#72 Distorted · Read It Before the World Does

For three years, I’ve been building something bigger than this podcast.

It’s called Distorted: How Gaslighting and Poetic Truth Bend Our Perception of Reality.

And now — before the hardcover and paperback release in February 2026 — the Early Access Edition is here.

This episode is the behind-the-scenes story of how the book came to life, why it’s coming out early, and how you can be part of the launch. Expect dry humor, self-deprecation, and more family roasts than I probably should admit.

Grab the Early Access Edition now for $9.99 on Kindle → amazon.com/author/detjen

Leave a review, share it, and help this book cut through the fog before the world even sees the hardcover.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Think First
• 1:30 Announcing "Distorted" Early Access
• 2:38 What the Book Covers
• 3:47 The Call to Action
• 5:11 Final Thoughts on Truth

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

I used to joke that by the time I turned fifty, I'd finally have something worth saying, and then reality gaslit me, because it turns out I've been saying things for decades, just usually the wrong ones, or at least the ones nobody asked for. But here's the thing every rant, every scribble, every late night observation, they stacked up, and many years later, here we are. This is Think First, where we don't follow the script. We question it. Because in a world full of poetic truths and professional gaslighting, someone's gotta say the quiet part out loud. My kids ended up at those schools with names that make people nod in approval. And apparently, I'm the family outlier. And let me tell you, they are so much smarter than me, it's insulting. They throw around words like epistemology at dinner. Meanwhile, I'm just trying to remember if epistemology is a new TikTok filter. When I remind them I'm the father who raised them, they remind me the brains must have skipped a generation. And my wife, she's the reason I haven't wandered completely off course. She pokes holes in everything I say until I finally land on something worth defending. She's basically the unpaid editor of my entire life. So, yes, I finally wrote the book. It's called Distorted How Gaslighting and Poetic Truth Bend Our Perception of Reality. And today, I'm pulling back the curtain. The early access edition is here, right now, on Kindle, 999. This is the complete core book, the real deal, but you're getting it months before the hardcover hits the shelves on February 10th, 2026, which means you get to read it before the world does. Now, you might be wondering, why release it this way? Because in publishing, early reviews matter more than oxygen. Amazon looks at them. Barnes and Noble looks at them. The New York Times looks at them. Without reviews, a book is like one of those new Coke experiments, hyped, launched, and forgotten in six weeks. So, yes, this early access edition isn't just about getting the book first, it's about helping it live, helping it break through, and maybe even giving the folks at the times a reason to say, huh, maybe we should pay attention to this one. Across these pages, I unpack how gaslighting and poetic truth twist the way we see the world, not just in headlines, but in the everyday stories we take for granted. History rewritten, politics reframed, media curated, economics spun, culture narrative managed, even health and wellness rebranded until broccoli becomes detox and soda becomes hydration. And, yes, even those stranger corners where the stories get wild, from conspiracy to mythology, from UFOs and near-death experiences, to the modern cover-ups that make your group chat light up with Did you see this? links at 2 a.m. But, don't worry. This isn't a conspiracy book. There's no tinfoil hat tucked inside the cover, it's a survival manual for cutting through the spin, the gaslighting, and the poetic truths that dress up as facts and walk around like they're running for office. And, look, I'll be honest, half the time I was writing this, I thought, who am I kidding? Malcolm Gladwell has his pop sociology empire. Jonathan Haidt has moral psychology locked down. Orwell gave us the instruction manual. And me? I have a podcast microphone, a stubborn streak, and kids who roast me in group chat. But maybe that's the point. This book wasn't written from the Ivory Tower. It was written from the kitchen table, from late-night scrolling, from raising a family in the middle of cultural chaos. Because if the last few years taught us anything, it's this. The truth doesn't just get lost, it gets choreographed, with hashtags, with headlines, with official statements that sound like they were written by an ad agency testing slogans for laundry detergent. Gaslighting isn't chaos, it's choreography. And poetic truth? That's the soundtrack. So here's where you come in. The early access edition is live right now. If you read it and leave a review, you'll be the reason this book breaks through the fog. And as a thank you, when the hardcover lands in February, I'll send you a signed first edition. This isn't just about sales, it's about building a team. Because once you see how distorted the world really is, you can't unsee it. And that's exactly what scares the people who profit from the fog. So, grab it today, read it before the world does, and leave your mark on launch day. Distorted, how gaslighting and poetic truth bend our perception of reality. Early Access Now, expanded hardcover coming February 10th. And remember, you don't need all the answers, but you should question the ones you're handed. Until next time, stay skeptical, stay curious, and always think first.