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Say It Like Shakespeare: How to Give a Speech Like Hamlet, Persuade Like Henry V, and Other Secrets from the World's Greatest Communicator
Book Info A guide to better communication skills using the trademark persuasion style of famous playright, William Shakespeare. Takes examples from Shakespeare's characters and plays to illustrate the qualities and skills an excellent communicator must have, helping readers empower themselves to be more effective in front of an audience, as part of a team, or one-on-one.
313 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 21, 2010
Okay, so clearly this sort book is not what I usually read, but I couldn't resist giving it a go because there is a picture of Shakespeare presiding over a board meeting (re. not drinking at a pub) on the cover.
Say It Like Shakespeare: How to Give a Speech Like Hamlet, Persuade Like Henry V, and Other Secrets from the World's Greatest Communicator is an interesting exercise in a consultant Thomas Leech's (who works primarily on presentations and public speaking) co-opting the works of Shakespeare how to speak in front of a group. Examples include "let the apparel proclaim the man" in the necessary chapter on "dressing for success," and "the readiness is all" in the chapter regarding pre-presentation preparations. While these seem like decent bits of advice to glean from the works of Shakespeare, using Yorick as an example of applying visual aids is a bit off, as is discussion of the stage directions "Reenter attendant, with two murderers)" from Macbeth.
That is without his joke about "exit pursued by a bear" in the chapter on how to deal with competition. While I can appreciate such jokes (and, also, can make them) they just had a tendency to feel forced in this book. Moreover, Leech's book feels like he took one of his speaking/presentation seminars, transcribed it, then plunked down as many Shakespeare quotes as he could possibly muster (open the book to pretty much any page and you'll see at least two quotes, usually four). Some of the quotes don't even really seem pertinent or appropriate to discussion, which I find odd considering this book has an entire chapter called "Speak Plain and to the Purpose," and Leech has as much grasp of the humor of Polonius' "brevity is the soul of wit" speech as most.
This doesn't mean that Leech isn't a decent author. He clearly knows a great deal about this topic and explains things very clearly, including personal anecdotes which help make the big ideas concrete for the reader. Ironically, I think this information could have been better presented with more of Leech and less Shakespeare.
In terms of the advice given, that's pretty straightforward. You won't need any footnotes to make sense of it, and each chapter features a bullet-pointed list of major ideas at the end so that you can refresh your memory before moving on.
Say It Like Shakespeare: How to Give a Speech Like Hamlet, Persuade Like Henry V, and Other Secrets from the World's Greatest Communicator is an interesting exercise in a consultant Thomas Leech's (who works primarily on presentations and public speaking) co-opting the works of Shakespeare how to speak in front of a group. Examples include "let the apparel proclaim the man" in the necessary chapter on "dressing for success," and "the readiness is all" in the chapter regarding pre-presentation preparations. While these seem like decent bits of advice to glean from the works of Shakespeare, using Yorick as an example of applying visual aids is a bit off, as is discussion of the stage directions "Reenter attendant, with two murderers)" from Macbeth.
That is without his joke about "exit pursued by a bear" in the chapter on how to deal with competition. While I can appreciate such jokes (and, also, can make them) they just had a tendency to feel forced in this book. Moreover, Leech's book feels like he took one of his speaking/presentation seminars, transcribed it, then plunked down as many Shakespeare quotes as he could possibly muster (open the book to pretty much any page and you'll see at least two quotes, usually four). Some of the quotes don't even really seem pertinent or appropriate to discussion, which I find odd considering this book has an entire chapter called "Speak Plain and to the Purpose," and Leech has as much grasp of the humor of Polonius' "brevity is the soul of wit" speech as most.
This doesn't mean that Leech isn't a decent author. He clearly knows a great deal about this topic and explains things very clearly, including personal anecdotes which help make the big ideas concrete for the reader. Ironically, I think this information could have been better presented with more of Leech and less Shakespeare.
In terms of the advice given, that's pretty straightforward. You won't need any footnotes to make sense of it, and each chapter features a bullet-pointed list of major ideas at the end so that you can refresh your memory before moving on.
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April 28, 2011very insightful, very helpful and inspirational
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews