The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Really interesting read and, though written in 2012 (which for a myriad of reasons seems eons ago), feels both prescient and relevant for the last few years.
Gottschall, as the title of the book suggests, makes the case that humans have uniquely evolved to be the "storytelling" animal. He examines recent evolutionary studies to show the variety of reasons behind our capacity for fiction. In so doing, he makes a compelling case that fiction helps us survive and navigate our world. That it provides entertainment is almost a by-product; fiction teaches us morals and communal myths, it gives us opportunities to learn the social skills necessary to build relationships, and it makes us more understanding and empathetic.
In making the case, Gottschall also notes how, because we are uniquely adapted to fiction, we can so easily succumb to its power. We will invent memories and even reject cold, hard facts to maintain those created false memories. We will create narratives often containing a multitude of fictional components to better understand complex situations and results. This is most evident when Gottschall discusses the human capacity for conspiracy theories - seeking a overarching narrative with little grip on reality.
These discussions were particularly interesting to think about considering the prevalence of fake news stories over the last couple years. Due to our affinity for story, we seem to be incredibly vulnerable to the current information climate of narrative and ideology at the expense of fact and truth.
But I digress. Ultimately, Gottschall praises the importance of fiction or story, and makes a compelling a case for our embrace of story - in most every form - as a net positive for our species, and modern society. While I may not be as optimistic as Gottschall when he looks ahead to the future of story combined with technology, his case for fiction does remind me why I love reading. This is a book that those that love reading, and love reading fiction in particularly, will enjoy taking that proverbial look under the hood.
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