Our Stories and Our Selves: Why the narratives we tell shape the way we think about the world

Jingo by Terry Pratchett is a story about lots of things, one being pointless wars, especially those fought in deserts. For some reason this has been on my mind. This Episode Melody joins me to discuss the book, the parallels with the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, by T. E. Lawrence and hint at some more modern similarities. We also talk about the stories we tell ourselves about war, battles and people from other cultures, and looking on mighty works with despair.As mentioned in the opening more information about Canada’s budget and the prison library services https://silvacor.medium.com/funding-libraries-is-easy-lets-help-canada-do-it-93cca625cea3Not much in the way of references for this one other than the books which can be found at all good booksellers or from my bookshop.org link https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ourstoriesandourselves.Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/Cover image comes from https://pixabay.com/users/summerstock-79075/

Statistics can be used, and abused to tell all sorts of stories. This episode I dig into some of the ways that statistics can be misrepresented and how the same graph can be used to tell different stories, depending on how someone looks at it. This is especially the case when it comes to young people, mental health and social media use.Source list available at https://www.ourstoriesandourselves.com/Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/Support the show by buying a book from: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ourstoriesandourselvesOr back the patreon patreon.com/OurStoriesandOurSelvesCover image created from https://pixabay.com/users/creapark-6555204 and https://mikemales.substack.com/p/todays-teenage-mental-health-crisisThe article and graph which prompted me to write this episode:Males, M. (2025, November 25). Today’s “teenage mental health crisis” and social media panic are founded in nostalgic myths [Substack newsletter]. Mike’s Substack. https://mikemales.substack.com/p/todays-teenage-mental-health-crisis

Terry Pratchett's Hogfather is a fun parody of several Christmas stories with a deep message. In this episode I talk to my friend and hog historian Marissa about all the Christmas stories covered in the book. We dig into what these stories, and the ways they are inverted in the Discworld, can tell us about our own world.Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialthe book: Hogfather by Terry PratchettMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/Cover image a collage based on work by https://pixabay.com/users/marswallpaper-25561668/ and https://pixabay.com/users/soomrom-21832913Sleigh bells https://pixabay.com/users/dragon-studio-38165424/Support the show by buying a book from: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ourstoriesandourselvesOr back the Patreon patreon.com/OurStoriesandOurSelves

The replication crisis in psychology has come about for a range of reasons, including the stories we tell outselves about research and science. In this eposide I dive into these stories, and the overlapping issues combined into the story of a crisis. I also do a deeper dive into self-fullfilling prophecies as after all prophecies are stories we tell ourselves, about ourselves, and about each other.Source list available at https://www.ourstoriesandourselves.com/Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/Cover image from: https://pixabay.com/users/chenspec-7784448/Support the show by buying a book from: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ourstoriesandourselvesOr back the patreon patreon.com/OurStoriesandOurSelves

Some oral cultures use their stories to recall all sorts of useful information about their area, plants and history among other things. This episode looks at how we can use stories to help our memories, and how stories told across generations can inform us about our world. Also a bit about the challenges of telling history stories, no matter the medium.Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/Image from https://pixabay.com/users/dieter_g-359839/ Support the show by buying a book from: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ourstoriesandourselves Or back the patreon patreon.com/OurStoriesandOurSelves

As kids many of us learned to beware of strangers, but the truth is that stranger abduction in vanishingly rare. However the story still has a grip on our society. This episode explores the myth, the reality, some reasons it may persist, and other stories we tell ourselves about strangers.Source list available at https://www.ourstoriesandourselves.com/Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/Support the show by buying a book from: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ourstoriesandourselvesOr back the patreon patreon.com/OurStoriesandOurSelvesCover image by Kirsty using an image by https://pixabay.com/users/thedigitalartist-202249/

This episode I interview author and podcaster Joe Kassabian about writing memoir, writing fiction and writing podcasts. We touch on the challenges of the publishing industry, working with editors, basing fiction on reality, and writing tropes, among other things. Joe’s memoir is The Hooligans of Kandahar. Consider buying it from my bookshop.org affiliate link to support the show. His fiction books aren’t on the UK bookshop.org at the moment but can be found at his publisher: https://aethonbooks.com/book-author/joe-kassabian/ Find his podcast by searching Lions Led by Donkeys in your favourite podcast player or on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/c/lionsledbydonkeys/posts Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/Support the show by buying a book from: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ourstoriesandourselves Or back the patreon patreon.com/OurStoriesandOurSelves and check out the show website: https://www.ourstoriesandourselves.com/

Joseph Campbell, in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, theorised that the Hero’s Journey was the one story at the root of all myths. He called it the monomyth and suggested it is rooted deep in our psyche. This episode digs into whether this is true, and what the Hero’s Journey can or can’t tell us about our society and the stories we write. Source list available at https://www.ourstoriesandourselves.com/Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/Cover image https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Heroesjourney.svg Patreon: https://patreon.com/OurStoriesandOurSelves

Why do some people blame the victims? Or assume that there must have been a reason that some random accident happened? How do we react when life isn't fair? In this episode we discuss the Just World Fallacy, and why some of the stories people tell themselves about the world can be harmful. Content warning: this episode discusses sexual assault, victim blaming and mentions discrimination against disabled people. source list available at https://www.ourstoriesandourselves.com/Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/

Just because something feels like it should be true, doesn’t mean that it is. Sometimes these common sense stories lead to creating more of the problems they are intending to solve. This episode examines two crime prevention programs that were thought to be common sense but didn’t actually work and the stories that drove these approaches. Source list available at https://www.ourstoriesandourselves.com/Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/Cover Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Broken_window_large.jpg

The moon has been a source of curiosity and stories for as long as we've been human. Stories about werewolves, the man on the moon and fantastic voyages were popular long before we landed there. The story of the space race was a central cold war narrative. However there are also conspiracies about it, and misinformation abounds. In this episode I speak with Quinn, Chris and Chris from the Failure to Launch Podcast about moon stories, and how, as frustrating as conspiracy stories are, they can be kinda fun, but when it comes down to it humans have definitely been to the moon.Listen to Failure to Launch where ever you get podcasts such as Apple or Spotify or watch on Youtube and follow them on BlueSkyGet in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/Key sources were:https://moonhoaxdebunked.blogspot.com/https://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_great_moon_hoax the Episode cover also came from a New York Sun print on this site. A full source list can be found on https://www.ourstoriesandourselves.com/

Shakespeare is one of the most famous writers, in English, of all time. Stories abound about who he was and what he achieved, but what is the truth of them? What do these stories tell us about the time he lived in, and the things which have happened since then? This episode explores the stories about Shakespeare, and how they affect how we think about literature and language. source list available at https://www.ourstoriesandourselves.com/Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/Image by Samuele">https://pixabay.com/users/samueles-1246195/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=2984316">Samuele Schirò from Pixabay">https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=2984316">Pixabay

History can be pretty boring when it’s a series of dry facts, but fitting it to a narrative arc, while engaging, can also lead to problems. This week I speak to Kelly Gaumont from the Canuck is a Slur podcast about creative non-fiction, facts, storytelling and the opportunities of new media. Kelly’s linktree:https://linktr.ee/CanuckIsASlur And Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/c/canuckisaslur/about If you have thoughts, drop me an email at [email protected] or on Bluesky at ourstories.blusky.social. Blatantly stealing some of Kelly’s pre-show notes because they are greatKate Beaton, creator of the history-heavy comic strip Hark! A Vagrant; was a major gateway for me to develop a newfound interest in Canadian history specifically (although the strip was not at all limited to that), because it was now trying to tell me the same information through a much more engaging mediumHere is an exampleHere is anotherHere is one that isn’t Canadian at allRyan North, creator of the heavily-constrained comic strip Dinosaur Comics taught me that format constraints (such as having the six-panel visual arrangement of your comic never change for decades on end) can actually allow your creativity to flourish as it pushes against those limitations, as well as allow your audience to have a familiar structure through which they can understand your messageHere is one about stories and literatureHere is one that refers to the Canadian phenomenon of bagged milkRyan North studied computational linguistics, so he wrote a lot of comics about various aspects of language that you can learn a lot fromSome of the other things we mentioned:Story Garden: https://youtu.be/YUfzr5tJlpo?si=5rEOPHZsyhH5aLjs Beneath the skin: https://linktr.ee/beneaththeskinpod Lions led by Donkeys: www.youtube.com/@lionsledbydonkeyspodcast7424Revolutions Podcast by Mike Duncan: revolutionspodcast.com

Sometimes fiction depicts reality and sometimes it can change it. This episode I look at several fiction stories which have change the world. I also look at the way fiction can distill reality into a story which is even more true. Quote Origin: Truth Is Stranger than Fiction, But It Is Because Fiction Is Obliged to Stick to Possibilities; Truth Isn’t – Quote Investigator®. (2015, July 15). https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/07/15/truth-stranger/Quote Origin: A Lie Can Travel Halfway Around the World While the Truth Is Putting On Its Shoes – Quote Investigator®. (2014, July 13). https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/07/13/truth/Oliver Twist by Charles DickensThe Jungle by Upton Sinclair Lady Chatterley’s Lover D H LawrenceBooks that Changed the World: The 50 most influential books in human history, Andrew Taylor, QuercusFull source list available at https://www.ourstoriesandourselves.com/Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/

Episode 4: How stories survive There are so many reasons that some stories survive and others don't. In this episode I talk to Thomas O'Mahony, podcaster, podcast producer, and digital conservationist about DVD rot and the importance of preserving physical media.Some of Tom’s podcasts are https://linktr.ee/beneaththeskinpod and https://www.patreon.com/c/ThisGuySucked/posts?redirect=truesource list available at https://www.ourstoriesandourselves.com/Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/The article that prompted the conversation:https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/they-curdle-like-milk-wb-dvds-from-2006-2008-are-rotting-away-in-their-cases/The Pachiko album Tom mentioned including the ‘rot’ songshttps://open.spotify.com/album/2MASm01cgG0a0CgioQpe6Q?si=msVBNr5xSmyeMTHWLat5Bg

Why do people commit atrocities? What stories do people tell themselves to make it acceptable, and how can we understand this? Some of the studies taught in psychology 101 try to understand this, but sometimes, the pervading social stories told at the time of the studies also get in the way. This episode explores the Stanford prison experiment, the Milgram compliance experiments and what they do and don't tell us about the holocaust and abuses at Abu Ghraib.source list available at https://www.ourstoriesandourselves.com/Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialMusic from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/

This episode is about Polio, and the stories about it that led to panics, stories that led to changes in the way medicine was practiced and stories about the vaccines. This may sound like a bit of a jumble, but stories and they way they shape our lives is a thread that pulls it all together.Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialTurns out my source list for this episode was too long for the episode notes section so you can find it at: https://ourstoriesandourse.wixsite.com/our-stories-and-our

Episode 1 The Power of StoriesStories have been with us for as long as we’ve been human. We use them to entertain, to share information, to motivate and inspire. This episode is an introduction to the power of stories, and some of the ways they affect us. Get in touch on [email protected] or @ourstories.bsky.socialTurns out my source list for this episode was too long for the episode notes section so you can find it at: https://ourstoriesandourse.wixsite.com/our-stories-and-our