Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions In The History Of Literature

  • Author: Angus Fletcher
  • Narrator: Jacques Roy
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster
  • Duration: 15:11:18
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Synopsis

A brilliant examination of literary inventions through the ages, from ancient Mesopotamia to Elena Ferrante, that shows how writers have created technical breakthroughs—rivaling any 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 powerful developments in the history of literature. These inventions can be scientifically shown to alleviate grief, trauma, loneliness, anxiety, numbness, depression, pessimism, and ennui—all while sparking creativity, courage, love, empathy, hope, joy, and positive change. They can be found all throughout literature—from ancient Chinese lyrics to Shakespeare’s plays, poetry to nursery rhymes and fairy tales, and crime novels to slave narratives.

An easy-to-understand exploration of the new literary field of story science, Wonderworks teaches you everything you wish you learned in your English class. Based on author Angus Fletcher’s own research, it is an eye-opening and thought-provoking work that offers us a new understanding of the power of literature.

Chapters

  • 001 Wonderworks IN

    Duration: 21s
  • 002 Wonderworks Dedication

    Duration: 10s
  • 003 Wonderworks Epigraph

    Duration: 14s
  • 004 Wonderworks Preface AHeavenOfInvention

    Duration: 25min
  • 005 Wonderworks Introduction TheLostTechnology

    Duration: 38min
  • 006 Wonderworks Chapter1 RallyYourCourage

    Duration: 33min
  • 007 Wonderworks Chapter2 RekindleTheRomance

    Duration: 31min
  • 008 Wonderworks Chapter3 ExitAnger

    Duration: 32min
  • 009 Wonderworks Chapter4 FloatAboveHurt

    Duration: 24min
  • 010 Wonderworks Chapter5 ExciteYourCuriosity

    Duration: 30min
  • 011 Wonderworks Chapter6 FreeYourMind

    Duration: 23min
  • 012 Wonderworks Chapter7 JettisonYourPessimism

    Duration: 45min
  • 013 Wonderworks Chapter8 HealFromGrief

    Duration: 36min
  • 014 Wonderworks Chapter9 BanishDespair

    Duration: 29min
  • 015 Wonderworks Chapter10 AchieveSelfAcceptance

    Duration: 31min
  • 016 Wonderworks Chapter11 WardOffHeartbreak

    Duration: 38min
  • 017 Wonderworks Chapter12 EnergizeYourLife

    Duration: 26min
  • 018 Wonderworks Chapter13 SolveEveryMystery

    Duration: 35min
  • 019 Wonderworks Chapter14 BecomeYourBetterSelf

    Duration: 35min
  • 020 Wonderworks Chapter15 BounceBackFromFailure

    Duration: 33min
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