Khrushchev's Shoe and Other Ways to Captivate an Audience of 1 to 1,000 [Hardcover]

Roy Underhill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 5, 2000

People don't want to see how clever you are-they want to discover how clever they are. This is one of Roy Underhill's guiding principles in Khrushchev's Shoe.An audience-centered approach to making inventive presentations, this unique book offers lessons from some of today's most diverse personalities such as Garrison Keillor, Larry King, Katie Couric, and historical figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Francis Bacon. A field guide for anyone who will benefit from more effective dialog, Khrushchev's Shoe is ideal for educators, trainers, advocates, and presenters-or any person who simply wants to do a better job with an audience of even one. Its strategies go beyond bland presentation techniques to reveal the underlying principles that make interaction both more meaningful and more enjoyable.For casual conversations or formal business interaction, this essential resource contains tools that can be implemented immediately.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Roy Underhill has been host of the popular PBS series The Woodright's Shop for twenty years. He is the author of five books and numerous magazine articles on traditional craftsmanship. In addition, Underhill works as a communications consultant and conducts workshops and seminars throughout the country.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 229 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (December 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738203920
• ISBN-13: 978-0738203928
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #444,520 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Need to be engaging?, December 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Khrushchev's Shoe and Other Ways to Captivate an Audience of 1 to 1,000 (Hardcover)

Roy Underhill's "Krushchev's Shoe" is simply an excellent guide to becoming an engaging speaker, presenter, even writer. Through delightful personal anecdotes and voyages ranging from the nature of the creative process to voice spectograms illustrating the difference between a good speaker and a weak one, Underhill provides the reader with a brilliantly written, wise, and funny book about the nature of public presentation. The book is amply illustrated with woodcuts and sketches driving his points home. As a teacher I cannot stress how useful this book is. I have recommended it to a program designed to teach teachers how to teach (better). Many books of this nature are deadly to read--this one is great. His chapter called "The Morning After" alone is worth the price of the book.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Woodwright Speaks - And Audiences Listen, December 12, 2000

By 

"[e-mail]" (Dearborn, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Khrushchev's Shoe and Other Ways to Captivate an Audience of 1 to 1,000 (Hardcover)

Think of selling this show to network, even PBS, executives. One walks into the office and says, "I have a great idea for a TV how-to show where a guy goes out and cuts down a tree, then he teaches you to use traditional hand tools and make it into a replica of the chair in which Jefferson sat while he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Once you watch it, you can go out and do it yourself! Whaddya think?" One would have to expect as ungraceful an exit from the producer's office as the construction worker who found the singing frog in the classic Warner Bros. cartoon.

Well, that is exactly the show, The Woodwright's Shop, that Roy Underhill has been able to keep on television for more than 20 years. Of course, if most hobbyist woodworkers are going to watch a "how-to" show and make something presented by the host, they are more likely to follow Norm Abrams' measured drawings and run to Home Depot for the lastest tool to really make the sawdust fly. But, audiences watch Underhill's show not only for the extreme mastery he shows of his craft, but also his mastery of captivating an audience with a great storytelling approach.

This is the essence of Krushchev's Shoe. Roy Underhill takes what he has learned in demonstrating a craft totally foreign to modern audiences, both on his television show and at Colonial Williamsburg, and shares it with his readers so that we may become better communicators.

This book is helpful to anyone who dreads standing before a crowd and opening one's mouth. It is particularly helpful though to those of us who train others to be effective communicators. Museum professionals, theme park managers, teachers, etc, may all find some use in the suggestions Underhill makes in Krushchev's Shoe.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Khrushchev's Shoe by Roy Underhill, November 19, 2010

By 

Michael W. OBrien "Pathdoc60" (Valley Head, Alabama) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Khrushchev's Shoe: And Other Ways to Captivate an Audience of 1 to 1,000 (Paperback)

Very interesting change of pace book for Roy Underhill. No woodworking, but still packed with wit, wisdom and his entertaining style of writing which always captures the reader's attention.