The Master and Margarita

This book by Mikhail Bulgakov has been genuinely recommended 4 times across 2 different shows: Lex Fridman, Tim Ferriss. The people who vouched for it on air: Dmitri Dolgov, Jordan Peterson, Max Levchin, guest. It comes up in conversations about fasting, nutrition & diet, productivity & performance, relationships. The earliest recommendation we indexed is from Dec 2020 and the most recent from Jun 2026. Every quote below is verbatim, attributed, and linked to the exact second it was said. Sourced expert opinion, not medical advice.

• “I usually buy M&M in batches of five but you give it as gifts to new friends. It's a great book. You're missing out.”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “It's a great book. You're missing out.”
  Max Levchin · The Tim Ferriss Show · Jun 202600:17:44

  Said during "The Path from The Soviet Union to Building Multi-Billion Dollar Companies, Max Levchin". The episode features Max Levchin: Cofounder of PayPal and founder/CEO of Affirm; Soviet-Ukraine-born engineer-turned-CEO, cryptography enthusiast, obsessive cyclist, and prolific tech investor (sci-fi.vc). Affirm and PayPal cofounder Max Levchin on marriage, cycling, fighting socialism, building buy-now-pay-later, and his obsessive coffee philosophy.

• “the master in margarita that's a deadly book i've read that i think four times and i still there's still it's unbelievably deep”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “that's a deadly book i've read that i think four times... it's unbelievably deep”
  Jordan Peterson · Lex Fridman Podcast · Aug 202202:53:42

  Said during "Jordan Peterson: Life, Death, Power, Fame, and Meaning | Lex Fridman Podcast #313". The episode features Jordan Peterson: Influential clinical psychologist, lecturer, and podcast host; author of Maps of Meaning, 12 Rules for Life, and Beyond Order, known for his lectures on psychology, religion, and meaning. Jordan Peterson and Lex Fridman roam across God, beauty, death, fame, power, marriage, diet, and the meaning of life.

• “the first book is ... it's bulgakov's master and margarita ... it's a really powerful book for uh even in english”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “it's a really powerful book ... it is incredibly powerful”
  guest · Lex Fridman Podcast · Jan 202101:56:21

  Said during "Dmitry Korkin: Evolution of Proteins, Viruses, Life, and AI | Lex Fridman Podcast #153". The episode features Dmitry Korkin: Professor of bioinformatics and computational biology at WPI specializing in complex disease, computational genomics, and systems biology. His lab studies the structural and evolutionary biology of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses. A computational biologist breaks down how proteins fold, how viruses evolve, and why AlphaFold is a landmark for AI in science.

• “the master and margarita it's one of actually my favorite books it is you know by a russian it's a novel by russian author mikhail bulgakov”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “one of actually my favorite books... it's a great book and it's one of those books that you can like reread your entire life”
  Dmitri Dolgov · Lex Fridman Podcast · Dec 202002:06:12

  Said during "Dmitri Dolgov: Waymo and the Future of Self-Driving Cars | Lex Fridman Podcast #147". The episode features Dmitri Dolgov: CTO of Waymo, the autonomous driving company that began as Google's self-driving car project in 2009. He has worked on the project since the DARPA Urban Challenge era and helped lead it to the first at-scale public driverless ride-hailing deployment. Waymo CTO Dmitri Dolgov on building a truly driverless car, scaling beyond Phoenix, and why aggression isn't the same as good driving.