Alex Banayan: To Bestseller and Beyond

The story of Alex’s bestselling book, The Third Door, continues in this episode. The journey started seven years ago, when Alex was a college freshman, going through a mini life crisis when he realized he wasn’t cut out to be a doctor and would be disappointing his family. Alex began to wonder about the meaning of success. What were the most successful people doing when they were his age? That question led him on a path to find out by meeting Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, Stephen Spielberg and many others. It also led him to meet Larry King and Cal when Alex discovered he needed to learn how to interview these people and write up the adventure. For five years, Cal mentored Alex through the project. Just before the book was released, Cal and Alex talked about the journey on Big Questions (episode 42). But even Cal was surprised to learn about all that Alex had to go through when the book was finally launched and became a bestseller. The sequel is an amazing story of resilience and triumph.