**’Severance’ Enthusiasts Can Now Engage with Ricken’s Self-Improvement Book, *The You You Are***
Great news for *Severance* enthusiasts: if you’ve ever been curious about the quirky insights of Dr. Ricken Hale (portrayed by Michael Chernus), your moment has arrived. On January 31, Apple Books made available the initial eight chapters of *The You You Are: A Spiritual Biography of You*, Ricken’s self-improvement book that motivated the Innies of Lumon Industries to take action in *Severance* Season 1.
The book is accessible in both ebook and audiobook formats, with Chernus himself lending his voice to the latter.
This release signifies the second companion book for *Severance*, following the 2022 publication of *The Lexington Letter*. While *The Lexington Letter* explores Lumon’s sinister secrets through an epistolary thriller style, *The You You Are* combines self-help guidance with cringe-inducing humor—precisely what you’d anticipate from Ricken, the genius behind the notorious “dinnerless dinner party.”
### Notable Quotes and Fresh Insights
Fans of *Severance* will recall some of Ricken’s memorable lines from the series, like “they cannot crucify you if your hand is in a fist” and “a society with festering workers cannot flourish, just as a man with rotting toes cannot skip.” His eccentric “Destiny, An Acrostic Poem Experience” also makes a cameo.
Beyond these recognizable phrases, the first eight chapters of *The You You Are* provide a deeper understanding of Ricken’s persona and offer fascinating clues about the expansive universe of *Severance*. From Ricken’s peculiar backstory to Lumon’s meddling in his pursuits, here are some vital takeaways:
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### Lumon Aims to Hinder *The You You Are*
In Season 2, Episode 3 of *Severance*, Ricken shares with his wife Devon (Jen Tullock) that Lumon has approached him to devise a version of *The You You Are* specifically for Innies. Unsurprisingly, this adaptation would compromise the original book’s core ideas, but Ricken views it as an opportunity too significant to dismiss.
Apple’s published version of *The You You Are* implies that Lumon has gone even further in obstructing the book’s release. In an introductory message, Ricken states:
> “As you know, the book was intended to be launched nationwide this week, and I was tremendously eager to present its wonders to you. Sadly, circumstances beyond my control have induced a short delay as I negotiate with several corporate entities about exactly where and in what format the book should be distributed.”
This appears to be Lumon’s effort at damage management following the dramatic events of the Season 1 conclusion.
Ricken secured the release of the first eight chapters, but the book is said to contain a minimum of 29 chapters. This leaves fans without context for some of Ricken’s most unforgettable lines, like “bullies are just bull and lies” and “it was not me who was wrong, but literature itself.” It is hoped that the rest of the chapters will be available alongside upcoming seasons of the series.
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### Ricken’s Outrageous Backstory
If you’ve ever been curious about why Ricken is so unbearable, *The You You Are* offers some explanations — starting from his birth. In one surreal passage, Ricken narrates:
> “Readers of my prior works are aware that both my conception and delivery occurred in a small theater behind a defunct perfumery in Western Oregon, as part of a nine-month performance art project initiated by my parents titled *‘Smells Like Afterbirth, F**ker.’* It was significant in that I was the first child conceived solely for theatrical reasons, and critics of the time praised it as ‘a baroque dissection of the increasingly perverse human inclination to procreate.’”
Ricken’s parents, involved in a performance collective named HumpDumpster, subsequently took a Boston bar hostage at gunpoint as part of another art endeavor, resulting in their incarceration. Consequently, Ricken spent a considerable amount of his childhood in solitude.
This poignant yet absurd backstory illuminates Ricken’s desperate craving for connection and his affinity for pretentious artistic circles.
The book also features other vivid anecdotes about Ricken’s existence, including excessive details about his romantic life, along with insights into Mark (Adam Scott) and Gemma’s (Dichen Lachman) lives prior to Gemma’s death and her mysterious entrapment at Lumon.
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### Mark and Gemma’s Role in *The You You Are*
Ricken contemplates his connections with Mark and Gemma throughout the book, referring to them by the pseudonyms “Flip” and “Nan” at their request.