My Review

I was much intrigued by the theme and the summary of this book. How did stories come to be? What are their roots? Why are they important? And how do they manage to charm us? How did humans begin dreaming and fabricating stories? How are real life experiences and stories related? Get answers to all these questions and more in this short but fascinating book.

“How stories affect us is a mystery to us partly because our own nature is a mystery to us. We are not transparent to ourselves.”

This book is a 100-page short narrative. For a book of this length, it never takes me more than a day to finish, at the most two days. But this book took me five days – because everything and I repeat everything in this book is very interesting to know and is also told in a story-like form, with illustrations from popular movies and novels to emphasize the author's point. So I kept re-reading, highlighting, and taking so many notes and quotes.

“Storytelling fosters the integration of individuals into groups.”

Who in today's world doesn't require story-telling? if you are in a profession like a writer or an author it is a must. but if you are a content writer, a blogger, a video creator, a student, or a teacher all of you need to create stories to hook your audiences and keep them engaged. It may not be a very in-depth book, but it is a well-researched book with a very scientific approach. All the quotations and references drawn from various books across diverse subjects on the human brain and evolution and survival are proof of this. There are also a few illustrations in the book for some of the stories. 

“In order to keep their audience engaged, storytellers do not need to deliver satisfaction, but only the promise of it. The pleasure of achievement is fleeting. The pleasure of putsuit can be never-ending.”

The author himself is a filmmaker and who better than him to talk to us about the importance of story-telling? His prose and language are eloquent and straightforward for all readers to understand. I did not expect a debut author to be this easy with words. I was absolutely and thoroughly engaged while reading this valuable and informative book. 

Final Verdict

My only complaint, I wish it was a hardcover. For someone who always has a book in hand, I did not enjoy reading this very floppy paperback. And, of course, I hope the author writes another comprehensive book about the same topic very soon. I would love to read more about why stories work from Somdev Chatterjee. 

Who Should Read This

Everyone must read this book, because each one of us relates to stories. But it is especially useful for people in the writing or entertainment field.