In his first book Maxim Behar talks about the past of Poland and Bulgaria, and about the reforms that occurred (or not) in these two countries. Initially, these were two countries that had very similar starting positions but ultimately followed completely different paths to Europe.

Secondary Instinct tells the story of two parallel worlds using authentic publications of the author, who worked as a correspondent in Poland during the democratic transition. The book also contains face to face interviews with eminent figures such as Leszek Balcerowicz, Václav Havel, Lech Wałęsa, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Dragoslav Avramovic and Felipe González. It became a bestseller in Bulgaria in 2000-2001, but remains relevant for the Bulgarian reality even nowadays.