You did a brief note about your return to fiction a month or so back and the concept’s been rattling around my head ever since. I felt the same way this past year, and returned heavily to reading fiction. For some reason, I started to believe it was a guilty pleasure, maybe even childish, and felt that it’d be more responsible to throw down some more “informative” reading. As a result, my fiction time started to wane.
Sometime early last year, instinct refused to be further ignored. I cut out anything I was slogging through and returned to the useful (for me) groove of breathing in vivid and powerful storytelling. I learn so much more from a story than I do from an instruction manual (in most cases).
Preamble complete.
This led me to thinking that we’re all just living a fiction, with the untold number of experiences that shape our unique perspectives serving as the world builder, our ability to pay attention providing a steady hand on the pen, and our ability to feel serving to keep the ink flowing.
My stories are “true”. And so are yours. We saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt them. But if you weren’t there, and vice versa, did they really “happen”? Fiction helps us to believe in very real phenomena that we don’t have the “metrics” to prove.
It’s a common occurrence for two experiencers to tell two different stories, a phenomenon that is often used to discredit, but viewed properly could very well explain half of what makes life worth the living.
The other half would be developing the empathy to see the other side.
Stellar riff Tim, and I need to share it because my sense is more and more people are wondering about to this intuitive pull to fiction. This is why I was drawn not only to fiction, but also to memoir. Big History is great, but dry, because it only deals only with events and not with humans. It is the human experience that is crucial for me.
I think this also ties to LLM use in writing. The more readers realize they are not reading humans but copied and pasted material from ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, or whatever, the more they will crave to read a real human's writing.
I have not read those two, but I'm adding them to the ever-growing stack of to-be-read books. Thank you, Eric. That is an interesting pivot with the name Courtney. I've always been a fan of faintly feminine sounding names for boys. It reminds of Johnny Cash "A Boy Named Sue."
Good choices. I like all of Helprin’s books. My favorite is Refiners’s Fire, if I were forced to pick only one. The Oceans and the Stars is great, maybe a little too romantic for me. I’m too much of a cynic. The Sand Pebbles is a blast from the past. Another excellent choice.
One of my best bosses/leaders ended every meeting with the phrase “So what? Now what?” He was directing us to distill something important (maybe) from all the blah blah, and then to decide what actions should flow from those insights. Otherwise, the meeting would be a waste of time. I often used that phrase when I became a leader and consultant. People always chuckle in appreciation!
It’s such a good epistemological habit for all of us. Almost like the child who asks “why” of everything and how we can all profit from the same spirit.
Hell yeah, Sam. I’ll be sure to watch that Eric Hoffer video. Dostoevsky and Shackleton deserve spots on every reader’s shelf.
I love the way you describe your writing as answering seminal questions beyond “how.”
What and why?
Any productive inquisitive springboard. And i love the roundup of your work that performed best or meant the most.
You have carved out a unique and specific spot here on Substack. I’ve loved reading along and can’t wait to keep reading and see where 2026 takes you and your work.
Thank you James, and likewise—I’m stoked to read more of your essays.
Definitely let me know what you think of the Hoffer film. The 12th video is the best (there were 12 total, each on a different theme). The man was a force.
Sam, thank you so much for the Hoffer video- I'd forgotten all about him, and the video (I've never heard him speak) was a perfect reintroduction to his ways of thinking. So many excellent points, but this made me laugh: "I don't think I wasted my life, but I did have the makings to be a botanist". What a rich mind.
And appreciative of your book/ media recommendations as well as those of your readers!
Very happy to have discovered you and your writing Sam. I’ll definitely check out the Eric Hoffer video and bought my husband Once An Eagle for Christmas. Looking forward to your book and what you have in store for 2026! Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Laura! Thank you and I hope you enjoy the interview. His writing has been of the most impactful on my life than any other thinker.
There are millions of blogs and commenters, but very few like you.
Keep it up!
Thank you, as well as for all of the support you’ve given me since the beginning.
You did a brief note about your return to fiction a month or so back and the concept’s been rattling around my head ever since. I felt the same way this past year, and returned heavily to reading fiction. For some reason, I started to believe it was a guilty pleasure, maybe even childish, and felt that it’d be more responsible to throw down some more “informative” reading. As a result, my fiction time started to wane.
Sometime early last year, instinct refused to be further ignored. I cut out anything I was slogging through and returned to the useful (for me) groove of breathing in vivid and powerful storytelling. I learn so much more from a story than I do from an instruction manual (in most cases).
Preamble complete.
This led me to thinking that we’re all just living a fiction, with the untold number of experiences that shape our unique perspectives serving as the world builder, our ability to pay attention providing a steady hand on the pen, and our ability to feel serving to keep the ink flowing.
My stories are “true”. And so are yours. We saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt them. But if you weren’t there, and vice versa, did they really “happen”? Fiction helps us to believe in very real phenomena that we don’t have the “metrics” to prove.
It’s a common occurrence for two experiencers to tell two different stories, a phenomenon that is often used to discredit, but viewed properly could very well explain half of what makes life worth the living.
The other half would be developing the empathy to see the other side.
🙏
Stellar riff Tim, and I need to share it because my sense is more and more people are wondering about to this intuitive pull to fiction. This is why I was drawn not only to fiction, but also to memoir. Big History is great, but dry, because it only deals only with events and not with humans. It is the human experience that is crucial for me.
I think this also ties to LLM use in writing. The more readers realize they are not reading humans but copied and pasted material from ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, or whatever, the more they will crave to read a real human's writing.
I’m about 60/40 fiction to nonfiction. I can highly commend Mark Helprin’s The Oceans and the Stars, and McKenna’s The Sand Pebbles.
Nearly half a century ago, we named our newborn son Courtney after Massengale, not from admiration but because it sounded right.
I have not read those two, but I'm adding them to the ever-growing stack of to-be-read books. Thank you, Eric. That is an interesting pivot with the name Courtney. I've always been a fan of faintly feminine sounding names for boys. It reminds of Johnny Cash "A Boy Named Sue."
In application it was shortened to Court and the kid turned out tougher than a Mexican middleweight.
Good choices. I like all of Helprin’s books. My favorite is Refiners’s Fire, if I were forced to pick only one. The Oceans and the Stars is great, maybe a little too romantic for me. I’m too much of a cynic. The Sand Pebbles is a blast from the past. Another excellent choice.
One of my best bosses/leaders ended every meeting with the phrase “So what? Now what?” He was directing us to distill something important (maybe) from all the blah blah, and then to decide what actions should flow from those insights. Otherwise, the meeting would be a waste of time. I often used that phrase when I became a leader and consultant. People always chuckle in appreciation!
It’s such a good epistemological habit for all of us. Almost like the child who asks “why” of everything and how we can all profit from the same spirit.
Good reference to the child’s curiosity and thirst for knowledge. Most of us lose that too soon.
Love all your essays Sam, outstanding and my daily reading.
Rock on, Don. Thank you. I’m stoked for your work as well!
Thanks for everything you write, Sam. I look forward to seeing what 2026 has in store!
Thank you John. It’s been a wild ride and loving every moment of it. Enjoy your rucks and have a great new year.
Love the Carson essays! I hope he has a happy and healthy 2026!
I’ll pass it on!
Hell yeah, Sam. I’ll be sure to watch that Eric Hoffer video. Dostoevsky and Shackleton deserve spots on every reader’s shelf.
I love the way you describe your writing as answering seminal questions beyond “how.”
What and why?
Any productive inquisitive springboard. And i love the roundup of your work that performed best or meant the most.
You have carved out a unique and specific spot here on Substack. I’ve loved reading along and can’t wait to keep reading and see where 2026 takes you and your work.
Thank you James, and likewise—I’m stoked to read more of your essays.
Definitely let me know what you think of the Hoffer film. The 12th video is the best (there were 12 total, each on a different theme). The man was a force.
Sam, thank you so much for the Hoffer video- I'd forgotten all about him, and the video (I've never heard him speak) was a perfect reintroduction to his ways of thinking. So many excellent points, but this made me laugh: "I don't think I wasted my life, but I did have the makings to be a botanist". What a rich mind.
And appreciative of your book/ media recommendations as well as those of your readers!
You are most welcome. And yes, I don’t think he was capable of writing or speaking without saying something quotable and perceptive. What a mind.
It's been a please (and useful) to have discovered your writing on the back end of this year. Appreciate you!
Rock on Jamison, thank you and Happy New Year!
Let’s do this!
Let’s go!
Very happy to have discovered you and your writing Sam. I’ll definitely check out the Eric Hoffer video and bought my husband Once An Eagle for Christmas. Looking forward to your book and what you have in store for 2026! Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Laura! Thank you and I hope you enjoy the interview. His writing has been of the most impactful on my life than any other thinker.