by Will Storr
Storr synthesizes psychology, neuroscience, and evolutionary theory to argue that stories are the brain's method for modelling flawed selves under pressure, with character - not plot - as the engine. He shows how unexpected change, moral tribes, and the 'sacred flaw' drive narrative grip.
In this collection, The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human, and How to Tell Them Better references 5 other books.
It draws on The Righteous Mind, Thinking, Fast and Slow and The Blank Slate.
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The books Storr references and why each one mattered to the argument.
Storr builds on Haidt's moral-foundations research from The Righteous Mind to explain how stories stage conflicts between tribal moralities and why readers demand heroes who embody their in-group's sacred values
Storr uses Kahneman's System 1/System 2 and the brain's prediction-machine model to show how stories weaponize expectation violation - peripeteia - to deepen engagement
Storr draws on Pinker's Blank Slate argument that human nature is a fixed evolved architecture, using it to explain why narrative archetypes recur across cultures
Storr cites Eagleman's Incognito on the confabulating brain to argue that characters - and readers - construct coherent narratives about selves that are actually fractured
Storr leans on Sapolsky's Behave-style integration of neurobiology and behavior to show how status, tribe, and hormones shape the conflicts that make stories feel true
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Books from completely different categories that share citation overlap with this one. These are the reads you would not find by browsing a single shelf.
The Hungry Brain: Outsmarting the Instincts That Make Us Overeat
Stephan Guyenet
The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century
Steven Pinker
How to Be an Antiracist
Ibram X. Kendi
Atomic Habits
James Clear
Sapiens
Yuval Noah Harari
Tools of Titans
Tim Ferriss
Books with the highest citation overlap within the same categories.
Behave
Robert Sapolsky
2 shared citations
Enlightenment Now
Steven Pinker
2 shared citationsThe Hungry Brain: Outsmarting the Instincts That Make Us Overeat
Stephan Guyenet
2 shared citationsThe Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century
Steven Pinker
2 shared citationsHow to Be an Antiracist
Ibram X. Kendi
2 shared citations
The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
Joseph Henrich
2 shared citationsThis book and its direct connections. Hover a node to see its title, click to visit.
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