A good book and the brain science to back it up!

Don’t you love when you open a new book, and after the first few pages you’re completely hooked?

A recent one for me is Lisa Cron’s Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel
*Fun Fact: I actually interned at Johns Hopkins in neurology (EMU unit), researching the impact of axonal regeneration on the central nervous system. To say I was very much intrigued is not an exaggeration!

So, I settled in, book open in lap, and had that familiar feeling of excitement and anticipation of what the next pages would bring. After a great discussion of the development of storytelling in every culture, and the evolutionary need to act out other possibilities in a safe space, this phrase got me:
     According to Jonathan Gottschall, author of The storytelling Animal, functional MRI (fMRI) studies reveal that when we’re reading a story, our brain activity isn’t that of an observer, but of a participant” (Cron p. 13).

What he’s saying is that our brains register the actions in a story like things that are actually happening to us. Hardwired within us is the need for understanding and connection. Our cognitive unconscious asks the question, “What am I going to learn here that will help me not only survive, but prosper?” (Cron p. 14). This doesn’t just apply to the physical world, but the emotional, social, and spiritual as well. 

It's time to go and grab the next book in your to-be-read pile and be ready for the adventure of a lifetime!