The Stories of Your Life

From internationally bestselling author Ben Ambridge, The Story of Your Life shares fascinating lessons about the nature of humanity, the power of psychology and - most importantly - the way we see ourselves.We understand the world through stories. All of our experiences, all of our insights - psychologically, we interpret them through specific lenses that have been curated, perfected and passed down throughout human history. Professor Ben Ambridge has quantified those lenses into eight distinct masterplots that can apply to any experience.The mother who wakes up an hour early every day to prep her child's breakfast? She's playing out the Sacrifice plot. The amateur sports team who go on to win the big trophy against all the odds? They're part of the Underdog narrative.Ambridge uses examples from fiction, real life, and popular psychology research to demonstrate how we not only naturally gravitate towards the masterplot narratives, but how we actually use those narratives to manipulate the world around us - like the addict who uses the Monster plot to paint their illness as something to overcome, or the boxer who relies on the Revenge narrative to motivate themselves to fight their way back after an embarrassing defeat.These masterplots do more for us than to help us understand the world; they're vehicles through which humans have survived. In showing us how our brains work, The Story of Your Life teaches us fascinating lessons about the nature of humanity, the power of psychology and - most importantly - the way we see ourselves.

A fascinating, entertaining and deeply smart journey into the storytelling brain -- Will Storr, bestselling author of The Status Game and The Science of Storytelling
Stories are essential for human beings. They allow us to learn, to connect, to empathize. The best stories follow structures that catalyze and amplify their power. In The Stories of Your Life, Ben Ambridge decodes and deciphers these master plots so we all can benefit and grow -- Matt Abrahams, author of Think Faster, Talk Smarter and host of Think Fast, Talk Smart
Life - and the quite appalling behaviour of everyone I know - finally makes sense. Read this remarkable book -- Andrew Gold, author of The Psychology of Secrets and host of Heretics

Ben Ambridge is Professor of Psycholinguistics at the University of Manchester and the ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development (LuCiD). Ben's day job as a prolific researcher of experimental psycholinguistics keeps him up to date with findings from the psychology, linguistics and neuroscience literature; knowledge that will prove extremely valuable when undertaking a writing project at the intersection of these disciplines.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.