The Secret History

This book by Donna Tartt was genuinely recommended once in the episodes we index, on Tim Ferriss. The people who vouched for it on air: Soman Chainani. It comes up in conversations about depression & mood, psychedelics, relationships. Every quote below is verbatim, attributed, and linked to the exact second it was said. Sourced expert opinion, not medical advice.

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last - inexorably - into evil.

• “I always tell them Secret History by Donna Tartt, A Little Life by Hanya, Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney. Those are my first three recommendations.”

  Why it counts as a recommendation: “there's this category of book that I can recommend to anybody... I always tell them Secret History by Donna Tartt... Those are my first three recommendations.”
  Soman Chainani · The Tim Ferriss Show · Feb 202401:28:59

  Said during "A Masterclass in Riding the Waves of Life, “The School for Good and Evil” Creator Soman Chainani". The episode features Soman Chainani: Bestselling young-adult fantasy author of The School for Good and Evil series (six books, adapted into a 2023 Netflix film) and Beasts and Beauty; former longtime tutor and self-described specialist in the teenage mind. Fantasy author Soman Chainani talks creative flow, ketamine therapy, worst-case worrying, cross-collar dating, and reinventing your career like Madonna.