Noel B

@NoelBWrites

they/them
ko-fi.com/noelb

I like writing and writing byproducts
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Noel B @NoelBWrites2/21/2023, 3:25 PM

Noel B @NoelBWrites

Noel B @NoelBWrites2/21/2023, 1:27 AM

The Science Of Storytelling: Because 'generic writing advice with a thin veneer of pseudoscience and also surprise racism' wasn't as catchy

(Please understand that when I say "racism" I mean "...and xenophobia, sexism, ableism, general misanthropy, etc." …We'll get there. )

Abstract

For the third entry of my "Fair and Balanced™ Reviews of Craft Books" series, I read The Science of Storytelling, by Will Storr. In my Fair and Balanced™ opinion, this book hates science as much as it hates storytelling, but not as much as it hates human people. When I say this, I'm not making a glib joke about the poor quality of the book and how painful of an experience it was to read it. I'm actually saying this book is dripping with contempt for humanity, and I cannot fathom why the author chose a career in the arts if the mere idea of genuine human connection is so foreign to him as to seem risible.

Introduction: Life is meaningless and people are horrible

#craft review #writers of cohost #lithost #book review #The Cohost Global Feed #books #writing #longpost #longchost #long post #writing advice

Noel B @NoelBWrites2/21/2023, 3:25 PM

Erratum:

A previous version of this post claimed the sun was 150km away from Earth. This kills the everything. The sun is actually 150 million km away from Earth, and the post has been amended to correct this.

#The Cohost Global Feed #writers on cohost #writers of cohost

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in reply to @NoelBWrites's post:

Cooler Pseudonym @CoolerPseudonym2/21/2023, 5:20 AM

Thanks for that, even though I found it infuriating. I hate books like that.

Noel B @NoelBWrites2/21/2023, 2:51 PM

Infuriating is exactly the experience of reading this book, there's a reason it took me so long to finish, I kept leaving it for the sake of my blood pressure

Quidam @Quidam2/21/2023, 6:12 AM

Oh wow. Yeah, there is a whole genre of books pretending to use "Science!" and "Reason!" to explain an entire field of study, as if there are not thousands of researchers thinking about the same topic. But no, no see these resarchers refuse to accept the Truth, and only the author, an intellectual maverick, is able to admit what we refuse to consider, and therefor solve all those questions. It's annoying.

Plus, the epistemology sucks. Many philosophers know the same fact about neuroscience that he does: yet some are direct realist, some are pragmatist, some are anti-realist, etc. I'm not trying to advocate for relativism here, my point is that "just looking at the data" is not enough, you need to engage with the arguments, to learn about epistemology and see why people believe what they do, so you can form an opinon.

Noel B @NoelBWrites2/21/2023, 2:32 PM

funny you bring up how much the epistemology sucks because it does and I hate it

I ended up deleting a whole section about how this is the sort of thing I found impressive when I was 14 in my "intro to philosophy" class, where our teacher introduced the concept of epistemology by asking us to define reality and then asking "but how do you know" until we were all in a mild panic

Only our teacher then pivoted to "this is how different philosophers answer that question" and we learned to look at the "problem" through different lenses and what each perspective highlights or values and what we can learn from each

You know, actually engaging with the concept instead of whatever this book did lmao

Cooler Pseudonym @CoolerPseudonym2/22/2023, 3:05 AM

And, like, the homuncular fallacy isn’t even data! It’s just a bad theory of consciousness. Junky unexamined ideology.

Noel B @NoelBWrites2/22/2023, 4:48 PM

It's junky unexamined ideology that sounds spooky, and if you are not in the throes of existential despair, are you even learning how to write a novel with a five act structure?

Cooler Pseudonym @CoolerPseudonym2/22/2023, 4:51 PM

The weirdest thing about this. It’s bad philosophy of mind - in the context of advice about writing? What? Complete non sequitur.

JcDent @JcDent2/21/2023, 9:45 AM

When your edgy atheist teenager phase makes you write a book why you're obviously right about everything, and also writing.

Noel B @NoelBWrites2/21/2023, 2:26 PM

This post was already too long but I had a whole thing in my notes about how you could read "raised christian but found reddit" in between every line lmao

JcDent @JcDent2/21/2023, 2:56 PM

Will he advance from new atheism to dark enlightenment? We will never know

Sherliz Holmes @JhoiraArtificer2/21/2023, 10:12 PM

it is such a vibe and unfortunately I keep slamming into it in my research on social movements and religious history. (also fwiw I basically read that whole note you were considering writing between the lines of this writeup, too!)

Noel B @NoelBWrites2/22/2023, 12:05 AM

(also fwiw I basically read that whole note you were considering writing between the lines of this writeup, too!)

I am glad it came through! I still struggle with editing myself down (evidently), so this is reassuring

it is such a vibe and unfortunately I keep slamming into it in my research on social movements and religious history.

I am SO curious about this

Sherliz Holmes @JhoiraArtificer2/22/2023, 1:30 AM

I could smell it wafting from every blockquote, hahahaha

Re my research: for my sins¹, I have become interested in American food and diet culture, and specifically how I believe secularized (and non-secularized) mostly-Calvinist Protestantism has informed it. While I could stick to the food remit, I think my analysis is more powerful and interesting when I loop in both the pure religion aspects as well as larger questions of eugenics, national identity, etc. (which obviously are also informed by religion).

As you may imagine, books tend to fall into a few major camps:

People did [temperance, Grahamism, poor relief] because they had a religious conviction about it
People did [temperance et al.] because they believed it was religiously supported. Also, surrounding contexts of [racism, classism, stress over urbanization] may have influenced how people interpreted religion.
People say that their faith led them to [temperance et al.] but really it's all a justification of their personal/societal prejudices. Religion provided a cover/outlet for this.

Obviously I'm wildly oversimplifying this, but that's kind of the overall vibe.

Books actually about Christianity can be even worse. I feel very blessed that I found a book about Martin Luther and the Reformation that takes as its starting point "he had genuine faith and was genuinely trying to fix problems he identified in Catholic doctrine and wasn't trying to schism" vs. what I get from many books, which is more like "thank goodness for Martin Luther, who started freeing us from the tyranny of Organized Religion (Christianity) and set us on the path to (Christian, but obviously that part is unstated and I think often unrealized) beautiful Atheism".

unintentionally hilarious reference but I'm keeping it

Noel B @NoelBWrites2/22/2023, 4:47 PM

I can definitely see how religion, eugenics and diet culture are all mixed up and influencing each other and an analysis of this would be fascinating to read

Also, as someone that grew up in a Catholic country with zero first hand exposure to cultural Protestantism , this is wild to me:

"thank goodness for Martin Luther, who started freeing us from the tyranny of Organized Religion (Christianity) and set us on the path to (Christian, but obviously that part is unstated and I think often unrealized) beautiful Atheism".

Like I get it, but back in Argentina secularism and atheism follow a different cultural path and it never occurred to me that Martin Luther was anything but a religious (and political, but still religious) figure.

Sherliz Holmes @JhoiraArtificer2/22/2023, 6:07 PM

Okay this Argentina information is so cool to me. Do you know if there are resources on secularization in English, or is this the thing that finally makes me take getting back into Spanish seriously?

Noel B @NoelBWrites2/23/2023, 4:39 AM

I don't know, I'm sorry!

I also couldn't point to resources in Spanish off the top of my head, my impressions are mostly personal experience? But now I'm curious so I'm adding it to the pile of future hyperfixations lol

Sherliz Holmes @JhoiraArtificer2/23/2023, 5:13 AM

Well if you ever do I'm interested in the results, English or Spanish! I get better at Spanish the more it sounds like the author swallowed a legal or scientific dictionary, too. 😆

ꙮ tatybara ꙮ @tati2/21/2023, 11:27 PM

a case of Steven Pinker Syndrome, I think

Noel B @NoelBWrites2/22/2023, 12:02 AM

I did not recognize the name so I googled it and my immediate reaction was "oh, that douche"

chronos @chronos-tachyon2/22/2023, 3:03 AM

During my New Atheism days, back before Elevatorgate nevermind Gamergate, I enjoyed several of the books Richard Dawkins wrote back in the 70s-80s and I very greatly enjoyed Daniel Dennett's writing, but people kept recommending Steven Pinker and every time I tried to read his books my eyes rolled into the back of my head and I started chanting in Ancient Sumerian.

onebug @numberonebug2/22/2023, 12:16 AM

congrats on making the first copost I've saved to pocket to read later lol, this looks really interesting

Noel B @NoelBWrites2/22/2023, 4:49 PM

I am honored :host-aww:

Iro @Iro2/22/2023, 8:42 PM

You're doing great work here

Noel B @NoelBWrites2/23/2023, 4:40 AM

:host-love:

The Audacity @thehatteddragon2/26/2024, 2:49 AM

This was a fascinating read despite the fact that i don't even really go here. Glad i stumbled upon this by complete accident, and thank you for your sacrifice of reading that book to wrote this.

Noel B @NoelBWrites2/26/2024, 4:28 AM

Glad you enjoyed it!

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