Uploaded July 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
3 Books is an award-winning podcast discussing life's biggest themes through the 3 most formative books of an inspiring guest. Past guests include: Brené Brown, David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell, Roxane Gay, Judy Blume, Quentin Tarantino, etc.
Mohsin Hamid is one of the greatest writers of this generation.
He was born in 1971 in Lahore, Pakistan and grew up there with a six-year stint in the US where he lived from age 3 to 9 while he dad completed a PhD at Stanford. He returned to the US at age 18 to attend Princeton where he graduated summa cum laude and studied under novelists Toni Morrison and Joyce Carol Oates.
Mohsin is the author of Moth Smoke (2000), the best-sellers The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013), and Exit West (2017). His fifth novel The Last White Man comes out just a few days after this conversation is being published.
Mohsin's books have been published in over 40 languages, sold millions of copies, been turned into movies, and been shortlisted for the Pen / Hemingway Prize and Man Booker Prize multiple times. He has been named one of the world’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine and his writing regularly appears in, no big deal, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, and the Paris Review.
We reached Mohsin from Lahore, Pakistan, where he lives with his family. We discussed the history of Lahore, storytelling as an antidote to nostalgia, transmuting fear into sadness, teaching children about death, what he learned from Toni Morrison as a teacher, the power of reading out loud, writing masterclass tips, Mohsin’s 3 most formative books, and much, much more.
Please enjoy this wide-ranging conversation with Mohsin Hamid!
For full show notes: 3books.co/chapters/108
For more on the podcast: 3books.co
I will attempt to answer every comment below.
Thanks for listening!
-
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
3 Books is an award-winning podcast discussing life's biggest themes through the 3 most formative books of an inspiring guest. Past guests include: Brené Brown, David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell, Roxane Gay, Judy Blume, Quentin Tarantino, etc.
Mohsin Hamid is one of the greatest writers of this generation.
He was born in 1971 in Lahore, Pakistan and grew up there with a six-year stint in the US where he lived from age 3 to 9 while he dad completed a PhD at Stanford. He returned to the US at age 18 to attend Princeton where he graduated summa cum laude and studied under novelists Toni Morrison and Joyce Carol Oates.
Mohsin is the author of Moth Smoke (2000), the best-sellers The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013), and Exit West (2017). His fifth novel The Last White Man comes out just a few days after this conversation is being published.
Mohsin's books have been published in over 40 languages, sold millions of copies, been turned into movies, and been shortlisted for the Pen / Hemingway Prize and Man Booker Prize multiple times. He has been named one of the world’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine and his writing regularly appears in, no big deal, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, and the Paris Review.
We reached Mohsin from Lahore, Pakistan, where he lives with his family. We discussed the history of Lahore, storytelling as an antidote to nostalgia, transmuting fear into sadness, teaching children about death, what he learned from Toni Morrison as a teacher, the power of reading out loud, writing masterclass tips, Mohsin’s 3 most formative books, and much, much more.
Please enjoy this wide-ranging conversation with Mohsin Hamid!
For full show notes: 3books.co/chapters/108
For more on the podcast: 3books.co
I will attempt to answer every comment below.
Thanks for listening!
-
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
