you can get any use from this book. If you read that and said, "blasphemy," or regarded the statement as a one-way ticket south for my soul, this is probably right up your alley. If you said, "hmmm. he may have a point," be wary of this book. And if you said, "right on," or any permutation thereof, steer clear.

That said, it's not badly written, although there's nothing here you won't find in a half-dozen other books on storytelling. In fact, unless non-biblical stories are patently offensive to you, I would say many of the others would probably serve you better (Ramon Ross' "Storyteller" is particularly good, as is Jack Maguire's "Creative Storytelling"). They contain more in the way of actual advice.

Basically, what this book has going for it is precisely what the marketing of it seems to have ignored; it's storytelling advice told from a Christian (and, while I don't know the author's background, I would guess somewhere far right at that; you know, the kind of folks who use the word "grace" regularly, and they're serious) perspective.

If that sounds like your cup of tea, you'll probably enjoy this book.

I first learned of this book at a Sunday School convention. I was walking through the hallways looking for a class to attend during the workshop session. As I passed John Walsh's class I found it to be the only classroom in the building packed to standing room only. I had to find out what the attraction was in this class, so I came early to the next session to get a seat. Well- I found out why his class was packed. The material in this book covers just about everything John taught in the classes I attended. It will help you learn to tell a story without memorizing it. It is a great way to review the class material and will benefit anyone who wants to improve their storytelling skills.

This book contains good and practical advice which can be applied by any open-minded person who desires to tell a better story. The book is written from a Christian perspective, and that is not revealed in the title or description, but unless you are bigoted toward religion and can't stand the thought of reading a book by a Christian author, this book should help you out a lot with your oral presentation skills.

I had to read this book for class, and it is an excellent tool for storytelling. I can, and have, used this book in teaching a class on storytelling.

To say that I was disappointed with this book would be a SuperSize understatement. I thought I was buying a book that offered insight into crafting a story start to finish but instead got a God sized sermon masquerading as something useful. I feel duped and ripped off. The marketing team should be ashamed of itself. If I wanted a sermon then I'd go to church. Look somewhere else if you're trying to find objective information regarding storytelling. The only thing I'll be using this book for is to prop up the short leg on my wobbly, kitchen table.

Yeah, I got suckered in too. Nowhere on the cover does it hint that the book focuses on preaching and spreading the gospel more effectively, which although is not the only benefit of the lesson (as the author is quick to point out) it is clearly the main direction. I haven't finished reading it yet, I just wanted to voice my unexpected surprise at the overtone. I think that ultimately it will provide good points in communication effectiveness, I'm already seeing the same tips mentioned by Dale Carnegie and other interpersonal skill educators.

This was an excellent, practical book that really did help me learn to communicate better with my class of young children. My husband, a pastor, also improved his sermons! We hope to use this book to teach a workshop on storytelling skills.

I bought this book to learn to improve my storytelling skills but all I got was a book about jesus and god where I can't relate to at all.
Every sentence of this book is about God and priests.
Now I can see how storytelling could be a good thing for priests to learn, but in that case the book should still be objective and maybe at the end have a special chapter how this can be used for priest, but instead this is a book only for priests and fanatics which you can maybe translate into other uses.

So sure, if you are not a priest you may still be able to use this if you put extra much effort to think how this can be used in other ways than just telling the bible, but I would rather recommend you to get a real book written by someone how takes his time to think about the answer of the stuff he writes about instead of just saying it's gods will.

Did not read this book yet, but went to a conference in Arlington Heights, IL and sat in on his classes where he taught us in person how to present an unforgettable story. If the book is anything at all like I saw in person, then the book is a MUST have because this man knows how to tell a story and teach others to do it as well! John Walsh is about as down to earth and simple to understand as anyone I've learned from in ministry. Thanks for your 'Kingdom' work John!

Dennis Swanson
Memorize The Bible Ministries
www.memorizethebible.com

What the description does not tell the reader is that the author is a huge Bible buff. He uses quotes from the bible and even asks the reader to read the bible to do different activities in the book. This is not acceptable. It is not appropriate for a book to use this many references without informing the reader of the potential offensive material. A warning of this is all I ask. I'm not exaggerating, you can turn to virtually any page in this book and you will find a biblical reference or advertisement for Christianity. I felt like this book was trying to convert me, not teach me how to tell good stories.