The Storytelling Animal

Gottschall narrates a visit to a child daycare, which he metaphorically describes as an “asylum” to highlight the imaginative chaos of children at play. He observes children fully immersed in their fictional roles, from princesses to heroes, demonstrating the early human capacity for make-believe. This scenario serves to underscore how storytelling is not just a learned cultural behavior but an innate and vital part of human development. It is evident even in very young children, who engage in complex pretend play without any formal instruction.

Your Brain on Drugs

This section explores why humans are so drawn to stories, suggesting that the joy humans derive from fiction is not biologically obvious like the pleasures of eating or sex. Gottschall discusses John Kessel’s short story “Invaders,” where aliens equate their need for cocaine to human engagement with fiction. The text likens the human hand to storytelling, describing both as multifunctional tools evolved not for a single purpose but for many. Just as the hand is used for various physical tasks, storytelling might serve multiple evolutionary functions: it could be a display of intelligence and creativity for sexual selection, a method for cognitive development, a low-cost way to gain valuable social and survival knowledge, or a means to strengthen social bonds and community cohesion.