Sharing a few of my favorite storytelling books to add to your bookshelf (or Kindle Library).
You’ll find a quick summary on each book, along with links so you can check out reviews and more details. Let me know which of these is your favorite, and if you’ve got other essential books on your reading list.
Illuminate – Nancy Duarte
In Illuminate, acclaimed author Nancy Duarte and communications expert Patti Sanchez equip you with the same communication tools that great leaders like Jobs, Howard Schultz, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. used to move people. Duarte and Sanchez lay out a plan to help you lead people through the five stages of transformation using speeches, stories, ceremonies, and symbols.
The Storyteller’s Secret – Carmine Gallo
In The Storyteller’s Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch on and Others Don’t, keynote speaker, bestselling author, and communication expert Carmine Gallo reveals the keys to telling powerful stories that inspire, motivate, educate, build brands, launch movements, and change lives.
Long Story Short – Margot Leitman
Did you ever wish you could tell a story that leaves others spellbound? Storytelling teacher and champion Margot Leitman will show you how! With a fun, irreverent, and infographic approach, this guide breaks a story into concrete components with ways to improve content, structure, emotional impact, and delivery through personal anecdotes, relatable examples, and practical exercises.
Story Proof – Kendall Haven
Story Proof collects and analyzes the research that validates the importance of story, story reading, and storytelling to the brain development and education of children and adults. Accomplished researcher and storyteller Kendall Haven, establishes the need for understanding the research findings in neural psychology and brain development and the value of a common definition of story if one is to fully grasp the importance and necessity of story to the development of the human mind.
Whoever Tells The Best Story Wins – Annette Simmons
“Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins” will teach you to narrate personal experiences as well as borrowed stories in a way that demonstrates authenticity, builds emotional connections, inspires perseverance, and stimulates the imagination. “Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins” hands you the tools you need to get your message across–and connect successfully with any audience – with examples, a proven storytelling process and techniques, innovative applications, and a new appendix on teaching storytelling.
