3 Books With Neil Pasricha
by Neil Pasricha: Bestselling Author
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 on the exact minute of every single full moon all the way up to 10:37 PM EST on April 26, 2040. 3 Books is an Apple "Best Of" award-winning show and is 100% non-profit with no ads, no sponsors, no commercials, and no interruptions. 3 Books has 3 clubs including the End of the Podcast Club, the Cover to Cover Club, and the Secret Club, which
Episodes
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Chapter 166: Ethan Kross invites insight by interrupting internal interference
Happy Hunter's Moon, everyone! The nights are getting longer here in Toronto. Suddenly there seems to be a lot more time alone with that voice inside our heads … The one that wakes you up at 2am and decides now is the perfect time to question everything you said yesterday while trying to...
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Chapter 53: Vivek Shraya on trashing traditional trans tropes
Hey everyone, Years ago I was browsing through a bookstore when I stumbled on a small purple book called 'I'm Afraid of Men' by Vivek Shraya. I flipped it open and was transfixed. It showed me a view and a lens and a perspective I had no familiarity with. I ended up buying more of Vivek's books,...
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Chapter 165: Martin Seligman on overcoming overthinking and opting for optimism
Happy full moon, everybody! It is the harvest moon and our leaves are falling here in Toronto. Time for change! Unavoidable, right? Sure, but maybe ... we can control how we react to it. My guest today has spent nearly six decades (!) studying learned optimism, authentic happiness, human...
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Chapter 52: Wagner Moura on lessons in living and loving
A few years ago I was lucky enough to cross paths with Wagner Moura. He was on the eve of releasing his film 'Sergio' after a long run playing Pablo Escobar in the hit series 'Narcos.' Since then I've watched as his acting career has channeled upwards and onwards into feature roles in 'Civil...
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Chapter 164: Nick Epley invites introverts into improved interpersonal interactions
Happy full moon, everybody! Humans are the most social species on the planet. So ... why don't we act like it? Why is loneliness rising? Why are we increasingly entombed in echo chambers? What is preventing us from connecting? Enter Nick Epley, Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of...
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Chapter 50: Marcus Buckingham on soul ciphers and strength of self
Hey everybody, Welcome to Chapter 50 of 3 Books! We're going to hang out on a hotel room couch in Vancouver for a little bit of calm. I am very excited to have you on the couch beside me and the absolutely incredible Marcus Buckingham. Who is Marcus? Well, if you're in the business world, you've...
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Chapter 163: Jon Klassen talks turtles, tackling tension, and turning toward the terrifying
Happy Buck Moon, everyone! As we sink into the summer heat, I'm thrilled to welcome Jon Klassen on 3 Books! Jon is a Canadian born, LA living author and illustrator whose darkly humorous, minimalist storytelling has helped define contemporary children's literature. In 2016, Jon concluded his...
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Chapter 49: Dr. Andrea Sereda's oddly original offerings on opioid overdosing
I sat down with Dr. Andrea Sereda at the Sherbourne Health Centre on the east side of downtown Toronto, an area of the city sometimes known for its challenges with drug abuse. Who is Dr. Andrea Sereda? She is a family physician who practices street outreach medicine and provides care through the...
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Chapter 162: Shawn Achor on becoming boundlessly buoyant by building better beliefs
Happy Strawberry Moon, everyone! As we ease into summer and the hydrangeas and garden roses begin blooming here in Toronto, I find myself struck by the awe and beauty that quietly surrounds us each day. There's so much science behind how we experience the world. My guest on this moon's chapter of…
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Chapter 48: Michael Bungay Stanier on massive moons and the magic of metaphor
On a pair of folding lawn chairs on his front porch in Toronto's Roncesvalles neighborhood, I sat down with my friend Michael Bungay Stanier. Michael's mind is like a box that you open and a whole bunch of springs suddenly fly out in all directions. Here's a bit of his biography to give you a…
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Chapter 161: Yann Martel on rural revelations and reliable writing routines
Happy blue moon, everyone! Yes, it is indeed the second full moon of the month which brings us a second May chapter of 3 Books. This one features an author I've been hoping to have on our show for years. Join me in welcoming the Booker Prize–winning novelist, deeply philosophical storyteller, and...
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Chapter 46: Dr. Laura Markham on prioritizing presence to parent peacefully
Nestled into a beautiful century-old brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn, I spoke with the amazing Dr. Laura Markham—a preacher of love, letting love in, sending love out, and using that as a way to deepen our connection with ourselves and our children. Who is Dr. Laura Markham? She's a...
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Chapter 160: Nita Prose on mastering manuscripts and making Molly the Maid
Happy Flower Moon, everyone! Up in Toronto we're experiencing a wonderful blooming, a beautiful bird migration, and lots of slowly-getting-warmer days as we inch towards summer. With this warm spring breeze I'm thrilled to welcome our latest 3 Books guest: a luminous force in publishing, a...
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Chapter 45: Rich Roll on wrestling with recovery and running to redemption
Happy new moon, everybody! Today we fly down to the hills of Calabasas, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, where I sat behind a microphone at a walnut desk across from the one and only Rich Roll. Rich went to Stanford and Cornell and was a national athlete in swimming before his career…
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Chapter 159: Eve Harlow on bolstering bibliophilia and boosting bookish brains
We welcome global gallivant and raging bibliophile Eve Harlow on 3 Books! Born in Russia, raised in Israel, living in Canada and the U.S., Eve Harlow is a talented actress best known for roles in The 100, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Night Agent, and her current star turn as Dr. Ingrid Derian in...
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Chapter 42: Molly Bloom on poker princess privileges and pushing past pomposity
Join me on the couch in Molly Bloom's hotel room at the Four Seasons in downtown Toronto. Molly began her career as a world-class skier, but while training as a pre-teen was diagnosed with severe scoliosis. Her doctor told her she could never ski again, but even as a pre-teen Molly had incredible...
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Chapter 158: Sonja Lyubomirsky helps harness happiness by honing hearty habits
Sonja Lyubomirsky is one of the most influential happiness researchers of our time. Sonja moved to the United States from Moscow at age 9 in the 70s. She went to Harvard and Stanford in the 80s and began studying happiness in 1989 ... longer than almost anyone else alive! Positive psychology...
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Chapter 40: Comedian Pete Holmes on infinite infinities and the insanity of is-ness
A few years ago I was in LA and I went with my friend Chad to a "Judd Apatow and friends" comedy show where I was blown away by the lineup he brought out. Ray Romano! Zach Galifianakis! And, of course, the incredible Pete Holmes. Pete was my favorite comic that night. I have loved his comedy for...
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Chapter 157: Paul Hawken junks jargon to jolt generations
Paul Hawken is a brilliant thinker, author, activist, and elder who masterfully distills wisdom about our planetary home. I remember hearing Paul's 2009 commencement speech called "You Are Brilliant and The Earth is Hiring" where he said "You are going to have to figure out what it means to be…
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Chapter 38: Ryan Holiday bashes beachy books and builds a balanced base
Thirteen years ago I was surfing online when I stumbled on a blog post called "How To Read More — A Lot More" by someone I'd never heard of named Ryan Holiday. I started reading the post and got sucked in. He had a point! Many great points, actually. And he was young. 26 years old! A…
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Chapter 156: Salim Amin chronicles courage and compassion in crisis and conflict
Africa is the world's second largest continent—by land and population! One and a half billion people spread across fifty-five countries. It's huge! Even a trip there, even many trips there, can only scratch the surface. But we're trying! My mum was born in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1950, and I recently...
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The Best Of 2025: Neil Pasricha mines memorable, mind-shifting moments and messages
Happy Solstice, everyone! In the northern hemisphere today we have the least amount of daylight of any day of the year. Below the equator it has the most! And as we do every December solstice it's time for our annual "Best Of" episode of 3 Books. 3 Books is our award-winning 22-year-long...
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Chapter 37: Malcolm Gladwell on strangers, spies, and silencing the system
Who we are is a function of where we are. Do you agree with that? Who you are depends on where you are. We're different people in different places, right? You're different in the board room than you are on vacation. You're different with your parents than you are with your kids. I'm different...
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My Book 'Canada is Awesome' | Full Audiobook
This podcast is me reading a little book I put out earlier this year: CANADA IS AWESOME It's an audio book about all the weird, wonderful, beautiful things that make Canada ... Canada. Did you ever notice Canadians speak in the collective? "What do you think of the weather we're having?" "Shall…
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Chapter 155: Bulle the Bookseller broadens borders and births bibliophiles
We're back to Africa! Last month we kicked off a little Kenyan series on 3 Books and today I'm thrilled to share another chapter recorded in the heart of pulsing downtown Nairobi in the country's top bookstore. I landed after an overnight flight and immediately filled my belly with fresh…
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Chapter 36: Two teenage Mormon missionaries on missing mom to make miracles
So one day I'm out taking one of my magical life-changing long walks when suddenly two guys are like "Hi! How are you?!" And I look up kind of stunned because I'm walking around downtown Toronto where no one really pops out of the woodwork to shout a "Hi! How are you?!" at you … What do I see?...
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Chapter 154: Peter Kimani on conquering the curse of choreographed colonialism
We're heading to Africa! Over the years we have taken the 3 Books podcast on the road many times ... from recording in Judy Blume's bookstore in Key West to to the back of Jackie's Uber in St. Louis to Jonathan Haidt's kitchen in New York we've gone where the stories take us. And for the...
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Chapter 35: Jen Agg on fussy feminism and ferocious fastidiousness
"Whatever Jen Agg says is worth listening to," said Anthony Bourdain. I fully agree! If you live in Toronto you probably know Jen Agg. If you don't, let me tell you she runs the best restaurants in town! Come visit and try them! Her most recent stunner is a two-story converted auto-body shop…
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Chapter: 153: Carl Honoré imparts illuminating insights into intentional idleness
The pace of living is accelerating. I often feel like things are happening too quickly to process ... the reels are going too fast, the scrolls have too many colors, the information feed feels like a flood. I just can't process it all! Do you feel the same way? If so you need this conversation as...
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Chapter 152: Robin Sloan weaves wonder and weirdness into the warbly world of words
Last year I picked up a book called 'Moonbound' by Robin Sloan and it blew me away. Reading it was like riding some rainbow-speckled rocket ship where I experienced the bizarre combination of having no idea what was going on while not being able to wait for what happened next. The book was full...
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Chapter 30: Jerry Howarth on branding, bereavement, and Blue Jays baseball
My friend Drew Dudley once told me that, other than his parents, he hadn't heard anyone speak to him more in his life than Jerry Howarth… The voice of the Toronto Blue Jays. I can relate. Growing up I would listen to Jerry Howarth call the Blue Jays games on the radio on long summer drives, with…
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Chapter 151: The Holderness Family conquers content creation by corralling chaos
What do Xmas Jammies, ADHD, and The Amazing Race have in common? The Holderness Family! Penn and Kim Holderness have created viral videos with ... billions of views. They entered Season 33 of The Amazing Race ... and won. They wrote one of my favourite books ... 'ADHD is Awesome'. Penn and Kim...
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Chapter 4: Sarah Ramsey on beating book blame with brilliant bookselling
A few years ago, I settled into the children's section of Book City in the heart of Toronto's beautiful Bloor West Village for the first chapter of 3 Books recorded live in an open bookstore with my favorite bookseller in the world—the one and only Sarah Ramsey. I love Sarah because she takes the...
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Chapter 150: Prime Minister Jean Chrétien lays down lifelong lessons on leadership, liberalism, and longevity
Born in 1934, the 18th of 19 children in the small blue-collar town of Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Jean Chrétien has risen to become the "grandfather of Canada" and a definitive force in global politics for over 50 years. Chrétien was one of the longest-serving Prime Ministers in Canadian history…
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5 Beach Books to Stretch Your Mind
Long before I oriented my life around reading, I would get the majority of my (4-5!) books per year read during the summer. But summer reads get a bad rap for being too silly, too saucy, too simple. So this summer join me in bridging the gap to find great beachy reads. We want books that have a...
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My New Book! 'Canada is Awesome' | Full Audiobook
BIG NEWS! I just finished writing CANADA IS AWESOME: A Little Book About A Big Country. This podcast is me reading the whole book! The book is about all the weird, wonderful, beautiful things that make Canada ... Canada. Did you ever notice Canadians speak in the collective? "What do you think of...
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Chapter 149: John and Alison on fascism-fighting fiction fomenting freedom and fraternity
It started with a modern plea for help: "Can I charge my dead phone in your bookstore?" I was in Del Mar, California, walking up the coast of the Pacific Ocean after birding all morning in Torrey Pines. I was tracking my birds on eBird—the Peregrine Falcons, Anna's Hummingbirds, and...
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Chapter 29: Michael Harris on queer questions and the quest for quiet
Loneliness rates have doubled since the 1980s and Vivek Murthy, former US Surgeon General, says loneliness will be the next major epidemic. So if loneliness is being alone and sad … then what's being alone and happy? Solitude. A few years ago, I picked up an incredible book called 'Solitude' by...
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Chapter 148: Ginny Yurich obviates obsolete offspring with 1000 hours outside
Ginny Yurich (@1000hoursoutside) drove 5 hours up the road from Michigan to Toronto to hang out with Leslie and me. We went for a walk outside (of course!) and recorded this podcast—our second outdoors podcast in a row after Nickisha The Dog Walker! Why outside? I'm glad you asked! Ginny…
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Chapter 28: Mark Manson on constant cursing and clearing clutter
Have you heard of a book called 'The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck'? I'm guessing you have since it's sold, uh, 16 million copies since it came out in 2016. There hadn't been a non-fiction book that big and disruptive in a long, long time… Mark's meteoric success is the product of a giant…
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Chapter 147: Nickisha the Dog Walker on dangerous drivers and dog doo diligence
Let's go for a walk! I've sometimes imagined 3 Books as a long walk with a friend. So today—let's take one! Nickisha moved to Toronto from Jamaica when she was 16 to reunite with her mom and after working as a travel agent she broke out on her own to run a successful business full of fresh air,...
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Chapter 26: Angie Thomas on righting racist wrongs and remembering radicals
No one does it like Angie. Racial tensions, police shootings, citizen uprisings. Does this sound like the setting of a YA novel? How about three of them? Her debut 'The Hate U Give,' her sophomore release 'On The Come Up,' and her third 'Concrete Rose' were all on The New York Times...
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Chapter 146: Emily Nagoski on exuberant erotic exploration
Is porn good sex education? Why does body autonomy matter for kids? Does talking about sex kill the mood? Emily Nagoski has the answers! Emily is a sex educator and activist whose mission is to teach us how to live with confidence and joy inside our bodies. She does this as the New York Times...
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Chapter 25: James Frey on drunk, defiant differentiation
What do you know about James Frey? Or what do you think you know about James Frey? I'm guessing it's not nothing. Everyone has an opinion! When I first spotted 'A Million Little Pieces' on my wife's bookshelf when we were moving in together I was like "Oh? Really? That book? The Oprah guy?" And...
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Chapter 145: Lindyman leverages long-lasting lessons on living a limitless life
Don't use mouthwash. Why? It's not Lindy. At least that's what Paul Skallas, a Chicago-born technology lawyer who goes by Lindyman online, says. I was fascinated to read a New York Times profile of him titled "The Lindy Way of Living," and knew I wanted to have him on 3 Books. In the 2012 book...
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Chapter 22: Tim Urban on shivering in shorts and shifting from sheep to chef
We live in interesting times. And they're getting interestinger! I keep my eyes open for big thinkers to help guide and inform me as I keep trying to make sense of the world. My friend Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) is one of those people: Tim has a giant mind willing to engage with our fundamental…
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Chapter 144: Nick Sweetman on breaking boundaries with brilliant birds
Nick Sweetman is one of Toronto's most prominent graffiti artists. Last February I was walking down Lansdowne Avenue in Toronto with my friend Michael Bungay Stanier, who was our guest back in Chapter 48, and as we strolled under a giant bridge I saw a giant ... well, it looked like a…
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Chapter 18: David Sedaris on holding happiness hostage and healing holes in our hearts
Who else loves David Sedaris? I discovered him in 1997 when an old mentor/editor at Golden Words, my college humor papers, suggested I pick up his book 'Naked' to become a better writer myself. I found the essays sardonic, witty, uncannily observational, and laugh-out-loud funny. I couldn't…
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Best Of 2024: Neil Pasricha plucks pithy pointers to prime ponderings
Happy Solstice! As we do every December solstice it's time for our 7th Annual "Best Of" episode of 3 Books. 3 Books is our 22-year-long conversation to uncover and discuss the 1000 most formative books in the world. This year we sat with academics at Oxford to bus drivers in St. Louis, with...
About this show
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 on the exact minute of every single full moon all the way up to 10:37 PM EST on April 26, 2040. 3 Books is an Apple "Best Of" award-winning show and is 100% non-profit with no ads, no sponsors, no commercials, and no interruptions. 3 Books has 3 clubs including the End of the Podcast Club, the Cover to Cover Club, and the Secret Club, which
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Neil Pasricha: Bestselling Author
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