The Three Month Vacation Podcast
Aug 21, 2026 · 15 min · 9 segments
Almost 20 years after we launched The Brain Train, we weren't expecting anything dramatic to happen, and yet suddenly it was on a bestseller list. Not the New York Times bestseller list, but in…
Sean D'SouzaHost
[upbeat music playing] Imagine you show up at an event expecting to sell fewer than 100 books, and then you sell out everything that you have.
After putting off the trip for well over a year, we decided to go to Thailand and speak at the event.
Now, I don't care for social media very much, but the person who promoted the event did so on Facebook, and though there were 350 seats, it sold out in just a few hours.
The Brain Audit was being launched in Thailand, but like all published books, it takes months for the books to see the light of day.
However, because of this singular event, the publisher decided to rush the entire print run.
They stayed up all night to make sure there were enough copies, but they weren't expecting much, until, that is, the participants started buying 5, 10, even 16 copies at a time.
We said that the first 20 people to buy three books would also get a free copy of our next book, which was Suddenly Talented.
But before the announcement could even be made, all the bonus copies of Suddenly Talented had been snapped up.
I tend not to just sign a book, I draw a cartoon too, a giraffe, a whale, maybe an elephant.
What started out as a short queue soon snaked out of the door, went to the landing, and then outside the building.
They said, "Oh, can I ask you a little question?" Now, I love questions, but in this case it had a domino effect.
So now every person wanted three things: a signature with a message, a cartoon, and a question to be answered.
The publisher watched all of this with an expression that moved from surprise to delight.
By the time the dust had settled, they were already asking about the Thai rights to the next book, Suddenly Talented.
[upbeat music playing] Imagine you show up at an event expecting to sell fewer than 100 books, and then you sell out everything that you have.
After putting off the trip for well over a year, we decided to go to Thailand and speak at the event.
Now, I don't care for social media very much, but the person who promoted the event did so on Facebook, and though there were 350 seats, it sold out in just a few hours.
The Brain Audit was being launched in Thailand, but like all published books, it takes months for the books to see the light of day.
However, because of this singular event, the publisher decided to rush the entire print run.
They stayed up all night to make sure there were enough copies, but they weren't expecting much, until, that is, the participants started buying 5, 10, even 16 copies at a time.
We said that the first 20 people to buy three books would also get a free copy of our next book, which was Suddenly Talented.
But before the announcement could even be made, all the bonus copies of Suddenly Talented had been snapped up.
I tend not to just sign a book, I draw a cartoon too, a giraffe, a whale, maybe an elephant.
What started out as a short queue soon snaked out of the door, went to the landing, and then outside the building.
They said, "Oh, can I ask you a little question?" Now, I love questions, but in this case it had a domino effect.
So now every person wanted three things: a signature with a message, a cartoon, and a question to be answered.
The publisher watched all of this with an expression that moved from surprise to delight.
By the time the dust had settled, they were already asking about the Thai rights to the next book, Suddenly Talented.
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