Chapter 130: Ralph Nader on corporate crime creating classist chaos

LISTEN NOW ON APPLE, SPOTIFY, or 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​ to our fiery global community of book lovers, writers, makers, sellers ... and librarians.

And while Ralph’s not running for President in 2024 — “We have a two-party duopoly not a competitive democracy" — he’s still working, day after day, calling for change. Sure, he’s turning 90 in February, joining his two active nonagenarian sisters, but he doesn’t feel old. Why not? Because, according to Ralph, “The only true aging is the erosion of one’s ideals."

I was very excited to sit down with Ralph and learn from his plentiful experience, wisdom, and ideas. On lots of things! Including de-computerizing elementary schools, shifting from a warmaking to peacemaking society, adding safety to social media, his ingredients for cognitive longevity, his current views of the famed Bush-Gore 2000 presidential election where he was called a "spoiler", and, of course, his 3 most formative books.

In an era of blaring, dopamine-spiking news and social media overwhelm this longform conversation with a true master awoke and inflamed my spirit on so many things. I think it'll do the same for you.

Let’s flip the page into Chapter 130 now...

Chapter 130: Ralph Nader on corporate crime creating classist chaos

CONNECT WITH Ralph

Ralph’s 3 Books

  • First book (9:40)

  • Second book (29:20)

  • Third book (1:11:10)

Quotes

  • We can be great peacemakers. The great warmakers can turn into peacemakers. But that’s got to start with peace movements all over the country. | Ralph Nader #3bookspodcast

  • Readers think and thinkers read. | Ralph Nader #3bookspodcast

  • You don’t see kids on sidewalks playing anymore. They’re all inside looking at screens. | Ralph Nader #3bookspodcast

  • The only true aging is the erosion of one’s ideals. | Ralph Nader #3bookspodcast

  • Dissent is the mother of ascent. | Ralph Nader #3bookspodcast

  • Abolish the Electoral College. It is totally atavistic. It was a big mistake by the founders. Nobody has ever voted for a presidential candidate in the United States. Because you vote for the electors, you don’t vote for the candidate. You vote for the electors who represent the candidate. | Ralph Nader #3bookspodcast

  • Who is going to save a society that aspires to be democratic instead of autocratic or fascistic? The answer is the people. And it doesn’t take that many of them. | Ralph Nader #3bookspodcast

  • The two parties thrive on divide and rule. That’s the way they raise money. And the press falls prey to it again and again. They don’t understand what their own polls show. These piteous ideologies don’t have as much meaning. | Ralph Nader #3bookspodcast

  • Get off the screens and hold real books in your hands. | Ralph Nader #3bookspodcast

  • There have been a lot of articles on bad CEOs, big companies, the cruel and avaricious wardens of the internet gulag. Facebook, Instagram, and Google, they’ve been sued in the European community for criminal anti-trust violations; there are lawsuits pending here. | Ralph Nader #3bookspodcast

  • There are over 42 million Americans still paying student debt into their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, even 70s. What other country would launch their young generations into a lifetime of debt? There’s no other Western country that does this. It’s because people in our country are not organized, they’ve turned inward, and they spend a lot of time fighting each other ideologically. | Ralph Nader #3bookspodcast

  • All empires devour themselves. | Ralph Nader #3bookspodcast

  • People, regardless of their political persuasions, when they are confronted by injustice, they all bleed the same color. | Ralph Nader #3bookspodcast

Download Transcript

Show Notes

Enjoy the show? Use the Links Below to Subscribe:

 
 
 
 

Bookmark: Leslie Richardson on practicing peaceful parenting

LISTEN NOW ON APPLE, SPOTIFY, or YOUTUBE

Hey everyone,
​
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 who want to build empathy, how to water the flowers not the weeds, how to help fighting siblings, practical strategies to process emotion as a parent, and much, much more...

I am very lucky to learn from Leslie on a daily basis. She's spent years as a community leader, inner-city public school teacher, trained parenting coach, and, of course, mother of our four children. Whether you're a new parent, old parent, or somewhere in between, I know you'll find this conversation as helpful, useful, and full of wisdom as I did. There are so many lessons in here I am still trying to learn. This is a conversation to help us all walk intentionally down the parenting path.

Bookmark: Leslie Richardson on practicing peaceful parenting

CONNECT WITH Leslie

Quotes

Download Transcript

Show Notes

Enjoy the show? Use the Links Below to Subscribe:

 
 
 
 

Chapter 129: Sahil Bloom freezes at 4am to find fortune and finish first

LISTEN NOW ON APPLE, SPOTIFY, or 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 as 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 manically disciplined to compete in the world today? What are the benefits and what are the costs of winding ourselves up to our highest and fullest potential? And how do we measure that? The sun was setting out the window, servers setting up clinking cutlery on the tables next to us, as we drank non-alcoholic cocktails and talked: Parkinson's Law, 4am cold plunges, phone-free walks, impacting a billion lives, Dunkin Donuts, 5am writing routines, posting your kids faces online, Tim Cook, how to get a giant book deal, chasing opportunity vs energy, and, of course, Sahil Bloom's 3 most formative books... 3 Books remains ad-free, sponsor-free, commercial-free, and interruption-free. The best way you can support the show is just by listening and sharing it with family and friends. Listen directly at ​3books.co​, or by typing in "3 Books" into ​Apple Podcasts or Spotify​.

A massive thank you to Sahil Bloom for sharing his vulnerability, so many endless tools, and all that incredible wisdom. This is a conversation that has personally inspired and changed habits in my life. I hope it does the same for you.

Let’s flip the page into Chapter 129 now...

Chapter 129: Sahil Bloom freezes at 4am to find fortune and finish first

CONNECT WITH Sahil

Sahil’s 3 Books

  • First book (37:15)

  • Second book (1:37:42)

  • Third book (2:01:18)

Quotes

Download Transcript

Show Notes

Enjoy the show? Use the Links Below to Subscribe:

 
 
 
 

Chapter 128: Heather McGowan listens to lessons from the Lakota and Legacy of Luna

LISTEN NOW ON APPLE or SPOTIFY

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 "future of work" and she has elegantly stitched her business and industrial design backgrounds along with some fascinating experiences into two bestselling books called 'The Adaptation Advantage' and 'The Empathy Advantage.' She has spoken at the World Economic Forum, TEDx, and SXSW, has written for Forbes and Harvard Business Review, and is an advisor to the Business Higher Education Forum and Innovate+Educate.

We talk why empathy is essential for leaders, how we rebuild trust, how we can learn to let go, what is a "belligerent optimist", Heather's 3 most formative books, and much, much more...

Let’s flip the page into Chapter 128 now...

Chapter 128: Heather McGowan listens to lessons from the Lakota and Legacy of Luna

 
 
 
 

Chapter 127: Lenore Skenazy on killing coddling to create capable kids

LISTEN NOW ON APPLE, SPOTIFY, or YOUTUBE

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 brought the idea to light wonderfully in his book by spotlighting the activism of Lenore Skenazy.

Lenore Skenazy is a Jackson Heights, New York mom of two who wrote a 2008 column for The New York Sun titled ‘Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride The Subway Alone.’ The article set off a huge media firestorm where Lenore was dubbed “America’s Worst Mom.” Undeterred, Lenore went on to coin the phrase “free-range kids”, write a bestselling book by the same name, and then five years ago co-founded a non-profit called ‘Let Grow’ which aims to give kids back the developmentally crucial ‘vitamin’ our culture has removed from childhood: independence!

Before her current work, Lenore wrote for The New York Daily News, New York Sun, and Mad Magazine (!). She has degrees from Yale and Columbia and is on the front lines of movements to bring back trust, independence, and free play in our children. She has created The Let Grow Project which partners with schools to give students the simple homework assignment to “Go home and do something new, on your own.” She created ‘Take Our Children to the Park & Leave Them There Day’ as a day for children to learn how to play without constant supervision. And Let Grow, the organization she co-founded with Jonathan Haidt (our guest in Chapter 103), Dr. Peter Gray, and Daniel Shuchman, has been helping to draft and sponsor 'free-range kid' legislation supporting reasonable child independence. To date, they have helped pass laws in eight states.

Join us as we discuss: recess, preventing anxiety in kids, the problem with child protective services, getting attention in activism today, the importance of fun, and, of course, Lenore's three most formative books...

Let’s flip the page into Chapter 127 now...

Chapter 127: Lenore Skenazy on killing coddling to create capable kids

 
 
 
 

Chapter 126: Jully Black on anthem alterations and attitude absolutions

LISTEN NOW ON APPLE, SPOTIFY, or YOUTUBE

I’ve been lucky enough to be invited onto ‘The Social’ 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 how much I admire people like Melissa Grelo, Cynthia Loyst, Lainey Lui, and Jess Allen, who do it day after day.

Since I’m guest-hosting it’s usually me onstage with three women — while one’s away — and we end up having full-on laugh attacks like this one. Well, one day, early in the pandemic, during the “live from everybody’s basement” era, I showed up ready to go on and discovered I was one of *two* guest hosts. The other was Jully Black! Canada’s R&B Queen. I’d heard of her but when the camera started rolling I fell in love. She was dynamic, bombastic, full of love, full of energy, and in the virtual green room after the show I invited her on 3 Books. (I knew she was a book lover because she’d been on Canada Reads — “the Survivor of Books” — a couple years before.)

Well, after a few years of planning, we finally pulled off our long-awaited live and in-person recording of 3 Books — up in Markham, Ontario, an hour north of Toronto — inside the 24-hour, 365-day-a-year, 68,000-square foot sauna and bath house Go Place. I had never been but Jully was a regular so we put on our checkerboard paper shorts and shirts and lounged on a couple curvy chairs before hitting record (and before hitting the hot and cold rooms afterwards.)

I think you’ll find this as fascinating a conversation as I did. Jully is a true icon — named one of ‘The 25 Greatest Canadian Singers Ever’ (CBC Music) with multiple singles reaching Top 10 pop, R&B, and dance music charts. She has sung for the Queen of England, she’s been inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame, and, as you’ll hear, she took the bold stance of changing the words to Canada’s National Anthem on its largest global stage. Her activism wins praise, plaudits, and, yes, some poo-pooing, but if you know Jully — and you will soon if you don’t! — she takes it all in stride and then she manifests another great day. She’s somebody who is seemingly always vibrating on another level.

Jully has been in the game for three decades, scoring her first record deal as a teenager, and collaborating with endless legends like Nas, Choclair, and Destiny’s Child. She’s an activist, award-winning musical theater star, community organizer, and much, much more. In this conversation Jully shares secrets of artistic longevity, thoughts behind her decision to change the lyrics of ‘O Canada’ at the NBA All-Star game, her definition of allyship, how we learn to forgive ourselves, what a ‘blanket ceremony’ is, how we navigate the death of our parents, her 3 most formative books (of course), and much, much more…

Let’s flip the page into Chapter 126 now…

Chapter 126: Jully Black on anthem alterations and attitude absolutions

 
 
 
 

Chapter 125: Two Syrian Chefs share sheep and shawarma shopkeeping shenanigans

LISTEN NOW ON APPLE, SPOTIFY, or YOUTUBE

“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 stalls on an absolutely scorching day in downtown Toronto when I spotted these two gregarious brothers wedged into a tiny four-foot by four-foot booth smiling, wishing “happy days to their brothers and sisters” while making them chicken shawarmas, beef kofta plates, and grape leaves for a non-stop line of faithful fans. A 4.9 rating with over 500 reviews on Google since they opened doesn’t lie.

But what makes them tick?

“The most important thing in Toronto is community,” Osama says “We love Toronto. And we want to support our community So we make more food to make more people happy.”

Maybe it's as simple as that! Let’s take a break from the news flow, the omnipresent digital tide, to come down to the sidewalk to hang out with me, Osama, and Houssam as we discuss growing up with six brothers in Damascus, 800-year-old houses, the perfect drink for a good sleep, lessons from ancient Arabic philosophy, the joys of taking time to slowly craft perfect meals with love, and, yes, of course, their 3 most formative books.

It was a treat hanging out with Chefs Houssam and Osama Harwash at their wonderful Chef Harwash food stall at 707 Dundas St W (at Bathurst and Dundas) in downtown Toronto.

Let’s flip the page into Chapter 125 now…

Chapter 125: Two Syrian Chefs share sheep and shawarma shopkeeping shenanigans

 
 
 
 

Bookmark: Live At 'Word On The Street' Book Festival

LISTEN NOW ON APPLE, SPOTIFY, and YOUTUBE

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 incredible Word On The Street book festival has taken place in downtown Toronto. A giant, rapturous IRL love affair with the written word featuring all kinds of indie publisher and indie bookstore booths, the smell of churros in the air, and many intimate stages under big umbrellas in front of plastic chairs -- where people line up to meet, ask questions, and get a book signed from their favorite local author (check out the wonderfully wild lineup!) 

Anyway, I was so pumped Word On the Street was back up and running this year! Taking over Queen's Park -- the giant, oval, grassy park right in the middle of downtown Toronto -- to celebrate books is my kind of Sunday. I was flattered to be invited and was hosted by the lovely accountant-by-day-raucous-DJ-by-night Anime (check her out / hire her at @walkwithanime).

It was sweltering outside and despite my Peak Heat stage time 2:30pm on Sunday I was thrilled a couple of hundred fellow book lovers came by. Book festivals have such a unique buzz of fun, egalitarian, anything-goes energy and I love the community and lotsa-strangers-together vibe.

So grab a churro, find a plastic lawn chair in the shade, and let's hang out.

Bookmark: Live AT ‘Word On the street’ Book Festival

Find out more about this festival:

Enjoy the show? Use the Links Below to Subscribe:

Chapter 124: Martellus Bennett weaves Willy Wonka and warrior wisdom

LISTEN NOW ON APPLE, SPOTIFY, or YOUTUBE

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. Like, I don't know what the score is, right? I had no idea.”

There may be a few reasons for that flow experience, though. Marty has always been a truly broad and dimensional thinker who questions and examines everything. Why? “I had parents who let us talk at the kitchen table.” As a result, he’s still only in his 30s and has just massively varied interests and pursuits. “I’m always reading, searching, asking why, what if, or how?” 

Just as likely to be found in Japan searching for illumination, drawing cartoons to inspire young black kids (the award-winning book Dear Black Boy, as an example), tracing his family’s pre-slavery origins in Senegal, writing and releasing hip-hop albums, and always — always! — standing up and speaking out for what he believes in. No wonder he was one of the first NFL players kneeling in 2016 — joining Colin Kaepernick and older brother Michael — in a tough position that made him a target. Indeed, he left the Green Bay Packers after that year... “The way you feel the coldness when you walk into a freezer, you could feel the racism there.”

Today Marty carries and emanates the deep purpose of re-igniting imaginations worldwide. He wants to “activate imagination through touch, sound, smell, taste, and the body” and help support every human’s “opportunity to play, explore the universe, experience joy, wonder, and have active social connections regardless of age.”

He lives in Houston with his wife and daughter AJ and operates out of an an incredible in-the-neighborhood studio-space he’s named the TOMONOSHi! I+d LAB — a kind of magical Willy Wonka factory-esque playground full of hand-built bookshelves, woodshop tables, computers for recording music, a stump garden, and, yes, a Bird Hotel. When kids walk by they smile and scream out “Hi Mr. TOMONOSHi!” and he smiles and screams back. He’s even adopted their moniker as a way to communicate his expanding identity and purpose. He soaks into the identity and challenges societal norms around labels in almost every way.

Mr. TOMONOSHi interacts, serves, and connects with the community, writes and illustrates children’s books — like his popular Hey AJ series — and even has a deal with Disney for an upcoming series based on his books. “My life is my biggest art project,” he says.

And it’s a beautiful one. 

So let’s fly down to Houston, Texas and enjoy a long sunny morning at a hand-made table — made by Mr. TOMONOSHi, of course — to experience the wit, wonder, and wisdom of a true renaissance man. I hope you find this conversation as inspiring, challenging, and soul-fueling as I did.

Let’s flip the page into Chapter 124 now...

Chapter 124: Martellus Bennett weaves Willy Wonka and warrior wisdom

What You'll Learn:

  • How can we foster a connection with nature?

  • What is a stump garden?

  • What do trees tell us about neighborhoods?

  • What is an educational gap?

  • How is the prison system a for profit business?

  • What is code switching?

  • What is missing in children’s literature?

  • What is the Imagination Agency?

  • What is the art of book publishing?

  • What makes a movement?

  • What is the origin of the word dodo?

  • Who were the super slaves?

  • How was the slave trade perpetrated?

  • What is the power of imagination?

  • What is the truth about the chocolate industry?

  • How can cannabis help with focus?

  • What is creative freedom?

  • What does it mean to have an out of shape imagination?

  • How can we learn to take risks?

  • Why is reverse engineering an amazing skill?

  • Why is competition essential?

  • How can we reprogram ourselves to think differently?

  • How can we learn to manifest what we see as unmanifested?

  • How can systems outlast us to help others?

  • What is generational knowledge?

  • What makes for a good leader?

  • What is collective genius?

  • What can we learn from the samurais?

  • What is the power of our hands?

  • Why should we have kid-parent dates?

  • Who was the first black Samurai?

  • Why should we all have a code of ethics?

CONNECT WITH Marty

Marty’s 3 Books

  • Marty’s first book (40:18)

  • Marty’s second book (1:29:14)

  • Marty’s third book (2:09:34)

Click-to-tweet quotes

Show notes

Enjoy the show? Use the Links Below to Subscribe:

 
 
 
 

Bookmark: The Rich Roll Podcast

LISTEN NOW ON APPLE, SPOTIFY, and YOUTUBE

Hey everyone,

 Happy new moon! I was invited down to LA to go on my favorite podcast. If you don't know The Rich Roll Podcast, well -- you're in for a treat. It's often the #1 Education and #1 Self-Improvement podcast in the world for good reason. Rich is 10 years into conducting his unique and thoughtful longform conversations that tease open big ideas and examine ways of living better than anybody in the business. 

In today's short -- 20-minute! -- Bookmark I share the story of flying down for the show, play a little hello to 3 Bookers from Rich (and get his favorite part of the convo!), and then play a little snip of the chat.

This was the most in-depth longform chat I’ve had and with Rich’s masterful steering we discuss many new things like: what role the Indian-Pakistan partition played in my existence, the 2 tests to perform before making a career leap, what your 20s are really for, how I scared Leslie off after our first date, 2am lessons from McKinsey consultants, the 10-rock dresser calendar, our current thinking on the “Never Retire” philosophy, my reaction to Rich calling me an ‘automaton’ and telling me I live a ‘spreadsheet life’, what I learned from working with The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live writers, our advice for starting a podcast today, fast-food hiring best practices, the benefits and perils of being a big fish in a small pond, and much, much more…

Listen to the 20-minute Bookmark on my feed right here.

Listen to the (epic three-hour!) main show on Rich's feed right here or watch the two of us chat face-to-face on YouTube right here.

Bookmark: The Rich Roll Podcast

Full episode:

Enjoy the show? Use the Links Below to Subscribe:

GIVE US A Call AT 1-833-READ-A-LOT

(YES, THIS IS A REAL PHONE NUMBER)