The Magic of Metaphor (ISBN 1899836705)

An expensive book at half the price:
OK, watch carefully: I have in my hand a collection of short stories, and an appalling "metaphor" about a magician teaching his apprentice how to tell stories that is about 99% padding - Now, I cover my hand with this brightly coloured hankerchief - I mutter the magic words: "Never give a sucker an even break" - I remove the hankerchief and Presto! a rather expensive book has appeared (expensive for what it is). If you're interested in how to construct metaphors I'd recommend Kostere & Malatesta's book "Get the Results You Want" (last chapter), and if you want a book of useful/entertaining stories, almost anything by Idries Shah, such as 'Tales of the Dervishes' and 'Learning How to Learn'. They're all significantly cheaper than this book, and much better value for money.

The telling of Stories.:
Few books will I buy and then get rid of, but this was one. Metaphors can be so powerful if you know what YOU are doing. This book gives you metaphors but NOT their meaning or usage. You are on your own with this one. If all you are doing is looking for someone else's metaphors to copy then this may work for you.

took this book to convince me of the value of storytelling:
I have always loved to tell stories to my children when they were little and when they finally grew older it was this special ritual of story time that I missed a lot. Now I know that story time is not over for me at all. It took Nick Owen's book to convince me of the value and benefits of stories not only for my own inspiration but as a wonderful resource in my field as a teacher and trainer. Although familiar with some of the stories, I was surprised about the new insights I gained through having them presented in this way. More than that, this book has given me the courage to believe that I can be just as good a story teller to adults and furthermore it supplies sufficient tips of how to go about it. They do work, as I found out to my great relief when I first tried them out in a training. Now I am pondering about the question if my almost adult kids might be as responsive as well!

The Magic of Metaphor:
This book had a lovely twist in that it is a story in itself, and that the metaphorical stories are woven into the story. All of us seek a teacher who will inspire us and encourage us to fulfil our potential, so using the teacher/pupil to do the speaking throughout the book and leading into the metaphorical stories is very clever. I found the stories very easy to follow, and some exceptionally humorous, which immediately raised my own spirits. I have already begun to share some of the stories found within this book on my seminars and seen others ýget the insightý or have their spirits raised too. One of the strengths of this book is that it contains short anecdotal stories as well as the more long winded versions. Thereby catering for different lengths of presentations. The sub-sections are useful in that cover different aspects of leadership which is paramount to the world of self-actualisation. Again, my personal recommendation would be that this is a book sold in audio format alongside the book, so that the reader is listening to the audio and reading at the same time. This would make a big impact in the learning of the principles that is integral to each story. The author has also done well to recommend different ways of using the stories within different situations, which enables trainers, teachers and therapists to understand how they can adapt the stories to suit their clients needs. I also like the fact that the author understands that importance of acknowledging sources where possible. Very often people forget to acknowledge their sources and as a result many people believe that the information being shared has only just been discovered, where in fact it has existed for millennia, and the magic is when each of us is able to bring that higher truth interpretation to the ears and hearts of others that inspires, touches and motivates them to take up a call to action.

For storytellers:
A very nice resorce for those who want to be talented storytellers. It helps with hints and stories.