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3 Books With Neil Pasricha

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3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 22-year-long quest to uncover and discuss the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter discusses the 3 most formative books of one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Brené Brown, David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell, Roxane Gay, Cheryl Strayed, Rich Roll, Soyoung the Variety Store Owner, Derek the Hype Man, Kevin the Bookseller, Shirley The Nurse, Vishwas the Uber Driver, Angie Thomas, David Mitchell, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Mark Manson, Seth Godin, Judy Blume, and Quentin Tarantino. 3 Books is published on the lunar calendar with each of the 333 chapters dropped o...
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Episodes

October 02, 2024 1:49pm
Chapter 6: Judy Blume on bouncing balls, biting breasts, and building bookstores
Did you grow up with Judy Blume?  
My mom says I “found my voice” reading 'Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing' to my sister in the bathtub when I was a little kid. Well, I grabbed that tattered copy and carried it with me down to Key West, Florida where I had the extreme privilege of sitting down with the one and only Judy Blume.  
Judy and I met on a hot and sweaty day in her Books & Books bookstore … where she works! I’m not joking. Step off your cruise ship and Judy Blume will ring up a copy of...
September 22, 2024 7:43am
Bookmark: The 2-minute happiness practice to wind down your day with intention
“Happiness is a choice.”  
Heard that saying before? Betting you have. We all have! It’s almost cliché. And yes, while research shows that a good deal of our happiness really is a choice, the saying gives us a “what” without a “how.”     And if your life is anything like mine, you have a million things going on—emaisl! texts! driving kids to soccer practice! finding time for date night!—and you need a "how" that can get you there fast, especially when your night time angst bubbles up, that dangerous mind that rears its ugly head after the dust of the day has set...
September 17, 2024 9:34pm
Chapter 140: Amy Einhorn on powerful pages and publishing possibilities
‘The Help’ by Kathryn Stockett. ‘Big Little Lies’ by Liane Moriarty. ‘Let's Pretend This Never Happened’ by Jenny Lawson. ‘American Dirt’ by Jeanine Cummins. ‘This Is How It Always Is’ by Laurie Frankel. ‘Listen for the Lie’ by Amy Tintera. ‘We Begin At the End’ by Chris Whittaker. ‘A Higher Loyalty’ by James Comey. ‘The Book of Awesome’ by Neil Pasricha.     What do these books have in common? The famed but invisible editor pulling the strings from behind the curtain: Amy Einhorn     Fifteen years ago my seven-month-old blog ‘1000 Awesome Things’ was nominated for ‘Best Blog’ from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. I was approached by l...
September 02, 2024 8:55pm
Chapter 3: Seth Godin on shifting stories and stretching ourselves

Happy new moon, everybody!

I am going to release a few of my favorite classic chapters of 3 Books. Let's start with Seth Godin!

I flew down to New York to uncover and discuss the most formative books of the one and only Seth Godin (​@ThisIsSethsBlog​) from his Hastings-On-Hudson studio.

Seth is the bestselling author of '​Linchpin​', '​Purple Cow​', '​Tribes​' and ​many more books​ and is known as one of the world's biggest thinkers in communities such as ​TED​ and the ​Marketing Hall of Fame​. And did I mention he writes one of ​th...

August 19, 2024 1:25pm
Chapter 139: Lewis Mallard valorizes visionary vandalism
I was at a coffee shop on College Street when the barista Tony yelled “Hey! There’s that duck!”     I turned and, sure enough, out the front window was a…  duck. A giant pixelated-looking green-headed Mallard set atop a rubber-tire-sized body on top of orange-stockinged legs and a pair of orange Converse. And he was just … walking by.     Like some kind of interdimensional tumbleweed.     Uh, what … was this?     Some gimmick from the local radio station? An ad campaign for a boot company? I ran outside with my friend Ateqah and was puzzled that … she seemed to know him!     “Hiiiiiii Lewis,” she cooed. “You’re looking gr...
August 11, 2024 2:33am
Page 143: A book to help you feel grateful for where you live

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.



They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  



Page 143 comes from Chapter 14 with Rich Gibbons, President of Speak Inc.



Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/14



Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail



Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
August 04, 2024 2:33am
Page 142: How do I become a paid keynote speaker?

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.



They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  



Page 142 comes from Chapter 14 with Rich Gibbons, President of Speak Inc.



Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/14



Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail



Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
July 28, 2024 2:33am
Page 141: What is the value of live events today?

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.



They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  



Page 141 comes from Chapter 14 with Rich Gibbons, President of Speak Inc.



Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/14



Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail



Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
July 21, 2024 5:17am
Chapter 138: Maria Popova mines meaning in marginalia
Maria Popova was born in communist Bulgaria and emigrated to the U.S. six days after her 19th birthday back in 2003. She studied at the University of Pennsylvania after “being sold on the liberal arts promise of being taught how to live.”     Did it work?     Well, yes and no.     She spent her family’s life savings in the first few weeks on textbooks and, despite attending an American high school in Bulgaria, found herself in a bit of culture shock. “I mean, fitted sheets? Brunch?” She worked hard, a defining Popova characteristic, sometimes eating store brand canned tuna and oatmeal three times a day...
July 11, 2024 2:33am
Page 132: How to figure out who you are

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.



They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  



Page 132 comes from Chapter 13 with Ariel Bisset, YouTuber and owner of Bisset Books.



Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/13



Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail



Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
July 01, 2024 2:33am
Page 131: Everyone should read this

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.



They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  



Page 131 comes from Chapter 13 with Ariel Bisset, YouTuber and owner of Bisset Books.



Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/13



Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail



Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
June 21, 2024 8:07pm
Chapter 137: Jonathan Franzen finds fellow freaks and forges fantastic fiction
  I remember getting the knife.     It was near Christmas about 10 years ago and Leslie and I were zipping up a tiny suitcase before a beach trip with her grandparents and extended family. We weren’t married and I was making a desperate last-second plea to stuff a 576-page novel called ‘The Corrections’ by Jonathan Franzen into our bag. “It just won’t fit,” Leslie said. “You have … 100 pages left? Want to leave it and read it when we’re back?”     I did *not* want to do that.     The book was slipping under my skin—serrating my soul.     So I remember getting that knife.     The dee...
June 17, 2024 2:33am
Page 126: What is humanity's biggest superpower?

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.



They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  



Page 126 comes from Chapter 12 with Chris Anderson, Head of TED.



Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/12



Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail



Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
June 12, 2024 2:33am
Page 125: A book for people who want to change the world

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.



They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  



Page 125 comes from Chapter 12 with Chris Anderson, Head of TED.



Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/12



Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail



Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
June 08, 2024 2:33am
Page 124: How does the Head of TED define optimism?

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.



They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  



Page 124 comes from Chapter 12 with Chris Anderson, Head of TED.



Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/12



Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail



Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
June 04, 2024 2:33am
Page 123: The book to drown out bad news with good news

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.



They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  



Page 123 comes from Chapter 12 with Chris Anderson, Head of TED.



Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/12



Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail



Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
May 31, 2024 2:33am
Page 122: Can audiobooks lodge meaning more deeply in your head?

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.



They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  



Page 122 comes from Chapter 12 with Chris Anderson, Head of TED.



Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/12



Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail



Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
May 27, 2024 2:33am
Page 121: How the Internet makes it harder to read books

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.



They are released at 3:33am between Chapters. 



Page 121 comes from Chapter 12 with Chris Anderson, Head of TED.



Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/12



Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail



Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
May 23, 2024 8:53am
Chapter 136: 3 St. Louis Uber drivers on bullets, bruises, and babies

I just got back from St. Louis.

 

It was my first time there and I met a wonderfully rich collection of people who I’m so excited to introduce you to in a special on-the-ground, in-the-street, from-the-backseat Chapter of 3 Books.

 

On the way from the airport to the hotel, the driver regaled me with St. Louis trivia from a deep well of St. Louis pride. “Did you know we hosted the World Fair and the Olympics the same year?” he asked. I knew about the World Fair! “Most do,” he said. “But not many k...

May 16, 2024 2:33am
Page 114: A tip from an editor to editors-to-be

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  

 

Page 114 comes from Chapter 11 with Kerri Kolen, editor of 'The Happiness Equation,' 'Lion,' and 'A Stolen Life.'

 

Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/11

 

Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
May 10, 2024 2:33am
Page 113: Beauty standards, slut-shaming, and suicide...

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  

 

Page 113 comes from Chapter 11 with Kerri Kolen, editor of 'The Happiness Equation,' 'Lion,' and 'A Stolen Life.'

 

Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/11

 

Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
May 04, 2024 2:33am
Page 112: A diary to help imbue gratitude

Pages are 333-second or less highlights from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  

 

Page 112 comes from Chapter 11 with Kerri Kolen, editor of 'The Happiness Equation,' 'Lion,' and 'A Stolen Life.'

 

Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/11

 

Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
April 28, 2024 2:33am
Page 111: A book for kids who want to rule the universe

Pages are 333-second or less pulls from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

They are released at 3:33am between Chapters.  

 

Page 111 comes from Chapter 11 with Kerri Kolen, editor of 'The Happiness Equation,' 'Lion,' and 'A Stolen Life.'

 

Listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/11

 

Get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

Join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
April 23, 2024 6:48pm
Chapter 135: Cal Newport severs cell subservience to steep slow success

Cal Newport is a guide, a visionary, a role model to me and millions of others on living an intentional and productive life amidst our noisy, scatterbrained, tech-drenched world.


He’s an MIT-trained computer science professor at Georgetown University and author of 10 books which have collectively sold over 2 million copies including ‘Deep Work,’ ‘Digital Minimalism,’ and his latest bestseller, ‘Slow Productivity.’


“I sometimes joke that my entire career is built on giving two-word terms to things everyone thinks and knows,” Cal says, but the truth is he’s doing a lot more than that.

April 19, 2024 2:33am
Page 105: What makes an author an author?

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 105 comes from Chapter 10 with award-winning screenwriter and novelist, Elan Mastai.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/10

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
April 14, 2024 2:33am
Page 104: A book recommendation for fans of X-Men

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 104 comes from Chapter 10 with award-winning screenwriter and novelist, Elan Mastai.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/10

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
April 09, 2024 2:33am
Page 103: You are what you do

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 103 comes from Chapter 10 with award-winning screenwriter and novelist, Elan Mastai.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/10

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
April 04, 2024 2:33am
Page 102: One way to land a million-dollar book deal for your first book

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 102 comes from Chapter 10 with award-winning screenwriter and novelist, Elan Mastai.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/10

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
March 30, 2024 2:33am
Page 101: How do you find your writing voice?

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 101 comes from Chapter 10 with award-winning screenwriter and novelist, Elan Mastai.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/10

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
March 25, 2024 2:00am
Chapter 134: Susan Orlean on lusty ledes and literary lessons for life
I got an email from longtime 3 Booker Bo Boswell who told me he found an enticingly-titled thread on reddit called “What’s your field or study (hobbyist or professional) and what’s a cornerstone beginners book for that topic/field?”     The most upvoted reply on the thread read: "Librarian here, Susan Orlean’s ‘The Library Book’ is at first glance a true-crime book about tracking the arsonist who set fire and burned down the main library in Los Angeles, but it also gives a comprehensive glimpse into contemporary libraries and their issues, especially updating a view of them if you haven’t been insi...
March 13, 2024 3:33am
Page 93: The most original voice in American comedy writing

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 93 comes from Chapter 9 with the inimitable, indomitable, indefatigable Dave Barry.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/9

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
March 08, 2024 2:33am
Page 92: What to do before you start writing a story

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 92 comes from Chapter 9 with the inimitable, indomitable, indefatigable Dave Barry.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/9

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
March 02, 2024 2:33am
Page 91: Dave Barry's advice on writing comedy

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 91 comes from Chapter 9 with the inimitable, indomitable, indefatigable Dave Barry.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/9

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
February 24, 2024 6:30am
Chapter 133: Celine Song stitches sumptuous stories from Seoul to soul

It’s Oscar season!

 

I was so thrilled to see ‘Past Lives’, the astounding slow-moving-yet-somehow-fast-paced debut film from Celine Song nominated for Best Picture. Best Picture! On her very first film. Oh, and no biggie, Best Screenplay, too. This following a slew of other noms like 5 Golden Globes, 3 Critics Choice Awards, 3 BAFTAs, and a recent Director’s Guild of America win for Outstanding Directorial Achievement for a First-Time Feature Film.

 

Leslie and I loved ‘Past Lives’ so much we went back to theaters to see it again. The film had such unique energy...

February 17, 2024 2:33am
Page 83: A book that tells us why people enjoy publicly shaming others

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 83 comes from Chapter 8 with Sarah Andersen, author of 'Sarah's Scribbles'.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/8

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
February 10, 2024 2:33am
Page 82: A book to help you embrace your amateurness

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 82 comes from Chapter 8 with Sarah Andersen, author of 'Sarah's Scribbles'.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/8

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
February 03, 2024 2:33pm
Page 81: Connecting with your favorite version of yourself

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 81 comes from Chapter 8 with Sarah Andersen, author of 'Sarah's Scribbles'.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/8

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail
January 25, 2024 11:54am
Chapter 132: Robin Dunbar on nullifying negativity with numbered natural networks

Back in Chapter 101 of ‘3 Books’ we had a magical, eve-of-‘Everything-Everywhere-All-At-Once’-coming-out moment-in-time conversation with creative super-geniuses Daniels — who are Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. We were discussing the fascinating book 'Sex At Dawn' and our conversation led to discussing Dunbar’s Number.

 

Dunbar’s Number! Have you heard of Dunbar’s Number? It’s 150! That’s the cognitive limit on the number of social relationships we can have. We, as in humans. Limit, as in our brains can’t handle any more. The number was coined, of course, by Oxford Emeritus Professor, Anthropologist, Evolutionary Psychologist, and Gener...

January 22, 2024 2:33am
Page 74: Even if you're not happy, act you're happy

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 74 comes from Chapter 7 with the world's greatest Uber Driver, Vishwas Aggrawal.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/7

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
January 16, 2024 2:33am
Page 73: Treat people well. Forget everything else.

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 73 comes from Chapter 7 with the world's greatest Uber Driver, Vishwas Aggrawal.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/7

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
January 08, 2024 2:33am
Page 72: Nobody will hate you if you're smiling at least

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 72 comes from Chapter 7 with the world's greatest Uber Driver, Vishwas Aggrawal.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/7

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
January 03, 2024 2:33am
Page 71: If I'm doing even Uber, I'm going to do it best

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 71 comes from Chapter 7 with the world's greatest Uber Driver, Vishwas Aggrawal.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/7

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
December 26, 2023 6:33pm
Chapter 131: J. Drew Lanham on breaking boundaries to become better birdwatchers
Buckle up! We are heading down to the fields of Clemson, South Carolina!     I got an email from 3 Booker Rumble D. back in February which said “Neil, I have a guest suggestion for you. J Drew Lanham is a 2022 MacArthur fellow and an American ornithologist. I loved his book and would love to hear you interview him (maybe while you guys go birding?)” Intrigued, I looked him up and discovered I … sort of already knew him? I had read and loved his wonderfully thoughtful and nuanced essay last year called "What Do We Do About John James Audubon?" and his viral Yo...
December 21, 2023 9:27pm
The Best of 2023: Neil Pasricha rewinds and reflects on the richness of reading

Another year around the sun!

 

It is the Winter Solstice which means it is time for our sixth annual "Best Of" episode of 3 Books. 3 Books began ​back in 2018​ with a simple goal of counting down the 1000 most formative books in the world ... 3 books at a time. We wanted this show to help all of us read more and read better and we wanted to do that by being different -- with a lunar-based schedule and a deep intention of being an ‘intrinsically-motivated journey’ with no ads, sponsors, commercials, or interruptions.

 

We started col...

December 18, 2023 2:33am
Page 63: Judy Blume's advice on getting your kid to read

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 63 comes from Chapter 6 with the one and only Judy Blume.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/6

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
December 13, 2023 2:33am
Page 62: The YA series that shaped Judy Blume

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 62 comes from Chapter 6 with the one and only Judy Blume.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/6

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
December 08, 2023 2:33am
Page 61: Judy Blume's favorite children's book

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 61 comes from Chapter 6 with the one and only Judy Blume.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/6

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
November 27, 2023 3:16am
Chapter 130: Ralph Nader on corporate crime creating classist chaos

“Your airbag” by Ralph Nader. “Your seatbelt” by Ralph Nader. “Your cleaner air” by Ralph Nader. “Your safer food” by Ralph Nader. “Your lead protection when you get dental x-rays", “Your warning labels on cigarettes”, “Your right to know if you’re exposed to dangerous chemicals at your job”. By Ralph Nader, by Ralph Nader, by Ralph Nader.

 

We slap names on everything! Bylines. Authorship! We see names on everything in our ego-oriented society with commercialization and profit maximization near its core. But Ralph’s name isn’t on any of these things. Could be!  ​Maybe should be​! But when you’ve sp...

November 20, 2023 5:30am
Bookmark: Leslie Richardson on practicing peaceful parenting

Today I'm putting out a special Bookmark episode of 3 Books featuring my incredible wife ​Leslie Richardson​. If you've been listening to 3 Books for a while you've heard Leslie interviewing guests like ​Brené Brown​, ​Kristen Neff​, and ​Rebecca the Sex Therapist​. And, of course, I started the show by interviewing her way back in ​Chapter 1​. But this time she takes center stage on a topic she's deeply passionate about: parenting. And, specifically here, how to nurture self-compassion as a parent when riding the waves through challenging times.

 

This recent interview Leslie did with Dajana Yoakley at the Self-Compassionate...

November 17, 2023 2:33am
Page 53: This book teaches us why we get fat—and what to do about it

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 53 comes from Chapter 5 with Gretchen Rubin, author of 'The Happiness Project' and podcaster behind 'Happier'.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/5

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
November 13, 2023 2:33am
Page 52: An immersive children's book every adult should read

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 52 comes from Chapter 5 with Gretchen Rubin, author of 'The Happiness Project' and podcaster behind 'Happier'.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/5

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
November 06, 2023 1:33am
Page 51: Gretchen Rubin's single biggest advice to writers

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 51 comes from Chapter 5 with Gretchen Rubin, author of 'The Happiness Project' and podcaster behind 'Happier'.

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/5

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
October 28, 2023 3:24pm
Chapter 129: Sahil Bloom freezes at 4am to find fortune and finish first

I flew down to New York City and sat in a plush purple corner booth at the pricey and exclusive Core Club in midtown Manhattan. Sahil Bloom is the youngest member they have because, as he says, "If you get into the right rooms, good things start to happen."

 

Sahil Bloom is a fascinating, unconventional, maniacally disciplined, wisdom-distilling writer, thinker, and investor -- with a goal of motivating a billion people to live their best lives in a kind of Tim Ferriss or Robin Sharma for the next generation.

 

He grew up...

October 20, 2023 2:33am
Page 43: A book for the thoughtful, strange, quirky-curious reader

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 43 comes from Chapter 4 with Sarah Ramsey, my favorite Toronto Bookseller!

 

Listen to the full chapter on Apple, Spotify, or 3Books.co

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
October 13, 2023 2:33am
Page 42: A book for challenging our view of beauty

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 42 comes from Chapter 4 with Sarah Ramsey, my favorite Toronto Bookseller!

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/4

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
October 06, 2023 2:33am
Page 41: A young-adult book that offers us quiet strength and connection...

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 41 comes from Chapter 4 with Sarah Ramsey, my favorite Toronto Bookseller!

 

To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/4

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
September 29, 2023 4:57am
Chapter 128: Heather McGowan listens to lessons from the Lakota and Legacy of Luna

I started 3 Books back in 2018.

 

I didn't fully appreciate how big, wide, and deep the core question of this 22-year conversation was at the beginning. "What are your 3 most formative books?" Sounds simple! But as you trace back which books inspired ideals, ignited passions, altered values, slingshotted directions...well, it turns out there's always a lot there.

 

That was definitely the case as I recorded Chapter 128 of 3 Books in a Washington DC hotel room overlooking the Potomac with writer, designer, and speaker Heather McGowan. Heather is a big thinker focused on the "futur...

September 25, 2023 2:33am
Page 34: How do you measure trust?
Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.  
Page 34 comes from Chapter 3 with Seth Godin, author of 'Tribes' and 'Linchpin'.  
To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/3     To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail     To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
September 18, 2023 2:33am
Page 33: How to see (and drop) the narrative
Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.     Page 33 comes from Chapter 3 with Seth Godin, author of 'Tribes' and 'Linchpin'.  
To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/3  
To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail  
To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
September 11, 2023 2:33am
Page 32: Why you should get off the plane
Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.  
Page 32 comes from Chapter 3 with Seth Godin, author of 'Tribes' and 'Linchpin'.  
To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/3  
To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail     To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
September 05, 2023 2:33am
Page 31: How to tell yourself a different story
Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.     Page 31 comes from Chapter 3 with Seth Godin, author of 'Tribes' and 'Linchpin'.  
To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/3  
To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail  
To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
August 30, 2023 8:35pm
Chapter 127: Lenore Skenazy on killing coddling to create capable kids

Early episodes of Sesame Street from the late 1960s show five-year-olds walking streets alone, talking to strangers, and playing on vacant lots, but when those episodes were released on DVD years later a warning was added at the beginning saying “The following is intended for adult viewing only and may not be suitable for young viewers.”

 

I read about this in ‘Stolen Focus’, the massive bestseller by Johann Hari, our guest in Chapter 121. Johann went on in his book to discuss how ‘the confinement of our children’ is contributing to our plummeting ability to focus and he brough...

August 21, 2023 2:33am
Page 22: How to build trust with strangers

Page 22 comes from Chapter 2 with Frank Warren, creator of PostSecret.

 

To listen to the full chapter: http://www.3books.co/chapters/2

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
August 10, 2023 2:33am
Page 21: How to get people to open up

Page 21 comes from Chapter 2 with Frank Warren, creator of PostSecret.

 

To listen to the full chapter:  http://www.3books.co/chapters/2

 

To get the 3 Books email:  http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
August 01, 2023 1:31pm
Chapter 126: Jully Black on anthem alterations and attitude absolutions

I’ve been lucky enough to be invited onto ‘The Social’ (@TheSocialCTV) a few times. Do you know the show? It’s like ‘The View’, but Canadian, with four dynamic hosts sharing fast-paced opinions in a raucous, bombastic, high-energy exchange. Producers hand you the topics of the day about 30 minutes before you go on — formed by that morning’s early headlines — and then it’s time to form an opinion and get ready to, no big deal, share it live with millions of people a few minutes later. Definitely one of the most challenging jobs I’ve ever had and I can’t tell you h...

July 28, 2023 5:30am
Page 13: Fighting book shame

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 13 comes from Chapter 1 with Leslie Richardson.

 

To listen to the full chapter: http://www.3books.co/chapters/1

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
July 26, 2023 5:30am
Page 12: How to prioritize reading

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.

 

Page 12 comes from Chapter 1 with Leslie Richardson.

 

To listen to the full chapter: http://www.3books.co/chapters/1

 

To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail

 

To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
July 24, 2023 5:30am
Page 11: Why I started this podcast

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.


Page 11 comes from Chapter 1 with Leslie Richardson.


To listen to the full chapter: http://www.3books.co/chapters/1


To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail


To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
July 03, 2023 6:38am
Chapter 125: Two Syrian Chefs share sheep and shawarma shopkeeping shenanigans
“All the time focus on the positive things. Not the negative things. Then the karma, it will come, it will reflect to you.”     Meet Chef Osama Harwash and Chef Houssam Harwash. Two brothers who came to Canada as Syrian refugees and rented a food stall to begin crafting traditional recipes learned from four generations of Syrian chefs. Listen as they share lessons learned from their sheep-farming great-grandfather at the fall of the Ottoman Empire and then tell us how mint and cardamom help make the perfect lemonade for sweltering Torontonians.  
I was riding past a tight row of graffiti-covered food st...
June 17, 2023 11:37pm
Bookmark: Live At 'Word On The Street' Book Festival
Do you have book festivals where you live?      I feel like book festivals are such a sign of healthy community. Long lines to check out independent manga. Local bookstores sponsoring stages where authors answer questions. People walking by dressed as Harry Potter and wearing "The book was better" T-shirts. And, of course, just the energy that comes from thousands and thousands of readers walking around carrying bags full of books. And the air pulsating with thousands of people all talking about books at the same time...     For the past 34 years -- minus a few years off for covid -- the incre...
June 03, 2023 10:41pm
Chapter 124: Martellus Bennett weaves Willy Wonka with warrior wisdom

Martellus Bennett is reimagining imagination. 

He’s perhaps best known in cultural press for his championship NFL career which included the famous Super Bowl LI comeback where his Patriots were down 28-3 at halftime and rallied for a 34-28 win in OT. But Martellus, who goes by Marty now as well as the new moniker Mr.TOMONOSHi, served as starting Tight End and recorded five catches for 62 yards as well as drawing the key Pass Interference penalty that set up the game-winning touchdown. He said afterwards he didn’t know they won. “I'm telling you, bro. I was in flow...

May 19, 2023 10:53am
Bookmark: Rocking and rolling with ravishing Rich Roll
Happy new moon! Here's a story and a snip from my appearance on The Rich Roll Podcast. Listen to the full show right here:   YouTube   Apple   Spotify
May 05, 2023 12:34pm
Chapter 123: Suzy Batiz on suffering, surviving, and selling shit

“Do you realize what you’ve done? You’ve taken the smell out of shit!”

 

Suzy Batiz says this is what her husband Hector said — shocked! amazed! — when he realized the strange essential oil spray she’d been obsessively working on late into the night for nine straight months really and actually … worked.

 

Today Suzy is founder of billion-dollar-valued Poo-Pourri and supernatural. But the endless topline superlatives surrounding her — EY Entrepreneur of the Year, ranked #240 on Forbes “Richest Self-Made” Woman list just above Serena Williams — actually mask the more startling, complex, inspiring story underneath...

May 05, 2023 10:34am
Trailer: Chapter 123: Suzy Batiz on suffering, surviving, and selling shit

Listen to the full episode at 3books.co/chapters/123
April 19, 2023 11:12pm
Bookmark: Honing healthy happy habits with the Holdernesses

Penn and Kim Holderness are a beam of light in the world. 

 

If you aren't one of the billion people -- like, an actual billion -- who've watched their viral videos, well then, let me quickly usher you over to their YouTube Channel or Instagram feed. From their original 2013 "#XMAS JAMMIES" singing Christmas card (parodied by Kristin Wiig and team on SNL) to their truly astounding "Hamilton Mask-Up Medley" at the peak of the pandemic -- well, it's all right there. Laughs, connection, love offered as endless simple and reorienting gifts in our disorienting world. 

...
April 05, 2023 11:34pm
Chapter 122: Tank Sinatra on masterpiece microdosing and meme mastery in our manufactured madness

Diluting central news sources. Constantly narrowing echo chambers. An ever-fracturing sense of community. It’s easy to feel disconnected from each other right now — and from what’s collectively real and true in the world. We need people and places that help unify us and bring us together.

 

“Fear displaces faith and vice versa,” says Tank Sinatra on Chapter 122 of 3 Books. “And laughter displaces everything. It’s impossible to be sad when you’re laughing.” It's no wonder more than 10 million people follow Tank — the world’s #1 meme creator.

 

At @tank.sinatra he shares with 3...

March 21, 2023 12:23pm
Bookmark: On braving bushy brambles and becoming a birder

I felt trapped early in the pandemic.

 

I normally walk every day in downtown Toronto. I write on park benches and in distant coffee shops and love popping into bookstores and bumping into friends. I am very privileged in that I get to travel one or two days a week, too. But then: the pandemic. It hit hard and I was suddenly sitting in a makeshift office upstairs. Staring at four blank walls and peering out a glass door into the trees and electrical wires outside.

 

And then I saw it. A...

March 07, 2023 6:40am
Chapter 121: Johann Hari on deleting devious dogma and discovering deeper designs
Happy full moon, everybody!     Do you feel like the world today -- our culture today -- is pulling us further and further away from things that matter? Like deep in-person, real-life, human connections. Like the ability to focus on things that require deep thought, care, and time -- like reading books. Are you feeling yourself sucked into the algorithmic abyss -- where endless dings and pings and alerts and notifications pull us into echo chambers that prey on biological tendencies beyond our comprehension?     You may remember our chat on 3 Books six chapters ago with Dr. Gabor Maté who calls our culture...
February 20, 2023 1:05am
[Oscar Encore!] Daniels existentially explore everything everywhere
Happy new moon, everybody!     I have a very special Oscar Encore episode for you today -- in celebration of our guests little-film-that-could EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE scoring 11 (11!) Oscar nominations. Yes, the Oscars goes down in a few weeks on March 12th and it just seems worth pausing on how this remarkable non-sequel, non-superhero, paltry-budged, genre-smashing flick is suddenly poised for recognition in categories like (no biggie!) Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress.... and on and on.  
Some history! Way back in November 2021 I was in theatres in downtown Toronto and saw...
February 05, 2023 12:28pm
Chapter 120: Timothy Goodman on popping privilege paradigms and paving personal paths

Happy Snow Moon, everybody!

 

I've been thinking a lot again about what makes life important.

 

I'm convinced it's just not social media. News media. The endless firehose of negativity being blasted at our brains out there. No. It's not that. It's the curtains we pull around ourselves and our loved ones to create and hold space to be our truest selves.

 

We’ve only got 30,000 days here and they are always, always, always fleeting. So let's make sure on 3 Books we create and hold space to talk about...

January 21, 2023 2:53pm
Bookmark: The Current

Happy new moon! 

 

Today I’m sharing a recent conversation I had with veteran journalist Matt Galloway for his show The Current.

 

Hope you enjoy! 
January 06, 2023 5:07pm
Chapter 119: Steve Toltz on refining writing rituals and raising ravenous readers

What is your favorite novel?

 

It's a hard question. A big question! A question that makes most people hmmm for a while before they get to an answer. If they get to an answer! But I think I know mine. My favorite novel is A Fraction of a Whole by Steve Toltz.

 

First, the book came to me in an interesting way. I walked into wonderful indie bookstore Type on Queen Street West in downtown Toronto a couple days before my wedding to Leslie. I was looking for a good book to...

December 23, 2022 4:16am
Chapter 118: Catherine Hernandez poses for positivity with pride and presence

Do you ever have a book go viral through your family?

 

Your aunt reads it and tells everyone at dinner. The copy gets passed along. A few more dog ears show up. The spine gets cracked. And a year later half a dozen people have read it?

 

Well that's what happened in our family with Catherine Hernandez's wonderful debut novel Scarborough. I even just put it on my Best Of 2022 list!

 

Catherine Hernandez is an award winning Canadian author and screenwriter.

 

Born in Toro...

December 21, 2022 3:48pm
The Best of 2022: Neil Pasricha winds and wades through wandering wisdoms

Can you believe it?

 

We started 3 Books back on March 31, 2018 with the goal of counting down the 1000 most formative books in the world. We said we would hang out on the exact minute of every single new moon and every single full moon for nearly 15 straight years until we collected all 1000 of them. We set the intention of making this show an ‘intrinsically-motivated journey’ and pledged to doing it with no ads, no sponsors, no commercials, and no interruptions. To help guide ourselves we started collecting Values like no book shame, no book guilt, quit more...

December 07, 2022 10:08pm
Chapter 117: Ajay Agrawal and Gina Buonaguro on puzzling pasts and portending possibilities

On the heels of launching my latest book, Our Book of Awesome, I’m enjoying the fellowship of two authors in my life — one of whom I met 22 years ago when I was in my final year at Queen’s.

 

Bounding into my life at the time came a young professor named Ajay Agrawal. And I mean bounding! He was cold calling left, right and center,  dancing around the room, and extremely theatrical. As you listen to him you’ll see why I found him so captivating and clairvoyant. 

 

Professor Ajay Agrawal has...

December 05, 2022 11:01pm
Bookmark: Our Book of Awesome Book Launch Special

My new book Our Book of Awesome comes out today!

 

Grab a copy at www.ourbookofawesome.com
November 23, 2022 4:57pm
Chapter 116: Bryan Stevenson on handling haunting histories with heart and hope

I got a phone call at 1-833-READ-A-LOT from Austin Wong in Oregon telling me we had to get Bryan Stevenson on 3 Books. I looked into Austin’s request and came upon Bryan's incredible bestseller Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. I listened to his 10-million plus hit TED Talk "We need to talk about an injustice" and approached the Equal Justice Initiative to have him on as a guest.

 

We finally found a time to have the conversation way down in Austin, Texas, where we were both scheduled to speak at the sam...

November 08, 2022 4:02am
Chapter 115: Gabor Maté targets toxic triggers to transcend trauma

Let’s flash back to Budapest Hungary in 1944 where a little baby boy named Gabor lay crying in his crib. He wouldn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. His mother called the doctor who said, “All my Jewish babies are crying”.

 

Nazis had taken over the country and killed Gabor’s grandparents in Auschwitz. Gabor’s dad was put into forced labor and his aunt was missing. Today we understand that Gabor was experiencing trauma through his mother’s stress.

 

His father thankfully returned after the war and when he was 12 years old, the family mo...

October 25, 2022 5:48am
Chapter 114: Light Watkins on Mexico's marvels, meditation myths, and mental mastery

Five years ago I was invited down to Brooklyn to speak at an event called The Shine Movement. It was an intriguing soul-refueling combination of meditation, drumming, giving, and a few words by me. The event attracted a fascinating subculture of people and I felt slightly entranced meeting the man and mind behind it all: Light Watkins.

 

Light Watkins is someone I consider a master of spirit and mind. He grew up in Montgomery, Alabama (with siblings Candy, Trey, and Dusty!) in the 70s and 80s, traveled the world as a fashion model, and then w...

October 09, 2022 3:54pm
Chapter 113: Alie Ward oozes originality over odysseys and ologies

Oh hey. 

 

It’s the person who just dropped their phone on the bus right when the driver hit the gas and now the phone’s sliding across the sandy floor all the way to the back… Neil. Neil Pasricha. And now it is finally time for our much-anticipated 3 Books chapter with the one and only ... Alie Ward.

 

Alie is the Sacramento-raised youngest of 3 girls who grew up in the 80s listening to DadWard deliver the morning news from the local radio station. She spent her childhood playing with bugs and just bein...

September 25, 2022 4:54pm
Chapter 112: Katie Mack on cultivating curiosity and contemplating the cosmos

I want to make you dizzy.

 

I want to make you look up into the sky and comprehend, maybe for the first time, the darkness that lies beyond the evanescent wisp of the atmosphere, the endless depths of the cosmos, a desolation by degrees

 

These two lines begin an incredible poem called “Disorientation”... by Katie Mack.

 

Did you feel dizzy reading it? I did. I do!

 

What is the universe? Where did it come from? What was here before it? How long has it laste...

September 22, 2022 8:03pm
Bookmark: The two-minute morning rule for having a great day

Happy Equinox!

 

Today the sun is directly above the equator so no matter where you are the day and the night are around equal length.

 

Two equinoxes and two solstices give us four pause points between our regular scheduled lunar programming to drop a little bookmark in the midst of our epic journey about formative books.

 

Today I want share the two-minute morning practice I use to begin my day.

 

So: A number of years ago I was going through a tough time and...

September 10, 2022 4:59am
Chapter 111: Austin Kleon draws on doodling to design and dream

Buckle up!

 

Today we are flying down to hot, hot Austin, Texas where we’re going to grab three chairs on the grackle-filled patio of Mi Madre’s restaurant and order ourselves some enchiladas and #0 breakfast tacos before having lunch with the wise and wonderful Austin Kleon.

 

Austin in Austin — a treat! Austin Kleon is “a writer who draws” and the author of a number of my favorite books including Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work, and Keep Going. His books are kalaidoscopic collage-patchwork delights, focus on themes of creativity, are massive...

August 27, 2022 3:17am
Chapter 110: Kevin Kelly on quashing quandaries with curiosity and creativity

Kevin Kelly is a man of many titles.

 

Krista Tippett calls him a ‘philosopher technologist’, Tim Ferriss calls him ‘the world’s most interesting man’, and Stephen J. Dubner says simply, “If I was the Queen, I would want Kevin Kelly on my Privy Council.”

 

Kevin Kelly is the first person — ever! — to be hired online. When? 1983. For what job? A fascinating one! We’re going to talk about it. He dropped out of college after a year to spend ten years backpacking around Asia. (His photos have just been released in a wonderful paperwe...

August 11, 2022 8:35pm
Chapter 109: Rebecca the Sex Educator on embracing erotic exploration

What is your erotic potential? And how might you ... increase it? Online erotica? Mindful masturbation? Solo nude mirror practices? The answer is all of the above and much, much more.

 

To help guide us through the erotic bramblebush (erotic bramblebush? erotic bramblebush!) we are very lucky to sit down with the wise and wonderful Rebecca S. Kay.

 

Rebecca is a Sex Educator with over ten years of experience. She's been a sexual advisor at Planned Parenthood, the Sexual Education Centre at the University of Toronto and the Brandon Centre in London, En...

July 28, 2022 12:54pm
Chapter 108: Mohsin Hamid on the pleasures of pages and the pulse of Pakistan

Mohsin Hamid is one of the greatest writers of this generation.

 

He was born in 1971 in Lahore, Pakistan before moving to California at age 3 while his dad did a doctorate at Stanford. At age 9, in 1980, he moved back to Pakistan and remained there until he was 18 when he came back to the US to go to Princeton. He graduated summa cum laude and studied under novelists Toni Morrison and Joyce Carol Oates.

Mohsin's first novel, Moth Smoke (2000), told the story of an ex-banker and heroin addict in contemporary Lahore. His second, The Reluctant F...

July 13, 2022 1:37pm
Chapter 107: Latanya and Jerry build biblio buzz on the Bronx Bound Books bus

Happy full moon!

 

Hard to believe we are halfway through our fifth year of this epic pilgrimage.

 

Are you up for going to the Bronx to hang out on a book bus? What!? Well, a few months ago I got an email from 3 Booker Karen where she said “Hi Neil. I love this! Have you seen it?” The this was this video, going viral, about a woman in the Bronx trying to get funding to start up a bookstore on wheels.

 

I couldn't believe that the 1.6 million residen...

June 28, 2022 9:52pm
Chapter 106: Alok Vaid-Menon battles binary boundaries and beauty biases

Alok ("A-loke") Vaid-Menon was born in College Station, Texas in 1991 to parents from India and Malaysia.

 

When they were young they’d dress up in their mom and sister’s clothes and dance around the living room for all their extended family, including their Auntie Urvashi (a gender non-confirming lesbian of color and national activist). The entire room would clap and cheer them on over syrupy bowls of gulab jamon. But when they performed a similar Bollywood routine onstage at the school talent show at age six ... they got laughed at by the entire school. Thus...

June 21, 2022 4:13am
Bookmark: How to help someone with anxiety or depression

Happy Summer Solstice! (and happy Winter Solstice!)

 

Have you noticed we're tilting further toward the sun compared to every other time of the year? While our Australian, Chilean, and Easter Islander friends are tilting further away? This means is time for another 3 Book bookmark -- our relatively recent innovation to add a little spice to our 333 chapters along the way. Sometimes a bookmark will be me on another podcast, sometimes it'll be me giving a speech, and sometimes, like this time, it'll literally just be a YouTube video I made years ago that's somehow struck a...

June 14, 2022 6:51am
Chapter 105: Nancy the Librarian on the riches and rewards of resplendent reading

Nancy Pearl is a Superhero Librarian.

 

One of our values on 3 Books is “Librarians and booksellers are doctors for the mind” and while we’ve hung out with a number of booksellers, Nancy is somehow our very first librarian!

 

How did we find Nancy? Well, 3 Booker Cindy Sharek left us a gushing voicemail at 1-833-READ-A-LOT singing Nancy’s praises and we were convinced. She’s won the Librarian of the Year Award, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, and, get this, has even been turned into an acti...

May 30, 2022 6:30am
Chapter 104: Boniface Mwangi combats corrosive Kenyan corruption with courage and kindness

Boniface Mwangi is a Nairobi-based social justice activist fighting for equity in his home country and abroad. In 2007 his photos of violence following the national election went viral and spawned global attention on political instability and corruption in Kenya.

 

He is the subject of the Sundance-award winning documentary Softie and the author of the photojournalism book Unbounded which has been hailed by Hilary Clinton and President Barack Obama.

 

Over two million people follow him @bonifacemwangi on Twitter and Facebook where he remarkably fearlessly calls attention to untold cases of abuse, corruption, an...

May 15, 2022 11:14pm
Chapter 103: Jonathan Haidt on mirrory misconceptions and morality in the matrix

Jonathan Haidt is the Professor of Ethical Leadership at NYU’s Stern School of Business and the author of bestsellers The Righteous Mind, The Happiness Hypothesis and The Coddling of the American Mind. He has been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, selected as one of the Top 50 Thinkers in the world, and delivered four TED Talks.

 

I was lucky to be introduced to Jon by our mutual friend Roger Martin, our guest in Chapter 68.

 

We sit at his kitchen table to discuss his then-in-process 8000-word Atlantic cover stor...

April 30, 2022 3:28pm
Chapter 102: Susan Cain on bathing in beauty, books, and bittersweetness

This is a very unique chapter!

 

It is a double chapter, in a way.

 

To begin with I was so lucky to interview Susan Cain at our very first live chapter of 3 Books at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. So many 3 Bookers came out and celebrated on a snowy night just before the pandemic began. (We had no idea!) At the time Susan was deep in the throes of writing her new book Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole but as we discuss a lot of he...

April 16, 2022 1:55pm
Chapter 101: Daniels existentially explore everything everywhere

The best movie I have seen in years is called Everything, Everywhere All At Once and it was written and directed by Daniels. Daniels? Yes, Daniels. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, to be specific. Two brilliant artists who met in college and began stitching together short films before working on music videos like Turn Down For What by DJ Snake and Lil John (over a billion views), Simple Song by The Shins, and Tongues by Joywave. Watch those to see their energy and magic.

 

Daniels made their feature-length debut at Sundance in 2016 with Swiss Army M...

April 01, 2022 1:24am
Chapter 100: Neil and Leslie on the creative chaos of craft and the kindness of committed community

Welcome to Chapter 100!

 

Thank you for four years of this journey and conversation.

 

To mark the move into triple digits I thought we could do a reflection and visioning discussion … back in the basement with Leslie just like we did in Chapter 1.

 

We will discuss some highs and lows, lessons learned, current podcast challenges, and some dreams for the future.

 

Thank you for being a 3 Booker and joining this heart-forward community of book lovers, writers, makers, sellers, and librarians. Whether you’re a biblioma...

March 20, 2022 10:33am
Bookmark: The Knowledge Project

Welcome to Bookmark #5.

 

Last year we started experimenting with the idea of releasing four extra episodes during the year to mark the spring and fall equinoxes, as well as the summer and winter solstices.

 

You may recall we released my guest appearance on Nora McInerny’s wonderful podcast, Terrible Thanks for Asking, we then released my SXSW Talk: Building Trust in Distrustful Times, we followed this up with my appearance on Ologies with Alie Ward and we released the annual Best Of 2021.

 

This year I am curious if th...

March 18, 2022 2:17am
Chapter 99: Doug the Bookseller on bookstore belonging and bottomless bibliomania

Just dial 416-482-5665 and chances are Doug Miller will pick up the phone at Doug Miller Books, an incredible stuffed-to-the-ceiling bookstore that represents a mere sliver of the over 500,000-book collection of self-described bibliomaniac Doug Miller. Why do I say chances are? Well, Doug works in his shop 364 days a week. He comes mid-morning every day and shovels the front walks of six of his neighbors in Koreatown in Toronto, Canada.

 

I have known Doug Miller for over ten years and it was a rare treat to spend an afternoon with him, with you, a...

March 02, 2022 11:34am
Chapter 98: IN-Q invites intimacy, intentionality, and interstellar inquiry

I’m very pleased, privileged, and proud to introduce or re-introduce you to the sunbeaming sage that is IN-Q.

 

IN-Q is an award winning poet, multi-platinum song-writer and the bestselling author of the book Inquire Within which I highly, highly recommend. It deserves an even bigger spotlight! It’s a wonderful collection of IN-Q’s poetry. Poetry? Oh yes. Oh, oh yes.

 

His achievements include being named to Oprah’s Super Soul 100 list of the world’s most influential thought leaders, being the first spoken word artist to perform with Cirque du Soleil, a...

February 16, 2022 10:56am
Chapter 97: Debbie Millman shuns shame to spark spirit and sew soulful symbiosis

Are you a passionate fan of Design Matters like I am? It’s one of the world’s oldest podcasts and one of the best shows out there. Debbie Millman scratches her insatiable curiosity and explores what it means to live a rich, fulfilling, intentional life with luminaries like Brené Brown, Cheryl Strayed, Brandon Stanton, Seth Godin, and, of course, Roxane Gay. (All guests of 3 Books, too! Clearly we have tethers between our hearts.)

 

Where do we start with Debbie Millman?

 

Well, she’s ‘one of the most creative people in business’ a...

January 31, 2022 11:46pm
Chapter 96: Dave the CEO on stratospheric strategizing and subtle secrets of success

David Cheesewright is the former CEO of Walmart International.

 

In that role he led over a million people, across over fifty different businesses, and nearly thirty countries.

 

A behemoth! Both the job and the company. How much of a behemoth? Well, Walmart is literally #1 overall on the Fortune 500 which means no company in the entire world made more money than they did.

 

How did a small town store from Bentonville, Arkansas rise to be the largest company in the world? Well, one big way they do it is...

January 17, 2022 5:48pm
Chapter 95: Bess Kalb on kvetching over koans and kindling comic kinship

“Why are women, who have the whole male world at their mercy, not funny? Please do not pretend to know what I am talking about.”

 

So begins a 2007 Vanity Fair article by Christopher Hitchens called “Why Women Aren’t Funny”.

 

College student Bess Kalb picked up a copy of the magazine, read it on her train ride from New York to Rhode Island, and, in her words, “became radicalized.” She decided then and there to drop out of school and become a comedy writer. She scored an internship with The Colbert Report and then...

January 02, 2022 12:33pm
Chapter 94: Dan the Tailor on rappelling rabbit-holes and rocking with Ronnie

Daniel Torjman is beautiful.

 

And so is his incredible store 18 Waits.

 

Two years ago I was walking down Queen Street West in Toronto and I noticed a couple nice men’s shirts in a window and stepped inside. I was greeted by an old hardwood floor, jazz playing on a record, classic literature on display, and an incredibly curated assortment of shirts, coats, bandanas, and hats. I started chatting with owner (tailor! captain!) Daniel Torjman and discovered we were the same age and he was also a fairly new dad trying to f...

December 21, 2021 9:59am
The Best of 2021: Neil Pasricha curates courageous, candid, and colorful conversations

Can you believe it?

 

We started 3 Books back on March 31, 2018 with the goal of counting down the 1000 most formative books in the world. We said we would hang out on the exact minute of every single new moon and every single full moon for nearly 15 straight years until we collected all 1000 of them. We set the intention of making this show an ‘intrinsically-motivated journey’ and pledged to doing it with no ads, no sponsors, no commercials, and no interruptions. To help guide ourselves we started collecting Values like no book shame, no book guilt, quit more...

December 18, 2021 10:35pm
Chapter 93: Chris Hadfield on the sci-fi and science of sustainable space settlement

Hello 3 Bookers!

 

Let’s close off our fourth year of 3 Books by sitting down with Chris Hadfield at his kitchen table. His five-month old puppy New Henry is sniffling and occasionally barking on his lap. Fat snowflakes slowly drift down outside the big window above the shelf full of succulents. And lying between us is a stack of Christmas cards that Chris is signing along with my copy of his brand new bestselling thriller The Apollo Murders … as well, of course, as his three most formative books.

 

Commander Chris Hadfield has lived...

December 04, 2021 1:43am
Chapter 92: Edward Packard on amplifying awareness with awe and adventure

Were you one of the 500 million people who read Choose Your Own Adventure books?

 

When I was growing up in the 80s these books were at the front of every library in every elementary school. Or, at least, in mine! I know for sure the kids at Sunset Heights Public School in Oshawa, Canada all went gonzo for them.

 

If you don’t know Choose Your Own Adventure, the books are written in the second person. The protagonist is … you! Who are you? Well, you might be a private investigator, mountain climbe...

November 19, 2021 2:57am
Chapter 91: Nora McInerny on nixing numbers and nurturing naked needs

Welcome to Chapter 91 of 3 Books!

 

How are you holding up in 2021? It has been a wild 20 months.

 

You’ve been telling me you are thankful for the show and I have been telling you I’m thankful for you. I appreciate your notes, your phone calls, your letters, and your reviews and we travel and meet across space and time — meeting up whenever the moon above is is completely full or completely empty.

 

Today I am so thrilled to share with you the enigmatic, witty, multi-hyphenate Nora McInerny...

November 04, 2021 4:14pm
Chapter 90: Derek Sivers on shattering suppositions with Stoic soul

Welcome.

 

Have a seat on the couch. Plug your headphones in for the dishes. Strap in for the long car ride. Let’s chill for a bit.

 

I’m so happy to have you as part of the 3 Books community. Welcome 3 Bookers! Welcome, Cover to Cover Club Members! And welcome, Secret Club Members. Thank you for being part of our ridiculous conversation over nearly 15 years. I was in my late 30s when I started 3 Books and I’ll be in my early 50s when I’m done.

 

What a joy...

October 20, 2021 9:56am
Chapter 89: Zafar the Hamburger Man on Bryant's basics and blossoming like Barack

I was riding my bike in downtown Toronto the other day and rolled past my old neighborhood a couple blocks north of Lake Ontario. And as I was riding I noticed my old burger joint! The whole neighborhood has changed — parking lots have become condos, motels have become hotels — but the burger joint has survived. I was excited so I locked my bike up in the middle of the concrete jungle and popped my head inside to ask if they’re open since it was just after 11am.

 

“Absolutely we’re open!,” a friendly guy in a black T...

October 06, 2021 6:05am
Chapter 88: Mel Robbins on stalling self sabotage and celebrating sexual selectivity

I love Mel Robbins.

I am one of the 30 million people who’ve viewed her TED Talk “How to stop screwing yourself over” and I’m one of the two million people who have a copy of The Five-Second Rule on my bookshelf. If you asked me five years ago if I’d have a book on my shelf telling people to simply count backwards from five to get out of bed, ask somebody out, or leave a toxic relationship well … I would have thought you were batty.

But that would have been just a few months b...

September 22, 2021 2:21pm
Bookmark: Ologies

Happy Fall Equinox Northern Hemisphere people. And Happy Spring Equinox to our friends south of the equator!

 

Are you ready for a new Bookmark? Just as a reminder, I’m experimenting with offering you a Bookmark four times this year. A little place to put the marginilia of this show.

 

Six months ago on the Spring equinox we had our first bookmark with my guest appearance on Nora McInerny’s award winning podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking. For the second Bookmark, on the exact minute of the June solstice of course, I shar...

September 20, 2021 6:54pm
Chapter 87: Jason Shiga on perilous puzzles and precarious paths

I grew up reading the Choose Your Own Adventure series but it had been years — decades even! — since I’d read a game book. Then I stumbled upon the fascinating book Meanwhile by Jason Shiga and was completely sucked back into this incredible genre.

 

When you open Meanwhile you are a young boy on his way to an ice-cream shop. If you get vanilla? You go home. The end! But if you get chocolate? You plunge into thousands of endlessly splintering storylines. You meet a mad scientist. You jump in a time travel machine. The fate of...

September 06, 2021 7:51pm
Chapter 86: My two-year-old son on whimsical wonderings and wandering Waldos

Do you ever feel book guilt?

 

Do you ever feel book shame?

 

Do you ever feel bad when you quit a book?

 

Do you ever feel like the books you read aren’t ‘hard’ enough?

 

These are common feelings that I know I’ve had. I say we need to get rid of all the book shame and book guilt we learn as we grow up because there really is no right or wrong way to read. We need to escape the book exhaustion t...

August 22, 2021 7:01am
Chapter 85: Jane McGonigal on slaying stress with superhero strengths

Happy Sturgeon Moon, everybody! And happy Blue Moon, too! Jane McGonigal joins us on Chapter 85 of 3 Books to help us celebrate.

 

Let’s start off with a question.

 

What would you do if you jumped out of a desk chair and slammed your head directly into an open cupboard door which gave you a massive concussion that left you bedridden for months? Oh, and you were told “No reading, no writing, no video games, no work, no email, no running, no alcohol, and no caffeine.”

 

Well, most of us wou...

August 08, 2021 8:50am
Chapter 84: Lori Gottlieb on therapists thoughtfully thrashing thinking theories

Do you have a therapist?

 

Do you meet up with someone on a regular basis to open up, talk about yourself, and get into the weeds of your emotions? Maybe the ones you can articulate, the ones you can’t articulate, the ones you’re angry about having, the ones you’re confused about having.

 

I started seeing a therapist about 10 years ago.

 

After the loss of my marriage and my best friend, it was suggested by my parents that I would benefit from seeing a therapist.

 <...

July 23, 2021 9:36pm
Chapter 83: Douglas Rushkoff on divisive duality and designer deaths

“Our technologies, markets and cultural institutions, once forces for human connection and expression, now isolate and repress us. It is time to remake society together, not as individual players, but as the team we actually are: Team Human.”

 

That little paragraph is printed right on the cover of the latest book by Douglas Rushkoff.

 

Do you know Douglas Rushkoff?

 

He’s a vivid, big-thinking author behind books like Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus, Present Shock, Program or Be Programmed, Screenagers, Playing the Future, Media Virus, and many othe...

July 09, 2021 8:16pm
Chapter 82: Quentin Tarantino on preferring penny paperbacks and perfecting the process

What was your first Tarantino experience?

 

I was thirteen years old in an unfinished basement watching Reservoir Dogs on VHS and can still remember how shook my friends and I were when we saw it.

 

Was that your first Tarantino experience? Or was it Pulp Fiction? Jackie Brown? Kill Bill? Inglourious Basterds? Django Unchained? The Hateful Eight? Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?

 

Well, the Tarantino Experience continues with his brand new book Once Upon A Time In Hollywood which is the propulsive, addictive, roller-coastering movie novelization of...

July 07, 2021 10:00am
Podcast Trailer: Quentin Tarantino

Hey 3 Bookers,

Chapter 82 with Quentin Tarantino drops on the new moon this Friday.

I thought I'd pay homage to the homage king by putting together my first ever podcast trailer. This is a sneak peek of what you'll hear in the full 2-hour podcast.

If you love 3 Books the greatest gift you can give the show is simply sharing it with those you love. This is a special community and our doors are open for all book lovers or aspiring book lovers out there.

Quentin and I will discuss how he...

June 24, 2021 1:39pm
Chapter 81: Dave Eggers on surreptitious spying in the snares of surveillance

I discovered Dave Eggers in the late 90s when the Internet was all belts and pinions and the only two comedy websites that I remember reading were The Onion and McSweeney’s.

The Onion’s site was the notorious outcropping of a campus comedy newspaper from Wisconsin and McSweeney’s was founded by a publishing dynamo Whiz Kid named Dave Eggers who’d worked at places like Wired and Might Magazine, which he’d cofounded out in San Francisco.

In 2000 Dave’s ‘anti-memoir’ A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius came out and, no big deal, was nominated fo...

June 20, 2021 10:31pm
Bookmark: SXSW 2019 - Building Trust in Distrustful Times

3 Books is published on the lunar calendar.

I share one new chapter of the show on the exact minute of every single full moon and every single new moon all the way up to September 1, 2031 at 5:52am.

But today … I don’t have a chapter for you.

I have a bookmark.

On every single equinox and every single solstice I will drop a little extra of some kind … a seasonal intermezzo if you will.

The first bookmark was with Nora McInerny, host of Terrible, Thanks for Asking, back on the Ma...

June 10, 2021 5:52am
Chapter 80: Kristin Neff on allowing, accepting, and applying anger artfully

Are you ready for a brain workout?

Are you ready for a mind expanding conversation with the incredible Dr. Kristin Neff?

Kristin received her doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley in moral development and followed it up with a post doc at the University of Denver studying self concept development and now she’s working as an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.

During Kristin’s last year of graduate school she became interested in Buddhism and has been practicing meditation in the Insight Meditation trad...

May 26, 2021 6:13am
Chapter 79: Yuyi Morales on Mexican massacres and the magic of Márquez

“The Ys sounds like Js,” Yuyi Morales tells me when I ask for the correct way to pronounce her name. It’s embarrassing to ask but my detective work online resulted in a half dozen different options.

Yuyi is a Mexican-American children’s book author and illustrator. She was born in Mexico and raised amongst giant grandmothers, mossy house walls, and rampaging feral gardens, fostering a strong bond with magical stories that ran in her family as a child.

Today she is known for her incredible children’s books which combine powerful spare language and sumptuous...

May 11, 2021 1:59pm
Chapter 78: Louis Sacher on sideways stories from Salinger to Steinbeck

I was a tiny and skinny kid with thick glasses at my public school in the suburbs of Toronto in the early 80s. I was pretty lonely and definitely hadn’t found my way. One day my librarian Ms. Ferrell handed me a book called Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar.

The book single-handedly turned me into a reader.

I had never read a book that was funny, absurd, choppy that just kept me flipping, flipping, flipping. I loved the book. I fell into the book. I read it again and again and ag...

April 26, 2021 10:31pm
Chapter 77: Jonny Sun on absurd algorithms altering the authenticity of art

Happy Pink Moon, everybody!

Way back in 2017, I came across a feature article in The New York Times Magazine called “A Whimsical Wordsmith Charts a Course Beyond Twitter.” The article was about MIT PhD student Jonny Sun’s online personality — as a sentimental alien — attracting a huge following online.  

I was like “Okay, this is about the latest viral Instagram influencer and their particular brand of attention seeking behavior.” But as I read the piece, and went deeper into the bio of Jonny Sun, I found myself fascinated. Jonny Sun is a PhD student at MIT looking to...

April 11, 2021 9:30pm
Chapter 76: Jenny Lawson on dark dollhouses delivering a door from depression

Do you suffer from anxiety disorder? Depression? Intrusive thoughts? Obsessive compulsive disorder? Voluntary hair pulling? Avoidant personality disorder? Any of the above?

Well, Jenny Lawson suffers from all of the above. Tuberculosis too, according to her wonderful new book. It’s an overwhelming way to live and only partly cured by being a global community leader for mental health through her wonderful blog (TheBloggess.com), her millions of followers, and her indie bookshop Nowhere Bookshop down in San Antonio, Texas.

Does Jenny Lawson do podcasts? Interviews? No, not really. She tells us at the beginning of...

March 28, 2021 1:48pm
Chapter 75: George Saunders offers lessons on living a luminous life

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover and discuss the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter discusses the 3 most formative books of one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Brené Brown, David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell, Angie Thomas, Cheryl Strayed, Rich Roll, Soyoung the Variety Store Owner, Derek the Hype Man, Kevin the Bookseller, Vishwas the Uber Driver, Roxane Gay, David Mitchell, Vivek Murthy, Mark Manson, Seth Godin, and Judy Blume. 3 Books is published on the lunar calendar with each of the 333 chapters dropped on the exact minute of every s...

March 20, 2021 4:37am
Bookmark: Terrible, Thanks for Asking

I love you, 3 Bookers.

The deepening connection and trust in this community constantly blows me away. It picks me up when I’m down, it’s a barrel of nerdy laughs, it helps me scratch a lot of itches in my brain. And it’s been truly great friendship through the pandemic.

I mean, End of the Podcast Club, Cover to Cover Club, and Secret Club? Where you have to find a hidden password? And then send cash in the mail to a secret address? I didn’t think anyone would join these ridiculous things! You leav...

March 13, 2021 4:21am
Chapter 74: Kanmani Guruswami the Midwife on countering colonialism with compassionate care

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover and discuss the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter discusses the 3 most formative books of one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Brené Brown, David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell, Angie Thomas, Cheryl Strayed, Rich Roll, Soyoung the Variety Store Owner, Derek the Hype Man, Kevin the Bookseller, Vishwas the Uber Driver, Roxane Gay, David Mitchell, Vivek Murthy, Mark Manson, Seth Godin, and Judy Blume. 3 Books is published on the lunar calendar with each of the 333 chapters dropped on the exact minute of every s...

February 27, 2021 2:17am
Chapter 73: Humble The Poet cries crusade but cautions courting controversy

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover and discuss the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter discusses the 3 most formative books of one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Brené Brown, David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell, Angie Thomas, Cheryl Strayed, Rich Roll, Soyoung the Variety Store Owner, Derek the Hype Man, Kevin the Bookseller, Vishwas the Uber Driver, Roxane Gay, David Mitchell, Vivek Murthy, Mark Manson, Seth Godin, and Judy Blume. 3 Books is published on the lunar calendar with each of the 333 chapters dropped on the exact minute of every s...

February 11, 2021 1:05pm
Chapter 72: Adam Grant frowns on feeble feminism from fearmongering fellows

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover and discuss the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter discusses the 3 most formative books of one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Brené Brown, David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell, Angie Thomas, Cheryl Strayed, Rich Roll, Soyoung the Variety Store Owner, Derek the Hype Man, Kevin the Bookseller, Vishwas the Uber Driver, Roxane Gay, David Mitchell, Vivek Murthy, Mark Manson, Seth Godin, and Judy Blume. 3 Books is published on the lunar calendar with each of the 333 chapters dropped on the exact minute of every s...

January 28, 2021 1:16pm
Chapter 71: Shirley the Nurse on hurting with homelessness and healing with heart

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

January 12, 2021 11:00pm
Chapter 70: Brené Brown on building boundaries and the beacon of bell

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

December 29, 2020 9:28pm
Chapter 69: Cheryl Strayed on forging fearlessness and fracturing facades

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

December 21, 2020 4:02am
Best of 3 Books podcast 2020

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

December 14, 2020 10:16am
Chapter 68: Roger Martin on mercenary monopolies, material mentors, and managing mayhem

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

November 30, 2020 3:29am
Chapter 67: Roxane Gay on lessons in love and the lethal lure of likeability

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

November 14, 2020 11:07pm
Chapter 66: Vivek Murthy on loneliness, living longer, and leading with love

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

October 31, 2020 9:49am
Chapter 65: Nikki Giovanni on potent poetry, powerful prose, and palling with the purveyor of peace

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

October 16, 2020 2:31pm
Chapter 64: Rhiannon the Restaurateur on redefining reality

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

October 01, 2020 4:05pm
Chapter 63: Brandon Stanton is harnessing histories of humble human heroes

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

September 17, 2020 6:00am
Chapter 62: Myriam Gurba is a bold badass with a bronca against baseless bigotry and brutality

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

September 02, 2020 12:22am
Chapter 61: Temple Grandin on mixing minds making magic

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

August 18, 2020 9:41pm
Chapter 60: Shane Parrish masters Munger to map mental models and mold maverick minds

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

August 03, 2020 10:58am
Chapter 59: Jeff Speck is pushing the pleasures of pedestrian propinquity

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

July 20, 2020 12:32pm
Chapter 58: Author David Mitchell on designing dizzily dazzling dreams

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

July 04, 2020 11:44pm
Chapter 57: Anne Bogel believes books build bridges and boost bibliophile belonging

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

June 21, 2020 1:41am
Chapter 56: Kate the Therapist on navigating knotty natures to nurture our needs

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

June 05, 2020 2:12pm
Chapter 55: Brad Montague on fighting fear by forging fantastical futures

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

May 22, 2020 12:38pm
Chapter 54: K881901 aka Emily Kim Ae Sun Hunter on twins tied together and tossed to tomorrow

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and Ma...

May 07, 2020 5:45am
Chapter 53: Vivek Shraya is trashing traditional trans tropes

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and Ma...

April 22, 2020 9:25pm
Chapter 52: Wagner Moura on lessons in living and loving from Latino leaders

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and Ma...

April 16, 2020 5:00am
Surprise Waning Crescent: Confronting courageous coronavirus questions

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

April 07, 2020 9:35pm
Chapter 51: Dr. Qing Li on finding faith and freedom in forests

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and...

March 24, 2020 4:28am
Chapter 50: Marcus Buckingham on soul ciphers and strength of self

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome, The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, etc. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, the founder of the world's largest feminist magazine, the world's greatest Uber driver, Pete Holmes, Angie Thomas, and Ma...

March 20, 2020 9:34am
Surprise Waning Crescent: Leslie and Neil on cultivating calm during coronavirus chaos

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

March 09, 2020 12:47pm
Chapter 49: Dr. Andrea Sereda’s oddly original offerings on opioid overdosing

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each of the 333 chapters discusses the 3 most formative books of inspiring people such as Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Dr. Jen Gunter, Malcolm Gladwell, or the world's greatest Uber driver. 3 Books is hosted by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome series, The Happiness Equation, and Two-Minute Mornings. 3 Books is recorded in a special "two-ear" format so you are in the middle of the conversation and the show is released on the lunar calendar with every...

February 23, 2020 9:32am
Chapter 48: Michael Bungay Stanier on massive moons and the magic of metaphor

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

February 09, 2020 1:33am
Chapter 47: Derek The Hype Man on gingers jumping for joy and justice

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

January 24, 2020 3:42pm
Chapter 46: Dr. Laura Markham on prioritizing presence to parent peacefully

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

January 10, 2020 1:21pm
Chapter 45: Rich Roll on wrestling with recovery and running to redemption

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

December 31, 2019 10:59pm
The Best of 2019: Neil Pasricha reminisces on relationships, romance, and radical reading

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

December 25, 2019 11:13pm
Chapter 44: Kevin the Bookseller on subtracting stuff and sorting Star Wars

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

December 11, 2019 11:12pm
Chapter 43: Lisa Labute on life lessons from loving legumes

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

November 26, 2019 9:05am
Chapter 42: Molly Bloom on poker princess privileges and pushing past pomposity

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

November 12, 2019 7:34am
Chapter 41: Jen Gunter on beating bullying, bigotry, and body bashfulness

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

November 04, 2019 11:01pm
Surprise Waxing Gibbous: My new book YOU ARE AWESOME launches today!
Happy waxing gibbous!   What does that mean? Well, it's not a new moon, and it's not a full moon, and in between is the waxing gibbous moon. Waxing means getting bigger. Waning means getting smaller.  So as the gibbous waxes today on November 5th, 2019, I wanted to send a special short little “book launch” podcast for my brand new book which launches everywhere today!    YOU ARE AWESOME: How To Navigate Change, Wrestle With Failure, And Live An Intentional Life is a 288-page hardcover from Simon & Schuster which offers a smacking takedown of our never-good-enough cell-phone culture and helps us develop resilien...
October 27, 2019 10:38pm
Chapter 40: Pete Holmes on infinite infinities and the insanity of is-ness

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

October 13, 2019 4:07pm
Chapter 39: Soyoung the Variety Store Owner on Korean culture, connecting community, and cultivating calm

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

September 28, 2019 1:26pm
Chapter 38: Ryan Holiday on bashing beachy books and building balance

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

September 13, 2019 11:32pm
Chapter 37: Malcolm Gladwell on strangers, spies, and silencing the system

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

August 30, 2019 5:37am
Chapter 36: Two teenage Mormon missionaries on missing mom to make miracles

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

August 15, 2019 7:29am
Chapter 35: Jen Agg on fussy feminism and ferocious fastidiousness

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

July 31, 2019 10:11pm
Chapter 34: Literary superagent Jim Levine on picking priorities to perform at peak potential

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

July 16, 2019 4:38pm
Chapter 33: Raj Haldar aka Lushlife on invoking inner inspiration to instigate the Internet

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

July 02, 2019 2:16pm
Chapter 32: Cat and Nat on cutting the crap to create community for courageous caregivers

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

June 17, 2019 3:30am
Chapter 31: Juniper the Former Sex Worker on paying for pleasure and progressive parenting

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

June 03, 2019 5:01am
Chapter 30: Jerry Howarth on branding, bereavement, and Blue Jays baseball

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

May 18, 2019 4:11pm
Chapter 29: Michael Harris on queer questions and the quest for quiet

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

May 04, 2019 5:45pm
Chapter 28: Mark Manson on constant cursing and clearing clutter

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon an...

April 19, 2019 6:12am
Chapter 27: Robin the Bartender on fiddling with frankincense and fighting for freedom

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon an...

April 02, 2019 6:27pm
Chapter 26: Angie Thomas on righting racist wrongs and remembering radicals

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon an...

March 20, 2019 8:42pm
Chapter 25: James Frey on drunk, defiant differentiation

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

March 06, 2019 10:03am
Chapter 24: Jonathan Fields on winning with will and weaving why into work

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

February 19, 2019 9:53am
Chapter 23: Jesse Finkelstein zooms into the zeitgeist and zeroes in on zesty Zora

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

February 04, 2019 3:03pm
Chapter 22: Tim Urban on shivering in shorts and shifting from sheep to chef

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon...

January 20, 2019 11:16pm
Chapter 21: Paulette Bourgeois on family foundations, frightening fiction, and forging Franklin

Were you one of the sixty million people who grew up reading Franklin The Turtle?

We were handed a dog-eared stack of them when my first son was born.

As my wife and I flipped through them, we couldn’t help but just buy into the whole Franklin universe.

There’s Beaver and Bear and Fox and good values and good parenting and good life lessons all delivered in a way that super appetizing for children… and their parents.

So I expected Paulette to choose, you know, three children’s books for her...

January 05, 2019 7:28pm
Chapter 20: Debbie Stoller on frenzied female fandom, fighting for freedom, and fourth-wave feminism

 

Do you remember Chapter 4 of 3 Books with Sarah Ramsey?

She introduced me to BUST Magazine, the largest feminist magazine in the world, and waxed on about how BUST had incredible book recommendations…

Well, they sure have a lot more than that.

I picked up a copy of BUST and was blown away by the urgency, voice, and community. I also wasn’t surprised to see The New York Times and Fast Company both profile BUST over the past few months.

So I trucked down to Brooklyn to see if we co...

December 31, 2018 10:59pm
The Best Of 2018: Neil Pasricha peers into the past and plucks perfect podcast pieces
So here we are.   It's 11:59pm on December 31, 2018 and we're releasing our first annual Best Of 3 Books for 2018.   It's a time to look back. It's a time to look ahead. It's a time to look inside and think about which lessons, which insights, and which paths we will follow in the year ahead.   For long time listeners of 3 Books, I hope this hopscotch through the first 19 of 333 chapters gives you poignant reminders, tiny amplifications, and little lightbulb ideas as you look to your year ahead. For new listeners, I hope this gives you a little sampler platter of what we're all...
December 22, 2018 11:48am
Chapter 19: Chip Wilson on living large, launching Lululemon, and leaving a legacy

Our next guest is the first billionaire entrepreneur of a global brand we’ve had on 3 Books. We fly over to Vancouver to talk with the founder and former CEO of Lululemon, Chip Wilson.

Chip founded the company Westbeach, a snowboard, ski, and apparel company, which he eventually sold in 1997. Then one day while flipping through the paper, he came upon a piece of fascinating information…

There are now more woman than men graduating from colleges and universities.

Then he got all prophetic.

“Women will have more money! They’re gonna want to...

December 07, 2018 1:20am
Chapter 18: David Sedaris on holding happiness hostage and healing holes in our hearts

I discovered David Sedaris after asking my college writing mentor how to become a better comedy writer. He handed me a strange looking book with a pair of boxer shorts on the cover …

Naked by David Sedaris.

I’d never heard of David before, but when I went home and started paging through his book, I was completely blown away.

His autobiographical essays were incredibly sardonic, witty, and laugh-out-loud funny, and dealt with his homosexuality and his obsessive compulsive tics and dropping out of school.

Like millions of people around the worl...

November 22, 2018 11:39pm
Chapter 17: Emily McDowell on family fallouts, finding phrases, and forging false fairytales

 

Have you ever looked through a bunch of greeting cards and felt like nothing reflected the way you feel?

The greeting card industry is 150 years old, and yet they haven’t quite mastered this skill yet…

But Emily McDowell has. Emily has an uncanny ability to characterize the relationships we have, not the relationships we want to have.

Emily runs Emily McDowell Studio, an online hub of greeting cards, tote bags, and other gifts that articulate things in an emotional way that we often can’t express ourselves. Emily finds the right w...

November 07, 2018 10:01am
Chapter 16: Mitchell Kaplan on cultivating connection, Colorado quests, and creating community

Did you know the average person lives for 1,000 months?

Or that the average person is awake for 1,000 minutes per day?

That’s why I like the number 1,000 so much, and partly why I started my blog 1,000 Awesome Things about ten years ago. It’s why I’m on this quest with you to uncover the 1,000 most formative books in the world.

And that quest is what brought me to the independent bookstore Books & Books with Mitchell Kaplan.

Why did I decide to sit down with Mitchell?

Because he started the en...

October 24, 2018 11:24am
Chapter 15: Mitch Albom on making music, managing mojo, and memorializing Morrie

Oh, this life, this world.

As Mitch says, once you find purpose, and once you find style… what’s left?

Beauty.

What’s left is finding and putting out beauty into the world.

There are not many writers who have genuinely figured this out … but one of them is Mitch Albom.

Mitch is the bestselling author of Tuesdays with Morrie, the bestselling memoir of all time, as well as The Five People You Meet in Heaven and his new book, The Next Person You Meet In Heaven, which just debuted...

October 08, 2018 10:46pm
Chapter 14: Rich Gibbons on paid public preaching, parenting prescriptions, and pickles with perfectionism

“On the one hand, information wants to be expensive because it’s so valuable. The right information in the right place just changes your life. On the other hand, information wants to be free because the cost of getting it out is getting lower and lower all the time.”

Recognize that quote?

It’s from a conversation between Steve Wozniak and Stewart Brand at the very first Hacker’s Conference in 1984.

We’ve heard it so many times.

Information wants to be free.

And in many ways, it already is. We live...

September 24, 2018 9:52pm
Chapter 13: Ariel Bissett on brag-worthy book hauls, brainwashing beasts, and building BookTube

Do you remember the first person who introduced you to the love of reading?

Was it a teacher? A parent? A friend? For me, it was my third-grade teacher. I remember on the first day of class we all gathered on this old, dusty green carpet and Mrs. Dorsman asked us all where we went that summer.

“I went to Japan,” she began, with her eyes bugged open, “… and to Australia … and the waterfalls of South America … and to the Moon… and to Mars!”

And then she looked around the room and dropped the final bomb.<...

September 09, 2018 1:01pm
Chapter 12: Chris Anderson on tackling tribalism, trusting trust, and transforming TED talks

What was the first TED Talk you ever watched?

Was it Do schools kill creativity? by Ken Robinson?

Was it The power of vulnerability by Brené Brown?

Whatever it is I bet you felt a bit like you stumbled onto an oasis. The Internet is junky! The whole thing feels like a pack of cougars just ran through a dollar store. Pop-up everything, ads screaming at you, and everything feels like a fish-hooks tugging at your eyeballs.

TED is the opposite.

TED doesn't beg for personal info, force you to open...

August 26, 2018 6:56am
Chapter 11: Kerri Kolen on creepy closets, crafting cosmos, and courageously confined kids

Our world is so full.

Our world is so busy.

Our world is so cluttered.

Newspaper boxes. Pop-up ads. TVs in elevators. There are so many things trying to grab our attention. So many reaching out with their little fish lures to poke and grab us into signing up for their newsletters.

Don't you ever feel like it’s just too loud?

I say what we need in this world of constant stimulation are ... editors.

Not the people who correct your spelling and grammar. I’m talking about...

August 11, 2018 4:57am
Chapter 10: Elan Mastai on astronomical advances, artistic ambitions, and advice for aspiring authors

Do you make your own luck?

Do you really control what happens?

Or do you simply dump everything you can in the system, press the big green button, and then hang on for the hairy-scary ride?

Elan Mastai is the award-winning screenwriter and novelist behind one of my favorite books of last year – the incredibly fast-paced, head-twisting, and emotionally moving sci-fi epic All Our Wrong Todays.

I was crying hot salty tears when I reached its final pages and was delighted when Elan accepted my invite to share his three most form...

July 27, 2018 3:20pm
Chapter 9: Dave Barry on snappy satire, secret societies, and singing with Stephen King

Do you remember the comedy dry zone?

I’m talking about the barren, hardscrabble times when getting a free laugh from the comfort of your toilet wasn’t easy. Before Internet memes, before parody Twitter themes, before viral SNL skits, before ShowerThoughts subreddits, before LOLCats and even before giant email chats…

… there was one man.

The inimitable, indomitable, indefatigable Dave Barry.

Beginning in 1983 and running for over twenty years, Dave Barry sent his syndicated humor column out to over 500 newspapers from his home base at The Miami Herald.

Every single w...

July 12, 2018 9:47pm
Chapter 8: Sarah Andersen on composing cartoons, combating critics, and cultivating creativity

 

It’s getting tougher to grow up these days.

We’re surrounded by endlessly reflecting images of everyone else having fun without us. 

There are incredible pressures to achieve, to be ourselves and be different, to stand up and stand out, to follow big footsteps… and follow our hearts at the same time. 

A friend said to me the other day “When I was in high school and I’d stay at home on a Saturday night I assumed my friends did, too. Now my daughter sees all her friends out partying with...

June 27, 2018 11:53pm
Chapter 7: Vishwas the world's greatest Uber Driver on setting your own standards and sharing secrets of stellar service

In this Chapter of 3 Books, I jump into the backseat of Vishwas Aggrawal's Uber and take a trip you won't soon forget. 

This is a story about setting your own standards in a world constantly hammering us into "human resources." 

This is a story about setting your own winning lines in a world that wants us to be widgets.

This is a story about raising the bar for yourself and deeply valuing the human connection and love that has the potential to exist between every single one of us. 

Uber has no...

June 13, 2018 2:43pm
Chapter 6: Judy Blume on bouncing balls, biting breasts, and building bookstores

Did you grow up with Judy Blume?

My mom says I “found my voice” reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing to my sister in the bathtub when I was a little kid. Well, I grabbed that tattered copy and carried it with me down to Key West, Florida where I had the extreme privilege of sitting down with the one and only Judy Blume (@JudyBlume).

Join us as Judy shares her three most formative books, how they inspired her, and we pull out some themes relevant to today.

Judy and I met on a...

May 29, 2018 9:19am
Chapter 5: Gretchen Rubin on pinpointing personal patterns to perfecting our paths

Welcome to the fifth chapter of 3 Books where I chat with Gretchen Rubin (@Gretchen Rubin) in the Penguin Random House studio in downtown Toronto. 

I met Gretchen ten years ago before her New York Times bestsellers The Happiness Project, Better Than Before, and The Four Tendencies took the world by storm with over three million copies sold. And before her fantastic podcast “Happier by Gretchen Rubin” was launched scoring over 40 million downloads.

Back in the day we were just blogger friends who swapped stories and shared meals whenever we were in each other’s hometown. I’ve since wa...

May 15, 2018 6:47am
Chapter 4: Sarah Ramsey on beating book blame with brilliant bookselling

Welcome to the first chapter of 3 Books recorded live in an open bookstore!

Book City is in the heart of Toronto's beautiful Bloor West Village neighborhood and that's where I settled into the children's section to talk blame, beauty, and growth with my favorite bookseller in the world -- the one and only Sarah Ramsey.

I love Sarah because she takes the art of bookselling seriously and seemingly reads people’s minds to find the exact book they need to help them grow. As we always say: Humans are the best algorithm.

Listen in...

April 29, 2018 7:58pm
Chapter 3: Bestselling author Seth Godin on the stories you tell yourself

I flew down to New York to uncover and discuss the most formative books of the one and only Seth Godin (@ThisIsSethsBlog) from his Hastings-On-Hudson studio.

Seth is the bestselling author of Linchpin, Purple Cow, Tribes and many more books and is known as one of the world's biggest thinkers in communities such as TED and the Direct Marketing Association. This year he is being inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame. And did I mention he writes one of the most popular blogs in the world? 

In this interview we discuss where Seth sees pu...

April 15, 2018 8:57pm
Chapter 2: Frank Warren of PostSecret on understanding your past to control your future

From a sunny balcony in San Diego overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Frank Warren of PostSecret and I uncover and discuss his three most formative books and pull out the resonant themes affecting us all. How do we give people a voice? In a flattening world, how do we build trust with new people? And what are the lessons we can take and apply to our own lives from these three life-changing books?

Leave us a voicemail! Your message may be included in a future episode: 1-833-READ-A-LOT

You can find show notes and more information by c...

March 31, 2018 7:36am
Chapter 1: Beginning the Hunt for Life-changing Books ... in the Basement with my Wife Leslie

Welcome! This is an unusual first chapter. In every other chapter I'll have a guest, their three most formative books, and a discussion touching on life's biggest themes. But this one? You'll join me and my wife Leslie in an intimate chat in our basement just after we put our kids to bed. I share my idea of starting 3 Books and talk about the rough vision, goals, and values of the show. She asks some surprising questions and you'll hear me struggling with my desires and the shape of the show.  

Leave us a voicemail! Your message ma...

March 27, 2018 8:38am
3 Books With Neil Pasricha: A Podcast Trailer

Listen in for a hint of what's to come with five-time NYT Bestselling Author Neil Pasricha's brand new podcast: 3 Books With Neil Pasricha.

Click here to visit the http://3books.co/ website.

Click here to Subscribe to the new podcast in iTunes.

Click here to Subscribe to the new podcast in Stitcher.