Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 13 minutes ago
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, who maybe aren’t really wizards, and oh—it's narrated by a microscopic AI-type chronicler, who’s been in many different lives across millennia and who now sits inside our protagonist’s left shoulder.
The writing was like a jacked up ‘Star Wars’ meets ‘Cloud Atlas’ by David Mitchell featuring Willy Wonka and Mad Hatter types with moments of poignancy dashed in to let us see, and see around, our endlessly twisting lives together. It is a big, loud, cymbal crash of a book so after I was done I reached out to the giant-minded author Robin Sloan to invite him on the show.
Robin Sloan is a writer, printer, and manufacturer—his new 3-word biography!—with three mind-expanding novels including ‘Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore’, 'Sourdough', and, of course, the magical 'Moonbound'.
Robin splits his time between the San Francisco Bay Area and the San Joaquin Valley of California where he (wait for it) manufactures California extra virgin olive oil. He also (yes) prints wonderful zines and sends out a delightfully nerdy newsletter every 29 1/2 days via his website.
Strap in as we discuss social media, AI ethics, childhood obsession, books as technology, olive oil, working with your partner, myths and identity, and, of course, the brilliant Robin Sloan’s 3 most formative books…
Let's flip the page to Chapter 152 now...
0:00 - A letter!
4:30 - Riding a Rainbow Speckled Rocketship
8:20 - Moonbound
15:25 - Writer, Printer, Manufacturer
20:55 - Relationships with Social Media
27:17 - Book 1: D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths by Edgar Parin d'Aulaire and Ingri Parin d'Aulaire
33:30 - Mythology of AI
42:40 - Working with your spouse
46:03 - Macro food trends
49:38 - Book 2: Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
57:47 - World Creation Curriculum
1:03:07 - The Implicit and Explicit
1:05:46 - How to Write
1:09:20 - Book 3: The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
1:15:32 - Light
11:18:47 - Elements of a Good Life
1:21:56 - Fast Money Round
1:31:57 - Final Piece of Advice
1:35:03 - Just Me, Just Neil
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SUBSCRIBE: bit.ly/2HHWPYg
Hey there,
I'm Neil and I spend a ton of time thinking, writing, podcasting, and speaking about living intentionally. I'm the New York Times bestselling author of six books including The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. I've been lucky to speak at places like TED, SXSW, and Google. And I host a huge passion project called the 3 Books podcast.
Want more 3 Books? Check out my top interviews with:
Brené Brown youtube.com/watch?v=X5l-Auv7h8Y
Quentin Tarantino youtube.com/watch?v=VVFdvfiPB-w
David Sedaris youtube.com/watch?v=wzz8tqnz1mI
Want to read more of my stuff?
https://www.neil.blog/archive/
Want to check out my podcast?
3books.co
Want to learn about my live events?
globalhappiness.org/speaking
Want my monthly book recos?
1000awesomethings.com/reading-club
Want my articles on intentional living?
https://www.neil.blog/newsletter/
I am also on the following drugs:
Facebook: facebook.com/NeilPasricha
Twitter: twitter.com/neilpasricha
Instagram: instagram.com/neilpasricha
Lastly, thanks so much for watching this vid.
👊,
Neil
neil@globalhappiness.org
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, who maybe aren’t really wizards, and oh—it's narrated by a microscopic AI-type chronicler, who’s been in many different lives across millennia and who now sits inside our protagonist’s left shoulder.
The writing was like a jacked up ‘Star Wars’ meets ‘Cloud Atlas’ by David Mitchell featuring Willy Wonka and Mad Hatter types with moments of poignancy dashed in to let us see, and see around, our endlessly twisting lives together. It is a big, loud, cymbal crash of a book so after I was done I reached out to the giant-minded author Robin Sloan to invite him on the show.
Robin Sloan is a writer, printer, and manufacturer—his new 3-word biography!—with three mind-expanding novels including ‘Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore’, 'Sourdough', and, of course, the magical 'Moonbound'.
Robin splits his time between the San Francisco Bay Area and the San Joaquin Valley of California where he (wait for it) manufactures California extra virgin olive oil. He also (yes) prints wonderful zines and sends out a delightfully nerdy newsletter every 29 1/2 days via his website.
Strap in as we discuss social media, AI ethics, childhood obsession, books as technology, olive oil, working with your partner, myths and identity, and, of course, the brilliant Robin Sloan’s 3 most formative books…
Let's flip the page to Chapter 152 now...
0:00 - A letter!
4:30 - Riding a Rainbow Speckled Rocketship
8:20 - Moonbound
15:25 - Writer, Printer, Manufacturer
20:55 - Relationships with Social Media
27:17 - Book 1: D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths by Edgar Parin d'Aulaire and Ingri Parin d'Aulaire
33:30 - Mythology of AI
42:40 - Working with your spouse
46:03 - Macro food trends
49:38 - Book 2: Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
57:47 - World Creation Curriculum
1:03:07 - The Implicit and Explicit
1:05:46 - How to Write
1:09:20 - Book 3: The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
1:15:32 - Light
11:18:47 - Elements of a Good Life
1:21:56 - Fast Money Round
1:31:57 - Final Piece of Advice
1:35:03 - Just Me, Just Neil
-
SUBSCRIBE: bit.ly/2HHWPYg
Hey there,
I'm Neil and I spend a ton of time thinking, writing, podcasting, and speaking about living intentionally. I'm the New York Times bestselling author of six books including The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. I've been lucky to speak at places like TED, SXSW, and Google. And I host a huge passion project called the 3 Books podcast.
Want more 3 Books? Check out my top interviews with:
Brené Brown youtube.com/watch?v=X5l-Auv7h8Y
Quentin Tarantino youtube.com/watch?v=VVFdvfiPB-w
David Sedaris youtube.com/watch?v=wzz8tqnz1mI
Want to read more of my stuff?
https://www.neil.blog/archive/
Want to check out my podcast?
3books.co
Want to learn about my live events?
globalhappiness.org/speaking
Want my monthly book recos?
1000awesomethings.com/reading-club
Want my articles on intentional living?
https://www.neil.blog/newsletter/
I am also on the following drugs:
Facebook: facebook.com/NeilPasricha
Twitter: twitter.com/neilpasricha
Instagram: instagram.com/neilpasricha
Lastly, thanks so much for watching this vid.
👊,
Neil
neil@globalhappiness.org
