Three Books

Topics

Every subject the show has dug into, drawn from episode transcripts.

Writing & literature

All topics
I Keep Telling People We’re Living in This Dystopian NovelJune 19, 2026
I Keep Telling People We’re Living in This Dystopian NovelJune 19, 2026
George Saunders on Anger, Ambition and SinFebruary 10, 2026
Patti Smith on the One Desire That Lasts ForeverNovember 18, 2025
Patti Smith on the One Desire That Lasts ForeverNovember 18, 2025
Our Lives Are an Endless Series of ‘And’May 30, 2025
How a Red-District Democrat Is Navigating TrumpMay 6, 2025
Zadie Smith on Populists, Frauds and Flip PhonesSeptember 17, 2024
Salman Rushdie Is Not Who You Think He IsApril 26, 2024
This Conversation Made Me a Sharper EditorApril 23, 2024
Marilynne Robinson on Biblical Beauty, Human Evil and the Idea of IsraelMarch 5, 2024
How to Discover Your Own TasteJanuary 9, 2024
Barbara Kingsolver Thinks Urban Liberals Have It All Wrong on AppalachiaJuly 21, 2023
What Tom Hanks Thinks of AmericaJuly 14, 2023
Why This Economist Wants to Give Every Poor Child $50,000June 23, 2023
What a Poetic Mind Can Teach Us About How to LiveMarch 3, 2023
Is A.I. Actually Creative? Are We?February 24, 2023
George Saunders on the 'Braindead Megaphone' That Makes Our Politics So AwfulNovember 8, 2022
A Legendary World-Builder on Multiverses, Revolution and the 'Souls' of CitiesOctober 18, 2022
The Subtle Art of Appreciating 'Difficult Beauty'September 6, 2022
How Do We Face Loss With Empathy?August 12, 2022
A Weird, Wonderful Conversation With Kim Stanley RobinsonJuly 15, 2022
A Conversation With Ada Limón, in Six PoemsMay 24, 2022
A Conversation With Ada Limón, in Six PoemsMay 24, 2022
Emily St. John Mandel on Time Travel, Parenting and the ApocalypseApril 22, 2022
Margaret Atwood on 'The Handmaid's Tale,' Totalitarianism and U.F.O.sMarch 25, 2022
What We Gain by Enchanting the Objects in Our LivesJanuary 25, 2022
Two Acclaimed Writers on the Art of Revising Your LifeNovember 9, 2021
What if We’ll Never Truly Be Free?October 8, 2021
Richard Powers on What We Can Learn from TreesSeptember 28, 2021
How Colson Whitehead Writes About Our ‘Big Wild Country’September 14, 2021
Critical Race Theory, Comic Books and the Power of Public SchoolsJuly 9, 2021
Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy Wants You to Be Bad at Something. It’s for Your Own Good.July 2, 2021
The Freeing of the American MindJune 15, 2021
The Author Behind ‘Arrival’ Doesn’t Fear A.I. ‘Look at How We Treat Animals.’March 30, 2021
The Author Behind ‘Arrival’ Doesn’t Fear A.I. ‘Look at How We Treat Animals.’March 30, 2021
What It Means to Be Kind in a Cruel WorldFebruary 19, 2021

Culture

Philosophy & ethicsReligionWriting & literature

Economy

China tradeHousingInequality & povertyLabor & workMacroeconomics

Environment

AnimalsClimate & energy

Health

Mental health & psychology

Politics

Abortion & reproductive rightsElections & campaignsGovernment & state capacityPolicing & crimePolitics & democracySupreme Court & the lawTrump & Trumpism

Science

Science

Society

Cities & urbanismEducationEffective altruism & philanthropyFood & agricultureFriendship & communityGender & feminismHealthcareImmigrationMedia & journalismParenting & familyRace

Technology

AICryptoTech platforms & the internet

World

Foreign policy & geopoliticsIsrael-PalestineRussia & Ukraine