Humans live in landscapes of make-believe. We spin fantasies. We devour novels, films, and plays. Even sporting events and criminal trials unfold as narratives. Yet the world of story has long remained an undiscovered and unmapped country. It's easy to say that humans are "wired" for story, but why?

In this delightful and original book, Jonathan Gottschall offers the first unified theory of storytelling. He argues that stories help us navigate life's complex social problems -- just as flight simulators prepare pilots for difficult situations. Storytelling has evolved, like other behaviors, to ensure our survival.

Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary biology, Gottschall tells us what it means to be a storytelling animal. Did you know that the more absorbed you are in a story, the more it changes your behavior? That all children act out the same kinds of stories, whether they grow up in a slum or a suburb? That people who read more fiction are more empathetic?

Of course, our story instinct has a darker side. It makes us vulnerable to conspiracy theories, advertisements, and narratives about ourselves that are more "truthy" than true. National myths can also be terribly dangerous: Hitler's ambitions were partly fueled by a story.

But as Gottschall shows in this remarkable book, stories can also change the world for the better. Most successful stories are moral -- they teach us how to live, whether explicitly or implicitly, and bind us together around common values. We know we are master shapers of story. The Storytelling Animal finally reveals how stories shape us.

• We started tracking this book on April 6, 2012.
• This book was $14.40 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 225 times in the past 4,689 days.
• The current price of this book is $2.99 last checked 53 minutes ago.
• This book is at its lowest price in the past year.
• The lowest price to date was $1.81 last reached on July 6, 2021.
• This book has been $1.81 2 times since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $14.40 last reached on April 6, 2012.
• This book has been $14.40 one time since we started tracking it.

• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• File Size: 33,288 KB