Wonderworks

The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature

By: Angus Fletcher

Narrated by: Jacques Roy

This “fascinating” (Malcolm Gladwell, New York Times bestselling author of Outliers) examination of literary inventions through the ages, from ancient Mesopotamia to Elena Ferrante, shows how writers have created technical breakthroughs—rivaling scientific inventions—and engineering enhancements to the human heart and mind.

Literature is a technology like any other. And the writers we revere—from Homer, Shakespeare, Austen, and others—each made a unique technical breakthrough that can be viewed as both a narrative and neuroscientific advancement. Literature’s great invention was to address problems we could not solve: not how to start a fire or build a boat, but how to live and love; how to maintain courage in the face of death; how to account for the fact that we exist at all.

Wonderworks reviews the blueprints for twenty-five of the most significant developments in the history of literature. These inventions can be scientifically shown to alleviate grief, trauma, loneliness, anxiety, numbness, depression, pessimism, and ennui, while sparking creativity, courage, love, empathy, hope, joy, and positive change. They can be found throughout literature—from ancient Chinese lyrics to Shakespeare’s plays, poetry to nursery rhymes and fairy tales, and crime novels to slave narratives.

A “refreshing and remarkable” (Jay Parini, author of Borges and Me: An Encounter) exploration of the new literary field of story science, Wonderworks teaches you everything you wish you learned in your English class, and “contains many instances of critical insight....What’s most interesting about this compendium is its understanding of imaginative representation as a technology” (The New York Times).

Amazing!

As a writer and lifelong student of literature, I had hoped to gain some new insight by listening to this selection.

What I gained was so much more. it will require me to listen multiple times to gain all that I can from this book. In addition to discovering new ways to absorb literature, I was thoroughly entertained.

The writing is beautiful and engaging. I haven't thought this much, and at this depth, about literature since my honors program courses in college...and I don't mean just any of those particular courses -- I mean the best ones I ever took!

I highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys the magic of literature.

Mind blowing.

I ever thought I’d be so into a book about literature. This book not only changed the way I read books and watch movies but also created a whole new perspective about life in general. I actually bought the paper version to read it again and take notes.

For writers and readers

There are very simple but powerful lessons in this book about how literature moves us. The magic here is how Fletcher analyzes the literary technologies across genres. The brilliance of each innovation is explained in relation to the brain; the audio of this book is heard clearly, with enthusiasm.

Powerful

Start of the book made it's case well enough I bought the Hardcover to follow along.

Wow!!!

This is an amazing read. I would recommend to anyone who reads to understand the breadth of emotions that literature from Pulp Fiction to Shakespeare evoke from our souls. A very easy read. Should be required reading in middle school to encourage amazing literature inventions from high school students and beyond. A must read for psychologists to prescribe reading to mend our minds. Well done.