Stories of Your Life: The Eight Masterplots That Explain Human Behaviour

Every aspect of human behaviour is part of a story – by understanding the stories, you can understand life itself. All of our experiences, all of our insights are psychologically interpreted through specific stories that have been curated, perfected and passed down throughout human history. In The Stories of Your Life, bestselling author Ben Ambridge explains that the often-bizarre behaviour of individuals, organizations and even whole countries makes perfect sense, once we understand them in terms of stories. Through generations of storytelling, we have together condensed the human experience into just eight distinct stories. And whether we’re pitching a product, bidding to become president, or simply trying to find love and happiness, we do so by retelling ourselves, and each other, one of these stories. Using real-life examples, psychological research and our favourite stories, The Stories of Your Life will teach you: - The ‘recipes’ behind these powerful narratives - How the plots of stories like The Lord of the Rings (Quest), Ted Lasso (Untangled) and Macbeth (Icarus) follow these recipes - How these same plots play out in real life, from addiction (Monster) to sporting rivalries (Feud) and dramatic rescues (Hole) - The psychological science that explains why these stories are so compelling A guide to help you understand the world around you, The Stories of Your Life shares fascinating lessons about the nature of humanity, the power of psychology and the way we see ourselves.