The Aleph

This book by Jorge Luis Borges was genuinely recommended once in the episodes we index, on Tim Ferriss. The people who vouched for it on air: L.A. Paul. It comes up in conversations about brain health, consciousness, psychedelics. Every quote below is verbatim, attributed, and linked to the exact second it was said. Sourced expert opinion, not medical advice.

Dazzling and unmistakable in style, resonant in meaning, Jorge Luis Borges' 'The Aleph and Other Stories' contains the best of Borges' fiction. Included also is a lengthy autobiographical essay written especially for this volume. The twenty stories in this book cover the whole span and all the various facets of Borges' forty-year career as a short story writer.

• “The Aleph, I would suggest. I actually think The Garden of Forking Paths and I think it's The Aleph are two really excellent things to read.”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “two really excellent things to read”
  L.A. Paul · The Tim Ferriss Show · Feb 202501:04:36

  Said during "Whether or Not to Have Kids, Transformative Experiences, and More, L.A. Paul". The episode features L.A. Paul: Yale philosopher working in metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of science; author of Transformative Experience, known for the 'transformative experience' framework about decisions like having children. Philosopher L.A. Paul explains why life-changing decisions like having kids can't be calculated rationally, and which books unlock philosophy.