3 Books With Neil Pasricha

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 as it told the story of Nora and Hae Sung, two childhood friends in South Korea, who lose touch when Nora’s family emigrates, and then seem to be forever-chasing the goodbye they never had.   The film opens with a late-night bar scene of Hae Sung visiting Nora and her husband in New York before scrolling back to tell the unpredictable, jumping-around-the-decades story of how they got there. Every shot was such a sumptuous visual feast — from silhouet

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

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

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

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 General All-Round Super-Genius Robin, yes you guessed it, Dunbar. “There are only eight people with numbers named after them,” Robin says, with a grin. “And the other seven people are dead.” (Shoutout to Avogadro!)   Now: 150 is one in a series of numbers. More intimately: We have 15 ‘shoulders to cry on friends’, those who’d drop everything to help us or for whom we’d drop every

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

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

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

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

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 YouTube clip called "Rules for the Black Birdwatcher". (“You’re gonna need at least two pieces of ID. And never wear a hoodie. Ever.”)   So I bought Drew’s memoir 'The Home Place' and found it completely entrancing. His writing is poetry — vivid, transportive, meditative. After that I reached out to Drew and we set a time to make the 10-hour haul down to Clemson farm country, wake up at the crack of dawn, and then get picked up by Drew in his Dodge Ram to spe

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 collecting ​values​ like: "No book shame, no book guilt", "Humans are the best algorithm", and "You are what you eat and you are what you read." Over the years this journey has been a warm ray of sun in my life. I hope it’s felt the same for you. My goal with the “Best Of” is to reflect on the year by picking a snippet from every Chapter and Bookmark that helps us pause and ponder. You'll hear (or re-hear) wisdom from our chats with ​Steve Toltz​, ​Timothy Goodman​, ​Johann Hari​, ​Ta

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

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

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

“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 spent nearly seven decades — seven decades! — as a tireless consumer advocate, fighting to achieve protections for a healthier and safer society for all, well, maybe you don't focus on credit. You just focus on change. “Dissent is the mother of ascent,” Ralph reminds us in ​Chapter 130 of 3 Books​, one of many calls-to-arms issued by the four-time Presidential candidate and author of the new book ​The Rebellious CEO​

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 Parenting Summit was going viral on my family group texts and I knew I had to share it with you. Thank you to Dajana (​delightinparenting.com​) for letting us share this wonderful conversation touching topics like: the antidote to shame, the importance of guilt and regret, the 5 'R's' of good Repair, what to promise your child, growing your self-compassion muscle, resources for parents wh

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

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

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

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 with a Harvard dad, Princeton mom, and Yale sister -- but was coasting by in school and the resident jock. "My dad would come home and play catch before going back to work every night." His dad is David E. Bloom, one of the world's most-renowned social scientists, who would take Sahil on business-class flights as a kid. "I would eat ice cream and watch movies but I watched my dad working on the speech he was delivering the next morning for the entire 12 hours." Do we all need to become manicall