Many attempts have been made to define exactly what makes us uniquely human. The use of tools? The use of language? A sense of morality? The practice of religion? But one of them has always been that humans tell stories.
There is no known culture that does not possess sets of narratives which are handed down through generations. There must be millions of stories in all their multifarious guises, but are there any underlying structural similarities to them all?
Christopher Booker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Booker) sets himself the task in this 2005 book of proving that there are essentially seven basic plots to which all stories conform. Booker investigates novels, drama, film, myth, folk tale, TV soap opera etc. Having exposed the deep archetypes of narrative he ties these to the psychological needs which millions of years of evolution have carved into our sub-conscious minds. You may never be able to read a story in quite the same way again. A fascinating read.
Christopher Booker
736 pages in Continuum paperback edition.
ISBN 978-0826480378