Nancy Duarte's new book Resonate provides interesting insights about storytelling and visual design in the most visually delightful way.
Highlights:
The Hero's Journey (p. 33): diagram of the story of Star Wars: Episode IV mapped to Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey" story model, and then represented as the audience's journey (p. 34), showing the path the audience should follow in a presentation that resonates.
Tools for mapping a journey: list of opposites that help suggest the kind of change you're looking for (p. 82) and idea lifecycle to help you identify where your audience might be stuck (p. 83).
Aristotle's three types of argument (p. 100): ethos (ethical appeal), logos (logical appeal), and pathos (emotional appeal).
Case study of Cisco's "Hop to It" presentation (p. 113-115), as a great example of turning a bland set of facts into an engaging and visually beautiful story.
Diagram of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech (p. 206-209).
And one of the most important messages of the entire book: "Amplify the Signal, Minimize the Noise" (p. 170; graphic on p. 171).
It is a beautiful book.