3 Books With Neil Pasricha

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 3 Books has spent his career proving just that. Join me in welcoming one of the world's leading expert...

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 taste of this guy: "I've never quite fit the traditional mold, and honestly, I think that's been the adv...

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 one of Canada's most distinctive literary voices ... Mr. Yann Martel!    Yann is best known for...

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 Columbia-trained clinical psychologist, founder and editor at  PeacefulParentHappyKids.com , author of  six par...

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 powerhouse editor-turned-author, and a wonderful storyteller ... the one and only ​ Nita ​ ​ Prose...

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 was cut short by a decade-long struggle with alcohol—eventually landing him in jail and rehab. On the eve...

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  Watson ,  the medical-mystery thriller inspired by stories of Sherlock Holmes. Somehow between...

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 strength of mind and she ended up back on the slopes only a year after her surgery.    By age 21, she...

​ 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 wasn't "founded" by ​ Martin Seligman ​ and ​ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ​ for another decade. Sonja has p...

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 years! And his book ' ​ Comedy Sex God ​ ' was a wonderful read. My parents are Hindu but I grew up in...

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 a human being on Earth at a time when every living system is declining and the rate of decline is a...

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 26-year-old young man telling the world to read more books? In an era where most twenty-something men read, u...

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 returned from my first journey to Africa where I met incredible people and heard remarkable stories....

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 conversation to uncover and discuss the 1000 most formative books in the world ... 3 books at a time. This yea...

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 hanging out with Malcolm Gladwell in his West Village apartment than I am sitting in my basement as I type...

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 we grab a Timmy's before the meeting?" "Think we have a shot at the playoffs?" We, we, we. We use the wo...

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 samosas, pakoras, curried goat tripe, and fresh tamarind juice ... for breakfast! ... and then, after seein...

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? Two young men smiling back at me. Like, big smiles! Gigantic smiles. Dressed up, too. It takes me a m...

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 first time we are going to the 55-country and 1.5 billion person continent of Africa. I am so excit...

"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 turned Toronto Life #1 ranked restaurant called " ​ General Public ​ " and it is a feast for the senses. Je...

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 much as I did. Carl Honoré is the godfather of the "slow movement" — a Canadian born, UK-based author,...

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 of talking beavers. Talking swords! Strange video games. And ever-expanding worlds with wizards, w...

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 my friends at the park, or just on my clock radio with the "Sleep" timer on as I fell asleep. Why do I...

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 started their careers in broadcasting but have old ditched that to find a massive 8 million per...