We live in a world of stories; yet few of us pause to ask what stories actually are, why we consume them so avidly, and what they do for story makers and their audiences. This book explores a wide range of literature together with recent research on brain function to provide an invaluable and thought-provoking link between literary and psychological studies. With a unique blend of research, theory and biographical anecdote, the author contends that it is the unique structure of the human brain, with its layering of sophisticated cognitive capacities upon archaic, emotion-driven functions, that best explains the mystery of story.