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The Best Minds

A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions

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 PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • Named a Top 10 Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Slate, and People

One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2023

“Brave and nuanced . . . an act of tremendous compassion and a literary triumph.” —The New York Times

“Immensely emotional and unforgettably haunting.” —The Wall Street Journal

Acclaimed author Jonathan Rosen’s haunting investigation of the forces that led his closest childhood friend, Michael Laudor, from the heights of brilliant promise to the forensic psychiatric hospital where he has lived since killing the woman he loved. A story about friendship, love, and the price of self-delusion, The Best Minds explores the ways in which we understand—and fail to understand—mental illness.

When the Rosens moved to New Rochelle in 1973, Jonathan Rosen and Michael Laudor became inseparable. Both children of college professors, the boys were best friends and keen competitors, and, when they both got into Yale University, seemed set to join the American meritocratic elite.

Michael blazed through college in three years, graduating summa cum laude and landing a top-flight consulting job. But all wasn’t as it seemed. One day, Jonathan received the call: Michael had suffered a serious psychotic break and was in the locked ward of a psychiatric hospital.

Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Michael was still battling delu­sions when he traded his halfway house for Yale Law School. Featured in The New York Times as a role model genius, he sold a memoir, with film rights to Ron Howard. But then Michael, in the grip of an unshakeable paranoid fantasy, stabbed his girlfriend Carrie to death and became a front-page story of an entirely different sort.

Tender, funny, and harrowing by turns, The Best Minds is Jonathan Rosen’s magnificent and heartbreaking account of good intentions and tragic outcomes whose significance will echo widely. Mental Health Murder Psychology Psychology & Mental Health True Crime Health Exciting Funny Crime
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Both personally and professionally, this book touched my heart and spoke to my soul on so many levels. The way that Rosen weaves his intimately personal tales with social and legal history, while demonstrating their impact on the plight of the mentally ill is absolutely nothing short of masterful. This book does for schizophrenia what Andrew Solomon’s “The Noonday Demon” did for depression - examines, explains, contextualizes and sheds light so that the realities of mental illness are no longer mysteries.

Absolutely spectacular on so many levels

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Great story... heartbreaking but worth the read. Very detailed/wordy, lots of big words I could have looked up, not usually my jam, but the story makes up for it.

that these issues are faced by 1 in 100 people.

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This book provides such a clear and accurate portrayal of challenges of caring for people with severe mental illnesses and/disabilities. The great debate about how to protect the rights of the person, their family and friends, and the community at large? I have worked in this field for many years and I do not have an answer.

One of the Best Books I’ve Ever Read

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This is an incredible story. Jonathan did a fantastic job of giving equal parts to all who had interactions w Micheal. From his own experiences, to Michael's wife and family to the system that fails those struggling w mental illness. This is a must read. Highly recommend if you want to understand present day deinstitutionalization.

Tragic Story

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I believe Jonathan struck a very good balance between telling his own story, Michael’s story and providing the important context that surrounds both. I did get lost a bit when he goes deep into the history of the psychiatric science history, and felt the parts about psychedelics were maybe not necessary, but I understand the questions he’s asking by sharing this information. It didn’t detract from the story or themes, just lost me for a bit in the middle. However, this story is heartbreaking- and really explores the deep challenges were still facing as a society as to how to help people with severe mental illness not only cope, but somehow live lives with meaning. Great book, thank you for writing it - and for being on “Honestly” which was how I came to find it!

Nuanced and deeply human

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