Little, Big

This book by John Crowley has been genuinely recommended 6 times on Tim Ferriss. The people who vouched for it on air: Elizabeth Gilbert, Tim Ferriss. It comes up in conversations about addiction & recovery, consciousness, depression & mood, focus & dopamine, productivity & performance. The earliest recommendation we indexed is from Apr 2020 and the most recent from Mar 2025. Every quote below is verbatim, attributed, and linked to the exact second it was said. Sourced expert opinion, not medical advice.

• “John Crowley, also a poet, Little Big is the name of the book. It checks the boxes that you're talking about.”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “It checks the boxes that you're talking about... I will recommend that one as well.”
  Tim Ferriss · The Tim Ferriss Show · Mar 202501:26:19

  Said during "The Real Japan, Craig Mod". The episode features Craig Mod: Writer, photographer, and book designer based in Japan; runs the Special Projects membership and craigmod.com, and authored the Random House book Things Become Other Things about a 600km COVID-era walk on Japan's Kii Peninsula. Craig Mod tells Tim Ferriss how a working-class kid from Connecticut became a Japan-based bookmaker, writer, and walker.

• “the one that blew my mind, and nine out of 10 people hate this book... it's Little, Big by John Crowley... It is so unbelievably good.”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “the one that blew my mind... It is so unbelievably good... beyond that, it's absolutely stunning”
  Tim Ferriss · The Tim Ferriss Show · Feb 202400:31:36

  Said during "How to Take Radical Ownership of Your Life and Career, Claire Hughes Johnson". The episode features Claire Hughes Johnson: Former COO of Stripe (and prior Google executive); author of Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building. Stripe's former COO Claire Hughes Johnson on radical ownership, saying hard truths, renegotiating commitments, and building self-awareness as a leader.

• “the little the little comma big by John Crowley that's the novel that I was describing earlier”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “that book had a profound impact on my way of perceiving the world in time for a few weeks it was very very very cool experience”
  Tim Ferriss · The Tim Ferriss Show · Sep 202201:00:00

  Said during "The Vagabond’s Way, Tactics for Immersive Travel, Pilgrimages, and More, Rolf Potts". The episode features Rolf Potts: Author of the bestseller Vagabonding and the new book The Vagabond's Way; travel writer reporting from 60+ countries for National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Outside, and the New York Times Magazine; based on a Kansas farmhouse with his wife, actress Kristen Bush. Travel writer Rolf Potts returns to discuss vagabonding, attention, slow travel, marriage later in life, and filling the vessel of midlife.

• “i read little big little comma big by i want to say the author's name is john crowley this is from memory it's this incredible fantastical novel that is one of those tour de force”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “this incredible fantastical novel that is one of those tour de force ... display of virtuosity”
  Tim Ferriss · The Tim Ferriss Show · Dec 202101:27:06

  Said during "Jessica Lahey on Parenting, Desirable Difficulties, And Much More! | The Tim Ferriss Show". The episode features Jessica Lahey: New York Times bestselling author of The Gift of Failure and The Addiction Inoculation who taught grades 6-12 for over 20 years and worked five years in an adolescent drug-and-alcohol rehab. She is in long-term recovery and serves as a recovery coach at Sana, a medical detox center in Stowe, Vermont. Teacher and author Jessica Lahey on raising self-sufficient kids, preventing addiction, her own sobriety, and learning to write through failure.

• “I'm in the middle of little big by John Crowley which is this fantastic goal I suppose surreal yet realistic tale of fairies”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “this fantastic... I don't know how this guy does this at all”
  Elizabeth Gilbert · The Tim Ferriss Show · May 202000:41:12

  Said during "Elizabeth Gilbert’s Creative Path, Saying No, Trusting Your Intuition, and More". The episode features Elizabeth Gilbert: Number one New York Times bestselling author of Eat Pray Love, Big Magic, and the novel City of Girls. A former award-winning magazine journalist whose career spans acclaimed fiction and nonfiction. Elizabeth Gilbert on grief, creativity as spiritual practice, trusting bodily intuition, and saying a clean, guilt-free no.

• “So it's this book here which is I'll read it. Little Big so little little , big by John Crowley.”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “I'm just loving it ... I do think that fiction is really good medicine for people right now”
  Tim Ferriss · The Tim Ferriss Show · Apr 202001:06:42

  Said during "Rana el Kaliouby, AI, Emotional Intelligence, and The Journey of Finding Oneself". The episode features Rana el Kaliouby: Egyptian-American computer scientist and pioneer of 'emotion AI,' co-founder and CEO of Affectiva. She holds a PhD from Cambridge, did a postdoc at MIT, and wrote the memoir Girl Decoded. Emotion AI pioneer Rana el Kaliouby on teaching machines emotional intelligence, her journey from Cairo to CEO, and embracing her own emotions.