Randy Olson has 2 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 2 narrators, with an average listener rating of 5★ across 1 ratings. The most-rated is Houston, We Have a Narrative.
Houston, We Have a Narrative
Summary
Ask a scientist about Hollywood, and you'll probably get eye rolls. But ask someone in Hollywood about science, and they'll see dollar signs: Moviemakers know that science can be the source of great stories, with all the drama and action that blockbusters require. That's a huge mistake, says Randy Olson: Hollywood has a lot to teach scientists about how to tell a story - and, ultimately, how to do science better. With Houston, We Have a Narrative, he lays out a stunningly simple method for turning the dull into the dramatic. Drawing on his unique background, which saw him leave his job as a working scientist to launch a career as a filmmaker, Olson first diagnoses the problem: When scientists tell us about their work, they pile one moment and one detail atop another moment and another detail - a stultifying procession of "and, and, and". What we need instead is an understanding of the basic elements of story, the narrative structures that our brains are all but hardwired to look for - which Olson boils down, brilliantly, to "And, But, Therefore", or ABT. At a stroke, the ABT approach introduces momentum ("And"), conflict ("But"), and resolution ("Therefore") - the fundamental building blocks of story. As Olson has demonstrated by leading countless workshops worldwide, when scientists' eyes are opened to ABT, the effect is staggering: Suddenly, they're not just talking about their work - they're telling stories about it. And audiences are captivated. Written with an uncommon verve and enthusiasm, and built on principles that are applicable to fields far beyond science, Houston, We Have a Narrative has the power to transform the way science is understood and appreciated, and ultimately how it's done. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2015 Randy Olson (P)2018 Tantor
The Narrative Gym: Introducing the ABT Framework for Messaging and Communication
Summary
The Narrative Gym by Dr. Randy Olson presents a new model for messaging and communication. It's a short, practical guide to the ABT Framework (And, But, Therefore) which needs to be on the desk of everyone crafting a message, essay, strategy, novel, campaign, proposal, presentation, screenplay, argument, joke, ballad, report...pretty much all communication. There is no other audiobook on the ABT framework. There is no other analytical model for narrative structure like the ABT framework. This is a new and unique resource. The ABT seems like something from elementary school and at its core is as old as the ancient Greeks, but the formulation only began less than a decade ago. The original insights for this communication model come from Hollywood screenwriting. The importance of the three words (And, But, Therefore) began with legendary screenwriting instructor Frank Daniel of the U.S.C. School of Cinematic Arts who in a 1986 speech first talked of replacing the word “and” with either “but” or “therefore” to strengthen the narrative content of a text. This was propagated by his students, then articulated by the co-creators of the animated series, South Park, in a 2011 documentary. Randy Olson formulated the ABT Narrative Template (“___ And ___ But ___ Therefore ___”) in his 2013 TEDMED Talk, and his 2015 book, Houston, We Have a Narrative. It is at the heart of how humans have communicated for thousands of years. You can see it in the Gettysburg Address, nursery rhymes, argumentation, comic structure, myths, the billion-viewed “Call Me Maybe” song from Carlie Rae Jepsen, the 1600s poem “To His Coy Mistress", blockbuster movies - on and on. It's at the core of everything memorable because it is narrative itself. The bottom line is: You’ve got something to say and you know it’s important, but you’re having trouble boiling it down to its powerful and essential core, therefore you need the ABT framework.
©2020 Randy Olson (P)2021 Randy Olson