The Mind Is Burning: Losing my Father to a Cult and Dementia

From the creator of the #1 hit podcast Dear Franklin Jones, this moving audio memoir follows Jonathan Hirsch’s experience caring for his father battling dementia, his childhood in a cult in Northern California, and the complicated journey of losing a loved one who mistreated you.

On April 9th, 2019, Jonathan got the dreaded call: his father Thomas had been rushed to the ER. He’d known for a while that Thomas’s health was in decline, but at this pivotal moment, he had no choice but to step into the role of caretaker—a role Thomas himself was never able to grasp. In The Mind is Burning, Jonathan recounts the stranger-than-fiction true story of the Hirsch family. Thomas was a Hungarian refugee turned spiritual seeker, and Jonathan was along for the ride as his parents chased the high of enlightenment, vacillating between following their doctrine to earn affection and finding his own voice. Thomas’s quest eventually led them to Franklin Jones: known as either a charismatic, eccentric guru or a cult leader and sexual predator, depending on whether you were inside or outside his orbit. Jonathan left home the day he turned eighteen, but almost twenty years later, he was pulled back into the chaotic fold when, just as he approached the biggest milestone of his career, Thomas was diagnosed with dementia. He became one of millions of Americans in the “sandwich generation”: middle-aged adults simultaneously responsible for young children and aging parents. For Jonathan especially, that duty of care was fraught with emotional landmines, every impossible hardship of the present dredging up painful memories from the past—memories that were slipping away from Thomas day by day. This poetic yet propulsive memoir was created for the listening experience, and poses the question: What do we owe each other as family?

© 2025 Simon & Schuster Audio Originals (Audiobook): 9781797190464

Release date

Audiobook: May 13, 2025