The Overstory

This book by Richard Powers has been genuinely recommended 4 times on Tim Ferriss. The people who vouched for it on air: Dan Harris, Hugh Jackman, Tim Ferriss. It comes up in conversations about anxiety & stress, consciousness, exercise & strength, fasting, meditation & mindfulness. The earliest recommendation we indexed is from Jul 2020 and the most recent from Jul 2024. Every quote below is verbatim, attributed, and linked to the exact second it was said. Sourced expert opinion, not medical advice.

The Overstory unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fable that range from antebellum New York to the late-twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. An Air Force loadmaster in the Vietnam War is shot out of the sky, then saved by falling into a banyan. An artist inherits a hundred years of photographic portraits, all of the same doomed American chestnut. A hard-partying undergraduate in the late 1980s electrocutes herself, dies, and is sent back into life by creatures of air and light. A hearing- and speech-impaired scientist discovers that trees are communicating with one another.

• “I was gifted actually uh by Gary Hart Senator Gary Hart who I played in a movie the over Story by Richard Powers”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “that's the most transformative bit of fiction I have read in a long time”
  Hugh Jackman · The Tim Ferriss Show · Jul 202400:08:48

  Said during "Hugh Jackman and Esther Perel, The Tim Ferriss Show". The episode features Hugh Jackman and Esther Perel: Hugh Jackman is an Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe and Tony-winning performer known for Wolverine, Les Miserables and The Music Man. Esther Perel is a psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author of Mating in Captivity and The State of Affairs, host of the podcast Where Should We Begin?. Tim Ferriss 10-year anniversary combo: Hugh Jackman on intuition, meditation and craft, plus Esther Perel on desire, monogamy and infidelity.

• “i finished reading the overstory which is a pulitzer prize winning novel it is incredibly good... i recommend it to everyone”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “it is incredibly good... i recommend it to everyone it contains a lot of beauty”
  Tim Ferriss · The Tim Ferriss Show · Jun 202100:52:03

  Said during "Q&A with Tim, Exercise And Morning Routines, Holotropic Breathwork, and More | The Tim Ferriss Show". The episode features Tim Ferriss: Author, investor, and host of The Tim Ferriss Show, known for The 4-Hour Workweek and for interviewing world-class performers about their habits and routines. Here he flips the format to be the guest in a solo Q&A with his supporter group. Tim Ferriss answers fan questions on his morning and exercise routines, holotropic breathwork, self-compassion, meaning, and managing trauma.

• “perhaps the best novel i have ever read and it was sent to me by seveneyes alaska ... it was called the overstory”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “perhaps the best novel i have ever read ... i loved the book”
  Dan Harris · The Tim Ferriss Show · Nov 202001:53:39

  Said during "Dan Harris on Becoming 10% Happier, Training the Mind, and More". The episode features Dan Harris: Former ABC News anchor who had an on-air panic attack on Good Morning America in 2004. He became a meditation advocate and bestselling author of 10% Happier, and co-founded the Ten Percent Happier company and app. ABC anchor turned meditation evangelist Dan Harris on panic attacks, training the mind, and becoming 10% happier.

• “the overstory by Richard powers I'm not sure if you read that but that's the most transformative bit of fiction I have read in a long time”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “that's the most transformative bit of fiction I have read in a long time”
  Hugh Jackman · The Tim Ferriss Show · Jul 202000:13:28

  Said during "Hugh Jackman, His Best Decisions, Favorite Books, Daily Routines, The 85% Rule, & More". The episode features Hugh Jackman: Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe and Tony Award-winning Australian actor and performer known for Wolverine in the X-Men films, The Greatest Showman, and Broadway musicals. Equally at home on stage and screen, he is also a longtime meditator and devoted family man. Hugh Jackman tells Tim Ferriss about his morning reading ritual, meditation, intuition, the 85% rule, and following his gut.