Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling

In my 34 years of life, I can count the number of books I have read on both my hands (audio books excluded). Whenever I start a book, life inevitably gets in the way and i just stop reading. As I get older, the amount of quiet time I have to myself continues to dwindle; its down to about one hour at the end of the night when the kids are asleep. In order for a book to catch my attention and successfully garner a portion of my precious hour, it has to be good. I am pleased to say that this book consumed all of my free time until I finished it a few weeks ago. Succinctly, it is a wonderful book. If you listen to Matthew's podcast "Speakup", and read this book, you become quickly aware that Matthew Dicks is the Ken Jennings of the story telling world. He may or may not have won the most Moth Story Slams, but in my opinion, he is the best. He seems to have figured out the recipe for telling a really good story. If that is something that interests you, you MUST buy this book. Not only does he explain how to tell a good story, in this book you get to read a few good ones too. The title of this book is not just for show. You CAN change your life through the power of storytelling. I am proof. One of his techniques for generating stories is called "Homework for Life" and it truly life-changing. I will not go too deep into that one because it will mean different things to different people. Just know that you will not be disappointed and will want to share this with everyone you know. A perfect companion to this book is Matt's podcast "Speakup". I highly recommend you go back to episode one and binge-listen. If a master class in story telling is what you seek, get this book and listen to the podcast. Another neat thing about the author is that he is accessible for questions. I have emailed him a few times and he always responds, adding to the already long lists of why Matthew is one of my favorite authors/storytellers/podcasters. Long story short, buy this book. Best quantity to buy is by the dozen, don't just buy one because you will want to gift it to your friends. Cheers, Taylor From Texas.

I give this book 5 stars because I will think about what I learned from it for years to come, whether I attempt to use storytelling for my job or for informal conversations with friends, family, or strangers. WHAT I DISLIKED ABOUT THE BOOK: 1) The author reuses the same examples over and over again, although I get why he would reference the same story more than once. It's just after the 3rd or 4th reference, I didn't need to hear that story example again. 2) Much of what he suggests comes from The Moth's very niche or use of storytelling, which I assume the vast majority of readers are not preparing for, including myself. 3) The stories he repeatedly encourages readers to watch on his YouTube channel are no longer there or are difficult to find on his new YouTube channel. WHAT I [REALLY] LIKED ABOUT THE BOOK: 1) I am much, much better at approaching the use of stories than I was before I read this book (duh!). I think about the stories I want to tell all the time now, and think about different ways of telling those stories. It's a very creative thought process while driving, walking across campus, etc. 2) Regarding point #2 in the section above, even though I will likely never tell a story that needs to adhere to the restrictive guidelines of The Moth, I can take many of those principles and craft them into the types of stories I will actually tell. 3) There is some really insightful nuance in the approaches he takes to storytelling that is super interesting, such as why you would make an early, seemingly mundane reference that appears in a surprising way later in the story.

I read this book as research for a work I'm composing on drama, and I was hoping to get back to the very, very basics of storytelling as an artform. An artform which has existed for countless millennia. And in that regard, this book was great. It very clearly broke down what the author felt was effective in composing and telling stories, using the experiences they had in front of real live audiences, seeing what worked and what didn't work. And I think if you're hoping to tell stories like you'd hear on The Moth, this book should give you a masterclass in how to do it. The one caveat I'd give is that it is appealing to a very specific niche, both of storytelling and in terms of audience. I do think the book has a lot of general truths about best-practices in story telling, but it is nonetheless very focused on that NPR hipster type of story telling, the slice of life tale from a Gen Xer or Millennial, trying to make some mildly interesting experience reveal its final emotionally profundity. As the author relates in one story telling group, the administrators of The Moth tell a person, "that's an excellent romp, but it's not a story," as in their hipster vernacular, a story is specifically the kind of story told at The Moth, to the kind of audience that shows up to The Moth. And everything else... isn't. Because of that, realize it's not going to teach you a variety of storytelling styles, or how to tell stories for a wide or general audience, it is hyper-focused on one specific form of story to one specific personality type of audience.

There are very simple concepts in this book that will help you be a better storyteller. For me, the 15 seconds concept was helpful. I used it right away and had a positive response. Worth the read and it’s entertaining.

I immediately bought this book after hearing about it on the "My First Million" podcast by Sam Parr and Shaan Puri. Shaan was being interviewed about storytelling, and he mentioned "Storyworthy." And boy am I glad I bought it. Though I might never get up on a Moth StorySLAM stage, I will probably tell stories during conference speeches, webinars, podcast interviews, at family dinners or to my wife and kids. The life-changing part of the book was Matthew Dicks' "Homework for Life" exercise. He recommends using a simple spreadsheet, with a date and the entry for little story-worthy moments in your day, and filling it out for five minutes each evening before going to bed. This exercise is transformational. You will start to see anecdotes and stories in your daily life. The little things that happen that mostly go forgotten, like dust blown by a morning breeze, are now grist for your own personal storytelling mill. Get this book if you want to become the most interesting man (or woman) in the world through storytelling!

I didn't buy this book because I want to stand on a stage and tell stories about my life. I got it to help me create a graphic novel memoir and I wanted some technique on how to take memories from my childhood and to craft them into something that has structure and meaning. I certainly got that, along with a very entertaining book that is full of great tips, fabulous stories, and homework that I've been doing regularly. I read this book with a highlighter in one hand, and a notebook in the other. And all the while I flipped through the pages absorbing his lessons, ideas came to me. I wrote them all down. I located the themes in my own stories. I worked out key points. And I even cut bits. All while reading Storyworthy. It has jumpstarted my own project. Thanks for that, Matt. Matt says at the end of the book that he aims to be entertaining, and he certainly is that. It's a fun read that I would happily recommend to anyone, because we all tell stories, and it's nice to have a little help along the way.

Matthew Dicks helps one understand the power that a sense of trust can bring to communications between people. From his presentation style to his juxtaposition of one feeling to another with deft skill, his stories hold your attention. Should holding someone’s attention in your life have meaning to you, read his book.

I love it. Really. So much.