The Power of Personal Storytelling (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Call her Harriet: in the early 1980s, the harridan of my daylight hours and an all too frequently recurring harpy in my nightmares..." (more)
Key Phrases: inner storyteller, personal storyteller, feeling backward, Uncle Bill, Johnny Appleseed, New York (more...)

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Tarcher; 1 edition (October 12, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874779308
• ISBN-13: 978-0874779301
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #167,316 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 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 (REAL NAME)

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.

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

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

By A Customer

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!

31 of 33 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

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.