Why is it that we humans so love to tell a good tale? What is the point of stories? They take up an inordinate amount of our lives. Thanks to television the majority of Americans are able to spend the vast bulk of their leisure time immersed in stories, a luxury that for most of history was afforded to only the literature upper class back when those terms were largely synonymous. What good does it do us? There are many answers. The one I choose is George Eliot's: "Art is the nearest thing to life; it is a mode of amplifying experience and extending our contact with our fellow-men beyond the bounds of our personal lot." We love stories because a good story is compressed experience. A great story is years of the authors life and thoughts distilled into a single nourishing tale. We grow richer in the only way that really matters when we collect stories, for the only substitute for a wealth of stories is a wealth of years and that is a wealth much harder won.