added by sari · updated 2y ago
The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human
- The storytelling mind is allergic to uncertainty, randomness, and coincidence. It is addicted to meaning. If the storytelling mind cannot find meaningful patterns in the world, it will try to impose them. In short, the storytelling mind is a factory that churns out true stories when it can, but will manufacture lies when it can’t.
from The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall
sari added 3y ago
- Human minds yield helplessly to the suction of story. No matter how hard we concentrate, no matter how deep we dig in our heels, we just can’t resist the gravity of alternate worlds.
from The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall
sari added 3y ago
- Like Tom Sawyer whitewashing the fence, authors trick readers into doing most of the imaginative work. Reading is often seen as a passive act: we lie back and let writers pipe joy into our brains. But this is wrong. When we experience a story, our minds are churning, working hard.
from The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall
sari added 3y ago
- Story, in other words, continues to fulfill its ancient function of binding society by reinforcing a set of common values and strengthening the ties of common culture.
from The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall
sari added 3y ago