We Are The Stories We Tell Ourselves

We are a narrative species: instead of Homo sapiens we should say Homo narrator.

These are the opening words of this extraordinary book that focuses on how we tell stories to make sense of what happens to and around us. The author addresses the evolutionary origin of our narrative drive, its adaptive function, as well as the various mechanisms and biases that characterize how stories construct the reality we live in.

Drawing on a vast array of material, ranging from historical events, such as the Salem witch trials, to films, news items, personal anecdotes, and psychiatric conditions, the author provides the reader with a tour de force concerning our narrative nature.

In a digital ecosystem where misinformation and plain lies dwell, this book is a key to understand how our narrative selves can be manipulated to make us live in manufactured realities that respond to ideological, political or simply personal interests.