The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness

 The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness

By Joel ben Izzy

Pages: 256

"The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness is that rare, magical book—a book that tells a good story but also shows us how the tales we learned when we were children shed light on our adult lives. Joel ben Izzy had the unusual opportunity to relive those lessons when he lost his voice and reconnected with his old teacher, Lenny, a retired storyteller. Through his meetings with Lenny, Joel rediscovers the wisdom of ancient tales and takes us on a journey into a world of beggars and kings, monks and tigers, lost horses and buried treasures—and in the end tells us the secret of happiness."

I really enjoyed this little memoir. Each chapter started with a short story that was applicable to the chapter of the storytellers life. This book is a reminder to find the happiness in your own story, and that sometimes what seems to be a curse is really a blessing.

Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Lisa Cron

Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Lisa Cron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I confess I picked this up out of a desire to understand the human brain's need and desire for story. We are creatures of story, so much so that I'd put story near the bottom level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, right there with food, rest and health.

Humanity is made of story. We tell the stories of ourselves and our lives. We use story to make almost every decision. We crave story. We dream in stories. Our evolution is based on story, and how passing that information, knowledge, and outcomes down has helped us become something that is more than what it used to be. What we do, who we are, how we see ourselves, the things we enjoy, the people we love, and what becomes of us when we are gone is all tied to story. Without story, humanity would not be what it is.

For those reasons, I read this book, and I came away with so much great information on how to write a decent story that I'll probably listen to this one again. It says some of the same stuff that you would expect to hear, but in new ways, and it turns a few things that I thought I knew completely upside down. I think it really helped me, but there was so much to take in that I definitely didn't absorb it all on the first time through. There's just too much to consider and apply, so I'll probably revisit this one on audio, since it's so easy to consume in that format.

Book 166 Read in 2018

Pages: 262