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sfstagewalker's review against another edition
2.0
I got a little under halfway through, and I just can't. The idea of looking at the evolution of storytelling, and how it has shaped and been shaped by human evolution in general excited me, but I have found the prose to be convoluted, the verbosity obfuscating, and the entire exercise tedious. There are moments when I found myself appreciating a statement, pondering a conclusion, but only after slogging through pages and pages of unnecessary, dry, and unengaging material. I think that this could have been an interesting book, but it reads like an academic first draft that desperately needed to be edited down.
I hate not finishing books, but this one is leaving my library undigested.
I hate not finishing books, but this one is leaving my library undigested.
shelleyanderson4127's review against another edition
3.0
Ever wondered why we humans find reading fiction so engrossing? Wonder no more. Brian Boyd, whose bio identifies him as a university professor and "the world's foremost authority on the works of Nabokov", argues that storytelling has given homo sapiens an evolutionary advantage. Stories help exercise cognition and creativity, and helps to bond societies together. Stories encourage imagination and the creation of new solutions. Looking at the world through other eyes supports social skills, hence social cohesion.
While this book demands commitment (it's 500 pages, and in often academic language), it also provides much food for thought. His arguments are cogent and insightful. The two case studies he investigates are a delightful juxtaposition: Homer's The Odyssey and Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who! If you love both science (especially evolutionary biology) and literature, this is a book for you.
While this book demands commitment (it's 500 pages, and in often academic language), it also provides much food for thought. His arguments are cogent and insightful. The two case studies he investigates are a delightful juxtaposition: Homer's The Odyssey and Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who! If you love both science (especially evolutionary biology) and literature, this is a book for you.
vertellerpaul's review against another edition
5.0
I've rarely read a book during which I was continually nodding in agreement. In this broad, sweeping and all encompassing study Boyd answers the question asked by Jonathan Gottschall in The Storytelling Animal (another highly recommended work on the subject): why do we like stories so much? Why do we see a story in almost everything? Why do we live and think stories?
Boyd starts by explaining evolution and proves that art and specifically storytelling are evolutionary adaptations that contributed to our success as a species. He then expands his theory horizontally and vertically by showing how stories contribute to evolution, how they themselves and their writers are part of an evolutionary process and how important evolutionary values become condensed into stories. Art is primarily entertainment, it is highly personal and original but also lives in a space of shared attention. It evolves from play and always retains that playful, creative part.
Boyd implements his theory by analyzing two famous stories that are completely different: Homer's Odyssey and Dr. Seuss' Horton hears a Who. In both cases he clearly establishes an evolutionary perspective that contributes to a better understanding of the stories, the art, the universal, local, particular and individual problems they solve and values they discuss.
For a reader who is unfamiliar with American children's literature the final chapters contain many references to unknown works, but this doesn't make the points made any less clear or any less valid.
The book is highly recommended for storytellers, linguists and readers.
Boyd starts by explaining evolution and proves that art and specifically storytelling are evolutionary adaptations that contributed to our success as a species. He then expands his theory horizontally and vertically by showing how stories contribute to evolution, how they themselves and their writers are part of an evolutionary process and how important evolutionary values become condensed into stories. Art is primarily entertainment, it is highly personal and original but also lives in a space of shared attention. It evolves from play and always retains that playful, creative part.
Boyd implements his theory by analyzing two famous stories that are completely different: Homer's Odyssey and Dr. Seuss' Horton hears a Who. In both cases he clearly establishes an evolutionary perspective that contributes to a better understanding of the stories, the art, the universal, local, particular and individual problems they solve and values they discuss.
For a reader who is unfamiliar with American children's literature the final chapters contain many references to unknown works, but this doesn't make the points made any less clear or any less valid.
The book is highly recommended for storytellers, linguists and readers.
chaotic_wholesome's review
2.0
An interesting theory, fairly elegantly argued in book one, although its evo-bio cherry-picking is trash on gender. The literary analysis in book two is entirely Western-lensed and just feels tired when there are so many creative connections to make.
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