Book Review: “Storyworthy” by Matthew Dicks
For a while now I had the book “Storyworthy” by Matthew Dicks on my “want-to-read”-list. I finally did read the book that is about creating and telling stories. I was interested in terms of my professional career as I often give talks and want to make them… well storyworthy. In the end, I realized though, that this is not the right book for this purpose.
What the book is about
So the author is a professional storyteller that shares his wisdoms on how to tell a story in a captivating way. It is divided into three parts: Finding your story, Crafting your story and Telling your story. The book is full of his own stories that the author uses to illustrate different points of storytelling. In the beginning, he gives some tips on how to find stories that can be told and how to make them (and keep them) compelling.
What the author conveys pretty well is how storytelling can be an entertaining tool. In well over 300 pages Matthew Dicks explains his art, that he obviously managed to master as he reminds the reader constantly. According to him, everybody can tell compelling stories, you just need to know how.
What I expected
I personally thought that this book might help to improve my own presentations. It was at least advertised as such. I remember that I recently gave a presentation where I not only presented facts, but also told a personal story on how I collected the data I was presenting (it was more entertaining than it now sounds). The response was pretty good with students telling me it was one of the best presentations they heard that day.
I also thought the book might help me become a better blogger, as this is obviosly something I am doing for a while now and will continue doing for some time as well. Maybe I can use his techniques for crafting better blog posts or making them more compelling.
What I got
The book did not met both expectations. The book is for storytellers only that want to craft their own stories to tell. It barely scratches – in one or two paragraphs – how to use this skill in other situations. I feel that when I am writing a book about my own life, “Storyworthy” can be very helpful. I can use his techniques to tell stories about myself in a compelling way. But I also have to say that it will not help me in giving better presentations or writing better blog posts as these formats are different from what he is teaching.
Still, this might be a good book when you are interested in telling stories (that are actually stories). Also, the stories he provides are quite good and well written.
Matthew Dicks is an author, storyteller, and teacher, and has also his own blog.
