| John | Ashbery | American poet and art critic. |
| Thomas | Attison | Psychiatrist. Aka: Dr. Tom. |
| Jessica | Baker | Darren's aquaintance. |
| Ingrid | Bergman | Swedish actress. |
| Wilfred | Bion | British psychoanalyst & psychiatrist. |
| John | Birch | English luthier mainly known for his electric guitars. |
| Robert | Bly | Poet, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men's movement. |
| Niels | Bohr | Danish physicist. |
| George | Brett | Major League Baseball third baseman. |
| Mrs. | Caldwell | One of Darren's teachers. |
| Allen | Caplan | Samantha's supervisor and lover. |
| Jimmy | Carter | 39th U.S. President. |
| Marc | Chagall | Russian-French artist of Belarusian Jewish origin. |
| Charlie | Chaplin | British comic actor and filmmaker. |
| Chevy | Chase | American comedian, writer, and television and film actor. |
| John | Clare | English poet. |
| Bill | Clinton | 42nd President of the United States. |
| Paul | Conway | Business consultant. |
| Jason | Davis | Sima's son. |
| Stephen | Dedalus | Character in the works of James Joyce. |
| Bob | Dole | American politician who represented Kansas in the U.S. Senate. |
| Bob | Dylan | American singer-songwriter. |
| Darren | Eberheart | Intellectually disabled student. Jonathan's patient. |
| Holly | Eberheart | Hospital nurse. |
| Albert | Einstein | German-born theoretical physicist; developer of the theory of relativity. |
| Kenneth | Erwood | One of few openly gay men in Topeka. |
| Peter | Evanson | Adam's coach in extemporaneous speaking (extemp). |
| Pablo | Figueroa | Puerto Rican judoka. |
| Anna | Freud | Austrian-British psychoanalyst & essayist. |
| Sigmund | Freud | Austrian neurologist known as the founding father of psychoanalysis. |
| Samantha | Gibson | Psychologist. |
| Mikhail | Gorbachev | General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. |
| Adam | Gordon | Jonathan's son. A skillful debater. |
| Jane | Gordon | Works as a psychologist at the Foundation. |
| Jonathan | Gordon | Psychologist at Topeka called the Foundation. Aka: Dr. J. |
| Mrs. | Greiner | One of Darren's teachers. |
| Andreas | Gursky | German artist and photographer. |
| Kaspar | Hauser | A man with a mysterious history. |
| Coach | Hawn | School coach. |
| Herman | Hesse | German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. |
| Morgan | Jensen | Swedish screenwriter. |
| Donald | Judd | American minimalist artist. |
| Carl | Jung | Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. |
| Buster | Keaton | American actor and filmmaker. |
| Jerry | Lewis | American comedian, actor, film producer, writer and film director. |
| Rosa | Luxemburg | Polish-German Marxist, anti-war activist and revolutionary socialist. |
| Paul | Manafort | American former lobbyist, political consultant, and attorney. |
| Nelson | Mandela | 1st President of South Africa, anti-apartheid activist. |
| Sean | McCabe | Adam's aquaintance. |
| Mrs. | Michener | Jane's professor. |
| Coach | Mulroney | One of Adam's coaches. |
| Aaron | Nagel | One of the participants in Jonathan's in experiment. |
| Arthur | Naylor | President of the National Forensics League. |
| Brett | Nelson | American basketball player and coach. |
| Martin | Nowak | Austrian-born professor of mathematical biology, at Harvard University. |
| P. J. | O'Rourke | American journalist. |
| Barack | Obama | 44th president of the United States. |
| Mandy | Owen | The freshman who was attacked by Darren. |
| Gregory | Peck | American actor. |
| Ross | Perot | American business magnate, billionaire, and philanthropist. |
| Donald | Peterson | American businessman. |
| Fred | Phelps | Baptist minister and disbarred attorney. |
| Dr. | Porter | Jane's former supervisor. |
| John | Rawls | American political philosopher. |
| Kenny | Rogers | American country singer and songwriter. |
| | Rohan | One of Adam's debate opponents. |
| Robert | Russell | American actor. |
| Dr. | Samuels | Jonathan's analyst in graduate school. |
| Donna | Selkie | Jonathan's crush. |
| Eleanor | Selkie | Donna's mother. |
| Frank | Selkie | Donna's brother. |
| Jim | Selkie | Donna's father. |
| Sonia | Semenov | Jonathan's mother's second cousin. |
| Laura | Simms | Darren's
acquaintance. |
| | Spears | One of Adam's coaches. |
| | Stemple | P.E. coach. |
| James | Toomey | Captain of the Taipei International Tigers basketball. |
| Randy | Travis | American country music and gospel music singer, guitarist, and actor. |
| | Vinay | One of Adam's debate opponents. |
| Orson | Welles | American director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. |
| Cody | Williams | Ron's son. |
| Ron | Williams | Darren's neighbor. |
| | Ziegler | Character in Hermann Hesse book. |
| Amaya | | Adam's daughter. |
| Amber | | Adam's girlfriend. |
| Amir | | Sima's older brother. |
| Anna | | Adam's babysitter. |
| Dan | | One of Adam's friends. |
| Dante | | Stephen's aunt. |
| David | | Dr. Tom's younger brother. |
| Deborah | | Jane's sister. |
| Doña Alana | | Natalia's grandmother. |
| Elke | | Klaus's wife. |
| Eric | | Psychiatrist. Sima's husband. |
| Fritz | | Klaus's son. |
| J.M. | | Owns Mass Street Music. |
| Jacob | | Jonathan's intern. |
| Joanna | | Adam's debate partner. |
| Klaus | | Jonathan's friend. |
| Lassiter | | Rose's former employer. |
| Laura | | J.M.'s wife. |
| Leon | | Sonia's husband. |
| Lin | | Gordons' servant. |
| Luna | | Adam's eldest daughter. |
| Mandy | | One of Cody's friends. |
| Natalia | | Adam's girlfriend. |
| Nina | | Sonia's daughter. |
| Pam | | Mrs. Caldwell's assistant. |
| Rachel | | Jonathan's ex-wife. |
| Reynolds | | State wrestling champion. |
| Rose | | Jane's mother. |
| Sima | | Jane's friend and colleague. |
| Victor of Aveyron | | Feral child found in 18th century France. |
