These new mystery novels are 'whodunits' that might as well be called 'whydunits'

On Writing is Stephen King’s musings on his craft—about how he discovered writing, what he learned about it, and his advice to you as a writer. Part memoir and part practical advice, it’s a personal look at one of the bestselling authors of all time.

Learn how Stephen King got his start by writing as a teenager, then struggled as an early writer until his breakthrough book Carrie. Then learn his key tips on writing good fiction, including how to develop a realistic story and characters, why you must avoid adverbs, and how to make it in the writing business.

Why do we love stories? It’s not just because they’re entertaining; rather, they also satisfy a neurological need that humans evolved over millennia. In Wired for Story, writer and producer Lisa Cron argues that our brains evolved to absorb important survival information through stories, and so writers who want to create compelling narratives should write in a way that satisfies our brains' expectations of story.

In our guide, we’ll explore the formula that the human brain expects to encounter in a story, as well as how you as a writer can employ that formula. We’ll look closely at how to build a protagonist that engages your reader, techniques for creating conflict and advancing plot, and how to create causal links that appeal to the brain’s need for cause-and-effect structure. We’ll also add scientific context for some of Cron’s ideas, as well as additional or alternate advice from expert writers.

You might think of yourself as the hero of a story or a traveler on a journey. But what if it’s more accurate to say that you’re just a player in a game? In The Status Game, journalist Will Storr argues that we experience our social lives as a game, where the goal is to win as much status as we can to fit in with—but also stand out from—the people around us. Storr explains that by learning how these games work, you can better understand why you do what you do and avoid getting caught up in the more toxic aspects of the game.

In this guide, we’ll explore Storr’s theory about how status games shape your interactions with other people. We’ll also examine what happens when status games go wrong, and we’ll compare Storr’s ideas to those of other thinkers who’ve studied our drive for status and its sometimes surprising effects.

In The Art of Strategy, Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff explore how you can apply game theory to your business and everyday life. They show how you can be successful in any competitive situation by anticipating the other player’s moves, reasoning backward from your ultimate goal, and knowing when to act against your own interests. They examine real-world case studies to explain foundational game theory concepts like the Nash equilibrium, dominant strategies, and how to encourage people to make selfless choices for the good of the group when selfish ones will benefit them individually.

In this guide, we’ll explore general game strategies as well as specific strategies for the various types of games you may encounter in your everyday life. Along the way, we’ll examine how Dixit and Nalebuff’s ideas align or contrast with other thinkers in the field, and how recent research may shed new light on some of their arguments.

You probably know someone who regularly blows things out of proportion, or who insists on having the same argument over and over, or constantly tries to one-up other people. According to Dr. Eric Berne, a pioneering psychiatrist who broke away from the Freudian tradition, those are just two of the games that people play in work, love, sex, and friendship.

Games People Play is Berne’s 1964 classic about the many ways that we habitually relate to one another through “games.” These aren’t fun, harmless social games, though—they’re subtle, largely unconscious patterns that harm us and our relationships. Berne explains how most of us don’t even notice our games, and how we’re missing out on the fulfillment of game-free living.

In our guide, we’ll explore the foundations of Berne’s theory and build up to an extensive discussion of games, before finishing with his strategies for growing into a fuller way of living. We’ve also added psychological perspectives from Freud to modern-day and updated Berne’s ideas.

Why do we love stories? It’s not just because they’re entertaining; rather, they also satisfy a neurological need that humans evolved over millennia. In Wired for Story, writer and producer Lisa Cron argues that our brains evolved to absorb important survival information through stories, and so writers who want to create compelling narratives should write in a way that satisfies our brains' expectations of story.

In our guide, we’ll explore the formula that the human brain expects to encounter in a story, as well as how you as a writer can employ that formula. We’ll look closely at how to build a protagonist that engages your reader, techniques for creating conflict and advancing plot, and how to create causal links that appeal to the brain’s need for cause-and-effect structure. We’ll also add scientific context for some of Cron’s ideas, as well as additional or alternate advice from expert writers.

On Writing is Stephen King’s musings on his craft—about how he discovered writing, what he learned about it, and his advice to you as a writer. Part memoir and part practical advice, it’s a personal look at one of the bestselling authors of all time.

Learn how Stephen King got his start by writing as a teenager, then struggled as an early writer until his breakthrough book Carrie. Then learn his key tips on writing good fiction, including how to develop a realistic story and characters, why you must avoid adverbs, and how to make it in the writing business.