The Power of Personal Storytelling [Paperback]

Jack Maguire (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 1998

You're stuck in an endless, dull conversation. As the speaker drones on, your mind wanders, until you hear the words, "I remember once when I was.." Your ears perk up. You become engrossed. An anecdote unfolds, and suddenly, the speaker is alive and excited and you know just what he means. He has used the age-old technique of storytelling to powerfully get his point across, capturing your attention through a well-told narrative of personal experience that invited you to relate to his message on an intimate level. In The Power of Personal Storytelling, professional storyteller Jack Maguire explains how to mine your memories to communicate more effectively, enhance personal and professional relationships, and understand yourself better so that you can better understand others. Step by step, he illustrates how shaping and expressing true stories about our lives and those of the people we've known can: * connect us more vitally with others; * develop our creativity; * strengthen our humor, courage, and confidence; and * render our lives more memorable. Whether you're a teacher or a salesman, a minister or a parent, personal storytelling can help improve the key relationships in your life while investing your memories with more meaning.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher; 1 edition (October 12, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874779308
• ISBN-13: 978-0874779301
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #463,047 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best book for learning to tell stories., April 30, 2004

By 

D. Solberg (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Power of Personal Storytelling (Paperback)

Mr. Maquire is obviously a gifted oral storyteller; however, writing is clearly not his best medium. Maquire believes that storytelling is a wonderful thing, and he spends most of his time telling you why it's important instead of explaining how to tell stories.

Be prepared to read, over and over and over again, to the benefits of storytelling ad nauseum. As you read the following excerpt, pay attention to how little direction he gives, and how much soft talk he employs.

"... Our stories are precious to us. They become even more spirtiually potent when we take special care of them and craft them into more conscious and complete -- or, if you will, wholistic-- form. Simply embodying these products of our own genius, without communicating them directly to others, give us greater personal integrity and power. We can draw on them privately for solace, centering, grounding, and decisionmaking. If and when we do tell them to others, we transmit to our listeners a refreshing form of living energy that is undeliverable, and unobtainable, in any other fashion."

Wow, what a mouthful, but all is not lost. As I stated before, Maguire is a gifted storyteller, and the best parts of the book contain snippets of his stories. Reading those stories will wake you after that drowsy feeling from reading his repetitive prose. And if you're patient enough to wade through such garrulous writing, you will find some valuable insight into the art of storytelling.

So I'm divided on this book. I'm surprised that someone who can tell such a good story can do such an average job of explaining his craft.

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-written, useful, and fun, September 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Power of Personal Storytelling (Paperback)

Something gave me an itch to make a hobby out of personal storytelling. I didn't know where to begin, but I found this book at Amazon.com (wasn't available in the bookstores). The title looked catchy, so I decided to give it a shot. I was richly rewarded!

The day may come when Storytelling re-emerges as a national pasttime. If it does, this book may very well be the handbook of such a revlotion.

The exercises are fun and enlightening. I've found my childhood memories to be more full of color and vitality after following Maguire's suggestions. The story prompts in the Appendix are just a ton of fun, too, if you want to get some freinds together and have a good time.

Well done, Jack!

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for storytellers at all levels., February 21, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Power of Personal Storytelling (Paperback)

Jack Maguire has a well organized approach to storytelling that provides resources for an individual wishing to tell his or her own story, for storytellers who want to develop some personal stories in their repetoire, and for those working in therapeutic settings. His selection of quotations about story are set clearly in wide margins and are unusually diverse and concrete. The book is chock full of ideas for finding your own story and for ways of helping others do the same. He interwines his personal experiences in ahelpful way to encourage the storyteller at anylevel.