I love the book. I love the book.

And not just the thesis, which I have to say ends in kind of a scary place, which I'm sure we'll get to in the conversation.

But just, you know, I know you said it took you 25 years.

And I understand why, because the sheer volume of crazy anecdotes in this book is off the charts.

I woke my wife up after she fell asleep one night.

We have a dog. And I was like, I got to read you some stuff about dogs in this book.

I'm Caleb Bissinger. And I'm Rufus Griscombe. And this is the next big idea. Today, the million-year

story of Stories. So, Rufus, you know this about me.

I am a complete sucker for books about storytelling, right?

Like we had Will Storr on the show to talk about story, one of my favorite episodes.

I spoke with Angus Fletcher over the summer about

storytelling. I just, I can't quit it. I keep coming back to this stuff. I share this fascination.

You beat me to this one, Caleb. I love this topic. Stories seem to be these fundamental

building blocks of human thought. I mean, we turn data into stories, we think in stories. It's just so

essential to who we are. Absolutely. But I will say, because we've had the privilege on the show

of getting to talk to so many brilliant thinkers about story and about what story means to our

species, when this new book landed on my desk called The Story of Stories by a guy named Kevin

Ashton, I'll be honest, my first thought was like, I don't know.

Like, is there anything new to say here?

But that might have been before you read Dan Pink's blur who called it an astonishing

work of history that will change how you see the screen in your pocket

and how you hear the story in your head. Yes, absolutely. I flipped the book over. I saw

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