1 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,000 Emily Dickinson said over a century ago, 2 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,000 that there is no frigate like a book to take us lands away, 3 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,000 and it's true. 4 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:24,000 When we pick up a book, turn on the TV, or watch a movie, 5 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,000 We're carried away down the currents of story into a world of imagination. 6 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:31,000 And when we land, on a shore that is both new and familiar, 7 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,000 something strange happens. 8 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,000 Stepping on to the shore, we're changed. 9 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:40,000 We don't retrace the footsteps of the authors or characters we followed here: 10 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,000 no. Instead we walk a mile in their shoes. 11 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:47,000 Researchers in psychology, neuroscience, child development, and biology 12 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,000 are finally starting to gain quantifiable scientific evidence 13 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,000 showing what writers and readers have always known: 14 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,000 That stories have a unique ability to change a person's point of view. 15 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,000 Scholars are discovering evidence that stories shape culture 16 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,000 and that much of what we believe about life comes not from fact 17 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,000 but from fiction, that our ideas 18 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:08,000 of class, marriage, and even gender 19 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:12,000 are relatively new, and that many ideologies which held fast for centuries 20 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:17,000 were revised within the 18th century, and re-drafted in the pages of the early novel. 21 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:21,000 Imagine a world where class, and not hard work, decide a person's worth. 22 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,000 A world where women are simply men's more untamed copy. 23 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:28,000 A world where marriage for love is a novel notion. 24 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:32,000 Well, that was the world in which Samuel Richardson's Pamela first appeared. 25 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,000 Richardson's love story starred a poor, serving-class heroine 26 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,000 who is both morally superior and smarter than her upper-class suitor. 27 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:42,000 The book, challenging a slew of traditions, 28 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,000 caused quite a ruckus. 29 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,000 There was more press for Pamela than for Parliament. 30 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,000 It spawned intense debate and several counter-novels. 31 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:52,000 Still, for all those who couldn't accept Pamela, 32 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,000 others were eager for this new fictional world. 33 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,000 This best-seller, and all its literary heirs, 34 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,000 Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and yes, even Twilight, 35 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,000 Have continuously shared the same tale, and taught similar lessons 36 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,000 which are now conventional and commonplace. 37 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,000 Similarly, novels have helped shape the minds 38 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:12,000 of thought leaders across history. 39 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,000 Some scholars say that Darwin's Theory of Evolution 40 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,000 is highly indebted to the plots he read and loved. 41 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,000 His theory privileges intelligence, 42 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:23,000 swiftness, and adaptability to change- all core characteristics in a hero. 43 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,000 Whether you're reading Harry Potter or Great Expectations, 44 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,000 you're reading the kind of plot that inspired Darwin. 45 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:32,000 Yet recent studies show that his theory might not be the whole story, 46 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:36,000 our sense of being a hero- one man, or one woman, or even one species 47 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:40,000 taking on the challenges of the world might be wrong. 48 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,000 Instead of being hard-wired for competition, 49 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:45,000 for being the solitary heroes in our own story, 50 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,000 we might instead be members of a shared quest. 51 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,000 More Hobbit than Harry. 52 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,000 Sometimes, of course, the shoes we've been walking in can get plain worn out. 53 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:58,000 After all, we haven't walked just one mile in Jane Austen or Mark Twain's shoes, 54 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:01,000 we've walked about a hundred trillion miles in them. 55 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,000 This isn't to say that we can't read and enjoy the classics, 56 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:06,000 we should travel with Dickens, 57 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,000 let Pip teach us what to expect from ourselves, 58 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:12,000 have a talk with Austen and Elizabeth about our prides and prejudices. 59 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,000 We should float with Twain down the Mississippi, 60 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,000 and have Jim show us what it means to be good. 61 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,000 But on our journey, we should also keep in mind 62 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:22,000 that the terrain has changed. We'll start shopping around for boots 63 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,000 that were made for walking into a new era. 64 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:29,000 Take, for instance, Katniss Everdeen and her battle with the Capitol. 65 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,000 Can Hunger Games lead us into thinking about capitalism in a new way? 66 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:37,000 Can it teach us a lesson about why the individual should not put herself before the group? 67 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,000 Will Uglies reflect the dangers of pursuing a perfect body 68 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,000 and letting the media define what is beautiful? 69 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,000 Will Seekers trod a path beyond global warming? 70 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Will the life and death struggles of Toklo, 71 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,000 Kallik, Lusa, and the other bears chart a course for understanding animals 72 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,000 and our place in their world? 73 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,000 Only the future will tell which stories will engage our imagination, 74 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:00,000 which tales of make-believe we'll make tomorrow, 75 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,000 but the good news is this: 76 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,000 There are new stories to venture in every day. 77 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:09,000 New tales that promise to influence, to create, and to spark change. 78 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,000 Stories that you might even write yourself. 79 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,000 So I guess the final question is this: 80 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:19,000 what story will you try on next?