True confessions time. I had never heard of Jonathan Gottschall before last week. I was at a party and talking with another writer about the craft. I had just said something like “I think we humans are storytelling animals.” Boy, did I feel silly when he said, “Oh yeah. I love that book!”
“What book?” I asked.
That’s how I found out about Jonathan Gottschall’s book, The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human. As soon as I got home I fired up the old laptop and ordered the book. I read it. Now I understand why my friend was excited.
Here’s a bit of wisdom from the book.
“A commercial rarely just says that a laundry detergent works well; it shows that it does through a story about an overworked mom, rascally kids, and a laundry room triumph. ADT Security Services terrifies us into buying home alarms by showing short films where helpless women and children are rescued from wild-eyed home invaders.”
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