Page 93: The most original voice in American comedy writing

Cal Newport is a guide, a visionary, a role model to me and millions of others on living an intentional and productive life amidst our noisy, scatterbrained, tech-drenched world. He’s an MIT-trained computer science professor at Georgetown University and author of 10 books which have collectively sold over 2 million copies including ‘Deep Work,’ ‘Digital Minimalism,’ and his latest bestseller, ‘Slow Productivity.’ “I sometimes joke that my entire career is built on giving two-word terms to things everyone thinks and knows,” Cal says, but the truth is he’s doing a lot more than that. Take ‘Slow Productivity.’ He’s boiled this new phrase down into three principles: 1) Do fewer things, 2) Work at a natural pace, and 3) Obsess over quality. Sounds simple, right? Trite, even! But that’s when you raise your head and realize the world is conspiring against you doing any of these. Doesn’t our world today reward… doing *more* things, working at an *unnatural* pace, and obsessing over *quantity*? There’s a reason Cal has no social media apps on his phone. Why he has no social media accounts at all…and never has! With his books, and his wonderful podcast ‘Deep Questions,’ he is focused on helping us find our way as we navigate ever-changing technology and work patterns that increasingly feel at odds with our shared quest of living intentional lives. Cal has a giant mind and it was on full display in this chat as we discuss: how Cal measures success, the neuroscience of reading, Denis Villeneuve, the relationship between rest and work, the ideal age for unrestricted Internet access, The Washington Nationals, leetspeak and productivity pr0n, the role of books today and their future, Andrew Huberman, positive reinforcement theory, Jonathan Haidt and ‘The Anxious Generation,’ technology boundaries for children, and much, much more… Let’s turn the page to Chapter 135 now…

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.   Page 105 comes from Chapter 10 with award-winning screenwriter and novelist, Elan Mastai.   To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/10   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 104 comes from Chapter 10 with award-winning screenwriter and novelist, Elan Mastai.   To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/10   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 103 comes from Chapter 10 with award-winning screenwriter and novelist, Elan Mastai.   To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/10   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 102 comes from Chapter 10 with award-winning screenwriter and novelist, Elan Mastai.   To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/10   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 101 comes from Chapter 10 with award-winning screenwriter and novelist, Elan Mastai.   To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/10   To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail   To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube

I got an email from longtime 3 Booker Bo Boswell who told me he found an enticingly-titled thread on reddit called “What’s your field or study (hobbyist or professional) and what’s a cornerstone beginners book for that topic/field?”     The most upvoted reply on the thread read: "Librarian here, Susan Orlean’s ‘The Library Book’ is at first glance a true-crime book about tracking the arsonist who set fire and burned down the main library in Los Angeles, but it also gives a comprehensive glimpse into contemporary libraries and their issues, especially updating a view of them if you haven’t been inside one since you were a kid."   Bo picked up the book, loved it, and then wrote to me that "the amount of research and bizarre detail Orlean puts into her work is so engrossing.” Bizarre detail! I was convinced. I picked up ‘The Library Book’ and it blew me away. Reading it was like … wandering a library. Surprising curiosity trails at every turn. I ended up putting the book in my Best Of 2023 and then went deeper into Susan Orlean’s back catalog where I found myself reading profiles like ‘The American Man, Age 10’ and a series of fascinating but unconventional obituaries about people like the inventor of Hawaiian Tropic or the first magician on the Las Vegas strip.   I’ve come to think of Susan Orlean as one of the best non-fiction writers on the planet. She’s been a Staff Writer for ‘The New Yorker’ since 1992 and has written more than 10 bestselling books including ‘The Library Book’, ‘On Animals’, ‘Saturday Night’, and ‘The Orchid Thief’, which was turned into the movie ‘Adaptation’, starring Meryl Streep in her Oscar-nominated role as … yes, Susan Orlean.   Susan has an endless, unbridled curiosity — that ‘bizarre detail’ — which you’ll see on full display in this conversation which begins by talking about how she organizes her shoes! She’s a writer’s writer who offers us a  true masterclass and always reminds us that “storytelling and knowledge-sharing is the essential human experience.”   We talk about organizing shoes and spices, what books do that nothing else does, finding the balance between professional and amateur, the genius of container ships, what great book design does, how to cultivate your writing voice, how you might organize your book, facing the fear of failure, LSD, the power of libraries, Susan’s 3 most formative books, and much, much more…     I am so excited to share this conversation and hope you’ll find it as endlessly inspiring, thoughtful as I did.   Let’s jump into Chapter 134 of 3 Books now…

Pages are pulled from Chapters of 3 Books.   Page 93 comes from Chapter 9 with the inimitable, indomitable, indefatigable Dave Barry.   To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/9   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 92 comes from Chapter 9 with the inimitable, indomitable, indefatigable Dave Barry.   To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/9   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 91 comes from Chapter 9 with the inimitable, indomitable, indefatigable Dave Barry.   To listen to the full chapter: https://www.3books.co/chapters/9   To get the 3 Books email: http://www.3books.co/3mail   To join our community: Follow @neilpasricha on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube