I was talking with someone yesterday who spoke of “stories” as the best way to convince people to believe a certain way. We can provide facts, numbers, graphs, testimony, whatever, but people who know nothing about a subject except a story they heard will often reject the truth and cling to the narrative. As a former English teacher, I understand the power of the story to hold the listener's heart, even when the story’s proven wrong. Stories are fun to tell and way more exciting than, “I moved the lawn yesterday.” When people pass shocking tales along, their listeners react with wide eyes and surprised exclamations. For some folks, “I heard that—” seems to excuse the most malicious gossip, no matter how outlandish it might be. An engaging story beats court documents, police reports, and scholarly research, because those things lack the story-telling spirit we enjoy. I love stories. I read stories. I write stories. But I also understand that we need to apply logic to the stori