Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Happy full moon, everybody!
Do you feel like the world today -- our culture today -- is pulling us further and further away from things that matter? Like deep in-person, real-life, human connections. Like the ability to focus on things that require deep thought, care, and time -- like reading books. Are you feeling yourself sucked into the algorithmic abyss -- where endless dings and pings and alerts and notifications pull us into echo chambers that prey on biological tendencies beyond our comprehension?
You may remember our chat on 3 Books six chapters ago with Dr. Gabor Maté who calls our culture today "toxic" and the record-levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and suicide rates we have today. So what do we do about it?
Well, our guest today is Johann Hari who will help me, help you, help all of us rekindle what is important in our life. How? By taking back our focus and our attention.
Some history: I first heard about Johann back on Chapter 49 with Dr. Andrea Sereda. One of her 3 most formative books was CHASING THE SCREAM by Johann Hari. I read it cover to cover and it was a deep, nuanced book about the war on drugs and our cultural history and relationship with drugs. I made it one of my top books of the year.
So I reached out to Johann and we eventually sat down to get his 3 most formative books.
Who is Johann Hari?
He was born in Glasgow in 1979 and when he was a year old his family moved to London where he lived most of his life. He studied social and political science at Cambridge and is now the author of three massive bestsellers: CHASING THE SCREAM, LOST CONNECTION, and his newest out in 2022 called STOLEN FOCUS: Why You Can't Pay Attention. His work has been lauded from everybody from Bono to Oprah and he's been named national newspaper journalist of the year by Amnesty International twice.
Listen as we talk about: regaining our attention, kSafes, reading as resistance, negative bias, amygdala hijacks, managing intelligence, French burnout laws, and, of course, Johann's 3 most formative books...
I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.
Search for “3 Books” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or directly at 3books.co/chapters/121
-
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 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
Happy full moon, everybody!
Do you feel like the world today -- our culture today -- is pulling us further and further away from things that matter? Like deep in-person, real-life, human connections. Like the ability to focus on things that require deep thought, care, and time -- like reading books. Are you feeling yourself sucked into the algorithmic abyss -- where endless dings and pings and alerts and notifications pull us into echo chambers that prey on biological tendencies beyond our comprehension?
You may remember our chat on 3 Books six chapters ago with Dr. Gabor Maté who calls our culture today "toxic" and the record-levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and suicide rates we have today. So what do we do about it?
Well, our guest today is Johann Hari who will help me, help you, help all of us rekindle what is important in our life. How? By taking back our focus and our attention.
Some history: I first heard about Johann back on Chapter 49 with Dr. Andrea Sereda. One of her 3 most formative books was CHASING THE SCREAM by Johann Hari. I read it cover to cover and it was a deep, nuanced book about the war on drugs and our cultural history and relationship with drugs. I made it one of my top books of the year.
So I reached out to Johann and we eventually sat down to get his 3 most formative books.
Who is Johann Hari?
He was born in Glasgow in 1979 and when he was a year old his family moved to London where he lived most of his life. He studied social and political science at Cambridge and is now the author of three massive bestsellers: CHASING THE SCREAM, LOST CONNECTION, and his newest out in 2022 called STOLEN FOCUS: Why You Can't Pay Attention. His work has been lauded from everybody from Bono to Oprah and he's been named national newspaper journalist of the year by Amnesty International twice.
Listen as we talk about: regaining our attention, kSafes, reading as resistance, negative bias, amygdala hijacks, managing intelligence, French burnout laws, and, of course, Johann's 3 most formative books...
I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.
Search for “3 Books” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or directly at 3books.co/chapters/121
-
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 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
