Human beings started talking to one another approximately 100,000 years ago.1 We have spent all the time since telling stories—heroic struggles, religious divinities, and chickens crossing roads. We have carved stone slabs, inked animal skins, stained papyruses, set lead blocks, banged on typewriters, and tweeted up to 280 characters.
In ancient Greece, nearly 2,300 years ago, Aristotle
(see Figure 20-1) and his contemporaries created a system of storytelling called “rhetoric.” It not only withstands the test of time but also informs modern day software design. From antiquity ...
