WHY DO WE NEED THRILLERS?
Do we really need thrillers? Why are mysteries and thrillers such big sellers? Why are all of us not content to just read Jane Austen and Charles Dickens?
I believe that we, as humans, actually need thrillers. We need some excitement in our lives.
I used to be an active sports and outdoor guy: skiing, mountain biking, road biking, street racing, motorcycle riding, scuba diving, snorkeling, body surfing, boxing, martial arts (judo, jujitsu, Krav Maga), running 5-7 miles a day.
I needed all that activity. I would sleep like a baby at night.
Now I am 80 years old, and my knees are shot. I still work out, 2-3xs a week. But not like I used to.
So what do I do for excitement and fulfillment? I read and I write. I watch TV and movies.
Years ago, I took a class from the writer Paul Gillette at UCI. Paul said people read thrillers because real life is so boring.
OK. I agree, but I would also say that modern life doesn't satisfy our primitive, evolutionary need for excitement.
We evolved from primitive Neanderthals who slept in caves under blankets of woven leaves and hunted wild animals and foraged in the wilderness for food.
Imagine waking at dawn and staring into the eyes of a hungry jaguar or a pack of wolves.
Imagine chasing a wild boar through the woods with nothing but a spear. Probably not boring.
I believe we still have those genes and instincts within us, but nothing happens to us that rises to that level of intensity. We no longer fight to survive or face our own death every day. We no longer have to kill to live.
I think that is why we participate in sports and physical contests and why we watch other people do them.
I believe that is why we need thrillers, to stir our blood, to make our hearts beat faster, to exercise our flight or fight reflexes.
Deep inside, part of us is still primitive man. We are still programmed to kill animals for food and fight enemy tribes to survive.
Without that level of excitement, we grow bored and sluggish and soft, and something deep inside us dies.
We need thrillers, to keep part of us alive.
Happy reading. Hope you find thrillers that keep you up all night and make your heart beat faster.
RA
I believe that we, as humans, actually need thrillers. We need some excitement in our lives.
I used to be an active sports and outdoor guy: skiing, mountain biking, road biking, street racing, motorcycle riding, scuba diving, snorkeling, body surfing, boxing, martial arts (judo, jujitsu, Krav Maga), running 5-7 miles a day.
I needed all that activity. I would sleep like a baby at night.
Now I am 80 years old, and my knees are shot. I still work out, 2-3xs a week. But not like I used to.
So what do I do for excitement and fulfillment? I read and I write. I watch TV and movies.
Years ago, I took a class from the writer Paul Gillette at UCI. Paul said people read thrillers because real life is so boring.
OK. I agree, but I would also say that modern life doesn't satisfy our primitive, evolutionary need for excitement.
We evolved from primitive Neanderthals who slept in caves under blankets of woven leaves and hunted wild animals and foraged in the wilderness for food.
Imagine waking at dawn and staring into the eyes of a hungry jaguar or a pack of wolves.
Imagine chasing a wild boar through the woods with nothing but a spear. Probably not boring.
I believe we still have those genes and instincts within us, but nothing happens to us that rises to that level of intensity. We no longer fight to survive or face our own death every day. We no longer have to kill to live.
I think that is why we participate in sports and physical contests and why we watch other people do them.
I believe that is why we need thrillers, to stir our blood, to make our hearts beat faster, to exercise our flight or fight reflexes.
Deep inside, part of us is still primitive man. We are still programmed to kill animals for food and fight enemy tribes to survive.
Without that level of excitement, we grow bored and sluggish and soft, and something deep inside us dies.
We need thrillers, to keep part of us alive.
Happy reading. Hope you find thrillers that keep you up all night and make your heart beat faster.
RA
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