I really like Vonnegut and the 8 stories idea is nice, but I’m not convinced that he has covered all of the bases here, at least not according to the summary infographic. Two of the shapes (‘Man in Hole’ and ‘Boy meets Girl’) are actually the same. ‘New Testament’ and ‘Cinderalla’ also have the same shape (good-things-bad-things-good-things) but are step functions rather than smooth curves. The exception shape (‘which way is up’) I parse as ‘It’s complicated’ and is a repeated set of ups and downs.

Perhaps, at this level of shape, it’s a bit like saying that all software is just a variation on CRUD.