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-93cca625cea3

Not 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.social

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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.social

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Support the show by buying a book from: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ourstoriesandourselves

Or back the patreon patreon.com/OurStoriesandOurSelves

Cover image created from https://pixabay.com/users/creapark-6555204 and https://mikemales.substack.com/p/todays-teenage-mental-health-crisis

The 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.social

the book: Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

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Cover image a collage based on work by https://pixabay.com/users/marswallpaper-25561668/ and https://pixabay.com/users/soomrom-21832913

Sleigh bells https://pixabay.com/users/dragon-studio-38165424/

Support the show by buying a book from: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ourstoriesandourselves

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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.social

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Support the show by buying a book from: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/ourstoriesandourselves

Or 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.social

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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.social

Music 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

Cover 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.social

Music 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.social

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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.social

Music 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.social

Music from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/

Cover Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Broken_window_large.jpg