The Sea We Swim In: How Stories Work in a Data-Driven World

In THE SEA WE SWIM IN, Frank Rose leads us to a new understanding of stories — how they work, how they can manipulate us, how we can use them in our lives.

Psychologists, economists, advertising and marketing executives — for decades, the experts failed to register the power of narrative. Scientists thought stories were too frivolous to study. Economists were knee-deep in theory. Marketers just wanted to cut to the sales pitch. Yet stories, not reasoning, are the key to persuasion.

Whether we’re aware of it or not, stories determine how we comprehend the world and our place in it. And the tools of professional storytellers — character, world, detail, voice — can unlock a way of thinking that’s required for an age in which we don’t passively consume media but actively participate in it.

Building on recent discoveries in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, inspired by the author’s Strategic Storytelling seminar at Columbia University, THE SEA WE SWIM IN shows us how to see the world in narrative terms, not as a thesis to be argued but as a story to be told. This is the essence of narrative thinking.

At our next meetup, Frank and Columbia DSL director Lance Weiler will discuss how leading brands and top entertainment professionals are using this mode of thought. From Warby Parker to Mailchimp to The Walking Dead, we’ll discuss how they use stories to establish their identity and turn ordinary people into fans — and how you can do the same.

The conversation will be followed by a special prototyping session.

To learn more about Frank and his work please visit
https://www.frankrose.com

You can purchase a copy of THE SEA WE SWIM IN below
https://www.amazon.com/Sea-We-Swim-Stories-Data-Driven/dp/1324003138
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-sea-we-swim-in-frank-rose/1137650449
https://bookshop.org/books/the-sea-we-swim-in-how-stories-work-in-a-data-driven-world/9781324003137
https://www.porchlightbooks.com/product/sea-we-swim-in-how-stories-work-in-a-data-driven-world--frank-rose

Interested in new forms and functions of storytelling? Join the Columbia DSL global prototyping network. The network has over 1,200 members from around the world. http://columbiadsl.mn.co/