Download or read book On the Origin of Stories written by Brian Boyd and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-05-30 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brian Boyd explains why we tell stories and how our minds are shaped to understand them. After considering art as adaptation, Boyd examines Homer's Odyssey and Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who! demonstrating how an evolutionary lens can offer new understanding and appreciation of specific works. Published for the bicentenary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of Origin of Species, Boyd's study embraces a Darwinian view of human nature and art, and offers a credo for a new humanism.