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 year we recorded shows in Nairobi, Ottawa, Del Mar, and even a few on the street ... journeying to collect stories and lessons that can help us all live richer lives of meaning and intention.

Featuring clips from...

​Nick Sweetman​ - Street muralist

​Lindyman​ - Lindy Effect evangelist

​Emily Nagoski​ - Sex educator

​Nickisha​ - Dog walker ​

Ginny Yurich​ - Founder of '​1000 Hours Outside​'

​John and Alison​ - Booksellers, ​Camino Books​, Del Mar, CA ​

Jean Chrétien​ - Former Canadian Prime Minister ​

The Holderness Family​ - YouTubers and authors '​ADHD is Awesome​' ​

Robin Sloan​ - Novelist, '​Moonbound​' / '​Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore​' ​

Carl Honoré​ - Author, '​In Praise of Slowness​' ​

Peter Kimani​ - Novelist, '​Dance of the Jakaranda​' ​

Abdullahi Bulle​ - Bookseller, ​Nuria Books​, Nairobi, Kenya

Thank you for being a 3 Booker and spending time with our incredible community of book lovers spread across the world.

Listen on your walk, drive, or workout, on your own, or with a friend, and let's continue to celebrate the awe in this world while striving to live our lives the best we can...

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 up a little note about it.

That theme is one that we get to open up in this chapter of 3 Books with the one and only ​Malcolm Gladwell​. I flew down to New York and joined Malcolm at his place where we settled around a table surrounded by books. Top to bottom! Floor to ceiling! And, no big deal, all hardcovers. "This is a fraction of my books, I should say," he told me as we began the chat.

We talk about raising nerds in a world forcing us into being average, how to find tribes where we truly fit in, who Malcolm thinks is the best non-fiction author alive, why thrillers are instructive, what Malcolm's biggest advice is for aspiring authors, and, of course, his 3 most formative books.

It was a rare treat to sit down with Malcolm Gladwell in this classic chapter of 3 Books...

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 word we so much.

Why do we feel like such a collective?

I don't think it's complicated.

I think it's because we are one.

We all toss around half of everything we make into a big glass jar and use it to pay for everyone's health care, education, and services.

Sure, the system's never perfect, but if you shatter your ankle in an icy Canadian Tire parking lot, need a dozen years of free school for five kids in Kamloops, or want to drive on freshly snowplowed roads from Comox to Cornwall to Cape Spear, well ... we got you.

We got you.

We got everyone.

This is a different type of book than I've done before—in addition to this audiobook (totally free, right here) I also posted in its entirety on my blog (totally free) in HTML and PDF:

HTML: https://www.neil.blog/canada-is-awesome
PDF: https://www.neil.blog/s/NP_CIA_wCOVER.pdf

I also made a 78-page, bright red, self-published hardcover (with colour photos) and paperback (available on Prime, but black and white photos.)

HARDCOVER: https://a.co/d/8vjssD3
PAPERBACK: https://a.co/d/aCYDAh6

I made these books at cost so the price you see on your local Amazon page is the same as it costs me to make them.

This book was designed by a Canadian in Ottawa (​Steve St. Pierre​) and the audio and video edited by a Canadian in Toronto (​Dave Boire​), and even the T-shirt I'm wearing in the YouTube video was designed and manufactured by a Canadian in Toronto (​Daniel Torjman​), who was also a past guest on the pod:

https://www.3books.co/chapters/94

If you're Canadian I hope this holiday season this books help you feel pride in who we are.

If you're not Canadian, I hope this helps you see Canada a little clearer. Maybe it will inspire you to visit ... or to move here! (My hood is filling up with Americans like mad these days.)

Flip this on for your long road trip and let's let ourselves get inspired by what's possible when grit, determination, and kindness come together across culture and language.

Let's reflect on shared goals of spending time with loved ones, hitting best-in-world education rates, and, of course, kicking back by the lake with a Moosehead and a bowl of ketchup chips.

This is a piece of writing close to my heart and something I have been working on for over a decade.

I hope you like it.

And, if you do, share it with someone else.

Happy holidays, eh!

Neil