Humans Learn from the Stories We Tell and the Stories We Read

Mary Catherine Bateson, a historian and anthropologist, once said, "The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories."

How true is this? I don't agree merely because I am a writer, but because I am a reader and a lover of fiction. There's plenty to learn by reading non-fiction, but I've learned the most about myself and people by reading fiction. There's something about entering a fictional world that relaxes a person's judgement and makes them more willing to put themselves into another person's shoes. In fiction, we glimpse people's motivations, their desires, their fears, and find ourselves opening up to their experiences.

I read a few non-fiction books a year, but unless there's a story that grabs me, I usually end up abandoning them. I always go back to made-up stories to find the truth about humanity and myself.

The Murder Lawyer