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How to Tell a Story
The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth
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About this listen
2022 Porchlight Business Book Awards - Big Ideas and New Perspectives, Long-listed
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The definitive guide to telling an unforgettable story in any setting, drawing on twenty-five years of experience from the storytelling experts at The Moth
“From toasts to eulogies, from job interviews to social events, this book will help you with ideas, structure, delivery and more.”—CNN
LONGLISTED FOR THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD
Over the past twenty-five years, the directors of The Moth have worked with people from all walks of life—including astronauts, hairdressers, rock stars, a retired pickpocket, high school students, and Nobel Prize winners—to develop true personal stories that have moved and delighted live audiences and listeners of The Moth’s Peabody Award–winning radio hour and podcast. A leader in the modern storytelling movement, The Moth inspires thousands of people around the globe to share their stories each year.
Now, with How to Tell a Story, The Moth will help you learn how to uncover and craft your own unique stories, like Moth storytellers Mike Birbiglia, Rosanne Cash, Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Gilbert, Padma Lakshmi, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Tig Notaro, Boots Riley, Betty Reid Soskin, John Turturro, and more.
Whether your goal is to make it to the Moth stage, deliver the perfect wedding toast, wow clients at a business dinner, give a moving eulogy, ace a job interview, be a hit at parties, change the world, or simply connect more deeply to those around you, stories are essential.
Sharing secrets of The Moth’s time-honed process and using examples from beloved storytellers, a team of Moth directors will show you how to:
• mine your memories for your best stories
• explore structures that will boost the impact of your story
• deliver your stories with confidence
• tailor your stories for any occasion
Filled with empowering, easy-to-follow tips for crafting stories that forge lasting bonds with friends, family, and colleagues alike, this book will help you connect authentically with the world around you and unleash the power of story in your life.
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What the critics say
“Fans of nonprofit storytelling organization The Moth, which, since 1997, has presented 50,000-plus stories, won a Peabody Award for its The Moth Radio Hour and boasts a popular eponymous podcast, will be drawn to this guide to, yep, telling stories. From toasts to eulogies, from job interviews to social events, this book will help you with ideas, structure, delivery and more.”—CNN
“True to its title, How to Tell a Story is a wonderfully practical and thoughtful guide to turning your own experiences and epiphanies into engaging tales. The book is very Moth-centric—‘Moth stories are true and told out loud, in the first person’—but there’s also advice about telling stories during job interviews, business presentations and toasts. Everything here could be easily adapted by classroom teachers or (one can hope) by relatives you see once a year at Thanksgiving.”—The Washington Post
“Inspiring . . . This book . . . provides everything readers need to share their own personal narratives.”—Booklist
What listeners say about How to Tell a Story
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Yousef K
- 2023-01-29
Should be named 'How to Tell YOUR Story'
I went into this hoping to learn how to tell better stories at work, with my work being the subject. This book instead focuses on how to tell stories about your life, something that happened to you, and how it changed you. Not what I was hoping to get out of it and wish it was better titled.
I also felt that there was a lot of The Moth advertising in it. It contains many many many snippets of stories from their events, that are very entertaining, but leave you wondering about the rest of the story. You only get like 30 second clips... (They suggest buying their other book, 50 true stories towards the end).
I would only recommend this book to someone looking to better tell their own story.
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