Stories shape how we see the world. They steer our choices and quietly build the rules we live by. From ancient marks on clay to the flicker of screens, stories have always been more than just things we listen to. They hold power-the power to light our hopes or hold us in place without us even knowing.

Hidden Hooks: How Stories Snare Our Minds and Move Our World shows how stories have been used by kings, priests, poets, and rebels. Sometimes to control, sometimes to free. It moves through time and across lands-from Gilgamesh's epic to the Dreamtime songs of the Aboriginals, from the masked voices of Delphi to Sojourner Truth's calls for change. It looks closely at stories like the Ramayana and Star Wars, where the lines between good and evil twist and turn. Through voices like Socrates, Sappho, and Rumi, we are invited to question what we're told and to find the truths beneath the surface.

This book asks us to pay attention-to notice the strings that pull and to find the courage to break free. It opens the door to doubt, not as a weakness, but a tool to see clearly. It encourages us to take the pen ourselves, to tell our own stories that set us free.