Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks

Engage, Teach, Persuade, and change your life through the power of storytelling

My original review for this was posted elsewhere in early October. Today I watched a video about habits one can develop to lessen the doom scrolling and digital distractions. It wasn’t my favorite video on the subject (I actually prefer this video), but it mentioned the book Storyworthy, which is a book I feel has the potential to be transformative — especially since I do think about this book often. In fact, I used a bit of what I learned from the book to do my New Orleans entry.

So, the fact that I have a new place to write my thoughts (here) and that I was reminded of a book I already think about often, I figure I would re-visit my own thoughts of the book (which was listened to rather than read). Enjoy.

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I do not usually recommend books to people. After all, who am I to say you need to divert much of your time based on something I suggested? More than likely you won’t like it. I have found people tend to be far more critical towards movies, books, music than I am. No idea why this is. Maybe I do not have any principles? Or much integrity? So, when people ask me for a book recommendation, I freeze. That is a lot of pressure.

But I love book recommendations. Most people are very proud of what they love. Reading what they love gets me closer to knowing who they are and what makes them happy.

However, in order to engage in the game that is being human, and not an obvious sociopath, I have to give recommendations too. Movies are easy. They tend to be cheap, free, or hosted. They are, on average, 90 minutes to 2 hours of a person’s life. And if they end up hating the movie, they blame the movie and not the person who recommended it (except in rare cases, but those cases tend to involve a couple or more people who need the scapegoat to blame when it comes to the shared experience of wasting their time – they blame me with love).

So…why am I sharing this? Because I have already recommended this book to several people even before finishing it. And now that I finished it, I highly recommend it.

The book is really about one thing, but the one thing it is about can be applied across the board to many things when it comes to social interactions. That one thing is about how to become a better storyteller on stage, for staged events like The Moth (https://themoth.org/podcast).

But the tools and tricks can be applied to any interaction where you are speaking and you have an audience. Those who know me well know I have a saying that goes “Manipulation is key.” Those who know me even better know that I do not mean manipulation in any nefarious way. I mean it in engagement. In heightening people’s pleasure of my company. In getting that job I desire. I mean it in the sense that most manipulation is done subconsciously, because getting people emotionally invested is second nature. It is based on the words you pick, the way you say them, the way you engage a person into your life and sharing your experiences. It is meant for good.

This book is feel of those little tricks of engagement for good. It is about finding the arc of transformation within the story you are telling, so you are remembered, so you can transport your audience to that place, and have them join you on that journey. Through the tools in the book you can pick the places where you want the audience to laugh, where you want them to feel, and what you want to pass off as a life lesson.

If you want to better your engagements with a person, a group, or a reader, I highly recommend this book. Everyone is a storyteller, but not everyone is remembered for their stories. This helps.