I loved Carmine Gallo’s book Talk like TED, in which he analyzed what made the most successful TED speakers so great. One key element he discovered was that they were great storytellers. The Storyteller’s Secret is the follow up book, which delves deeper into why stories work and how you can use them to great success.
The Storyteller’s Secret
After the first couple of chapters, I loved the book and was inspired all over again about how awesome stories are. This was after all the key point of my own book, Storify. But after a while, the 37 chapters, no matter how short at times and how ‘entertaining’ with their stories, felt repetitive to me.
Some of that was no doubt caused by the author rehashing some of the success stories of his first book and choosing otherwise well known examples of great storytellers, like Steve Jobs and Howards Schultz. But it was also because the author used many, many stories to make his point. No matter how great stories are and how well they work, it turns out there’s such a thing as too much of a good thing.
For newbies into public speaking and presentations and those who haven’t read Talk like TED, this book no doubt contains many eye openers and inspiration. It has a truckload of examples of how stories can be used in for instance a sales pitch, to wow customers or employees, or to inspire and educate others.
For everyone else, The Storyteller’s Secret is a powerful reminder that stories work wonders, even if the evidence in this book is a little anecdotal at times. I’ve read books that better explain why stories work from a scientific point of view, but I’ve not encountered one that was so chock full of examples.
(I received an advanced reading copy of this book in return for an honest review)
Simon L Smith says
This book is new to me, thanks for the heads up.
Question – *if* you’ve read Made to Stick, how would you say they compare? The ideas seem similar.
Thanks!
Simon
Rachel Blom says
You’re welcome Simon! I have indeed read made to Stick, one of my favorite books ever by the way. I’d say made to Stick offers the big picture of making your messages memorable and ‘sticky’ and The Storyteller’s Secret zooms in on one aspect the Heath brother recommend which is using stories. Because of the many, many examples in this book, it makes using stories way more practical and concrete than Made to Stick did, because it only devoted one chapter to that topic. I hope that helps!
Dalka says
I am only up to Chapter 7. I may have reached the point where I am looking for different way to form a story “around a nighttime campfire”. It is a direct book – with a lot of you can do it – moxy. I hope to finish all the book. I am listening to a NLS copy .
Rachel Blom says
Let me know what you think when you’ve finished the book!