Chapter 38: Ryan Holiday on bashing beachy books and building balance

3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 15-year-long quest to uncover the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter is hosted live and in-person at the guest's preferred location by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. Each chapter of 3 Books uncovers and discusses the three most formative books from one of the world's most inspiring people. Sample guests include: Judy Blume, David Sedaris, Chris Anderson of TED, and the world's greatest Uber driver. Each of the 333 chapters is dropped on the exact minute of every new moon and full moon until September 1, 2031. 3 Books is an Apple "Best Of" award-winning show as well as the world's only podcast by and for book lovers, writers, makers, sellers... and librarians. For more info check out: www.3books.co

Ryan Holiday is a media strategist, father, and bestselling author of seven books including The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego Is the Enemy, The Daily Stoic, and his latest, Stillness Is The Key. Ryan was the former Director of Marketing for American Apparel, and then went on to found his own creative agency, Brass Check, which has advised clients like Google, Neil Strauss, Tony Robbins and Tim Ferriss. Ryan lives outside Austin, Texas where he writes and works in between raising cattle, donkeys and goats.

Chapter Description:

Back in 2013 I stumbled on an article online called “How To Read More — A Lot More” by some writer guy on the Internet named Ryan Holiday.

I started reading the piece and got sucked into it. He had a point! A great point. Many great points, actually. And he was super young. A young man telling the world to read more books? In an era where most guys read none… or, you know, like three books a year?

I found Ryan Holiday to be a complete breath of fresh air.

So I immediately began to copy everything he did.

He launched a monthly book club.

I launched a monthly book club! (With his blessings, of course.)

He was talking about reading fifty then a hundred books a year.

I started to read five books then ten books then fifty books a year.

I started cancelling magazine and newspaper subscriptions and began to consciously put my phone away. I installed a bookshelf at my front door and cancelled cable.

And, of course, I started this podcast!

In a way 3 Books would not exist without Ryan Holiday. I can trace my rediscovered passion for reading all the way back to this writer guy from the Internet.

But he’s not just a writer guy on the Internet anymore.

Ryan Holiday has sold over 2,000,000 books (!) and essentially leads the repopularization of stoic philosophy on a mass scale. Some of his books include The Obstacle Is The Way, Ego Is The Enemy, and his brand new book, Stillness Is The Key.

Ryan also runs DailyStoic.com, the consulting company Brass Check, and his newest project Daily Dad.

He’s become a friend and I have definitely caught his bug.

So in Chapter 38 of 3 Books I ask Ryan to share his four most formative books. (You’ll hear why on the show.) He tells us how to decide who to trust, how he got dramatically fired from his first job, and why we shouldn’t turn parenting into a job.

I hope you enjoy Chapter 38 with Ryan Holiday.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

Why should you spoil the endings of books and movies?
How do we win the war for attention?
Why does the path you take toward a goal matter more than achieving the goal itself?
How and why should you not turn parenting into a job?

Leave us a voicemail! Your message may be included in a future episode: 1-833-READ-A-LOT.

You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://www.3books.co/chapters/38