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Back in Chapter 101 of \u20183 Books\u2019 we had a magical, eve-of-\u2018Everything-Everywhere-All-At-Once\u2019-coming-out moment-in-time conversation with creative super-geniuses Daniels \u2014 who are Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. We were discussing the fascinating book 'Sex At Dawn' and our conversation led to discussing Dunbar\u2019s Number.

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Dunbar\u2019s Number! Have you heard of Dunbar\u2019s Number? It\u2019s 150! That\u2019s the cognitive limit on the number of social relationships we can have. We, as in humans. Limit, as in our brains can\u2019t handle any more. The number was coined, of course, by Oxford Emeritus Professor, Anthropologist, Evolutionary Psychologist, and General All-Round Super-Genius Robin, yes you guessed it, Dunbar. \u201cThere are only eight people with numbers named after them,\u201d Robin says, with a grin. \u201cAnd the other seven people are dead.\u201d (Shoutout to Avogadro!)

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Now: 150 is one in a series of numbers. More intimately: We have 15 \u2018shoulders to cry on friends\u2019, those who\u2019d drop everything to help us or for whom we\u2019d drop everything to help. And our cognitively limited brains can handle 500 \u2018acquaintances\u2019 and even 5000 \u2018total faces.\u2019 But 150? That\u2019s the limit for \u2018friends\u2019. No wonder 150 is the average wedding size, it\u2019s the average number of total people who 'see your Christmas card\u2019, and it\u2019s even the average size of 8000-year-old Middle East villages and 1000-year-old English countryside villages.

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Once you start seeing this number \u2014 it\u2019s hard to stop. But: Why is it important? Well, because friendships, the trust between all of us, it\u2019s \u2026 at an all-time low. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy (our guest in Chapter 66!) has declared a \u2018loneliness\u2019 epidemic with 1 in 2 adults feeling alone now \u2014 higher than ever before in history. (Doesn\u2019t sound too bad till you realize loneliness is worse for our health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day!) Meanwhile, the Harvard Adult Development Study, the longest study ever on happiness, says that friendship and community is the number one source of happiness.

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So enter: Robin Dunbar! Wise, cheery, and ever-eloquent, he\u2019s got a massive mind capable of distilling more than five decades of scientific work \u2014 and 16 published books including \u2018How Religion Evolved\u2019, \u2018How Many Friends Does One Person Need?\u2019, and \u2018Friends\u2019 \u2014 into simple observations, prophecies, and advice on how we can all live richer, more fulfilling lives.

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I found this an astoundingly nutritious conversation and we talk about: how to raise children, what HR departments *should* be doing, what you\u2019re doing wrong when you go to the gym, why religion \u2018dies during times of peace and revives during times of war\u2019, the death and finding of our deep community, Robin\u2019s 3 most formative books, and much, much, *much* more...

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Let\u2019s flip the page into Chapter 132...

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Watch now at https://youtu.be/eaHd90bKldw or listen at 3books.co/chapters/132

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

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Sign up to receive podcast updates here:\xa0https://www.3books.co/3mail

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3 Books is a completely insane and totally epic 22-year-long quest to uncover and discuss the 1000 most formative books in the world. Each chapter discusses the 3 most formative books of an inspiring person. Sample guests include: Bren\xe9 Brown, David Sedaris, Malcolm Gladwell, George Saunders, Angie Thomas, Daniels, Cheryl Strayed, Rich Roll, Soyoung the Variety Store Owner, Derek the Hype Man, Kevin the Bookseller, Vishwas the Uber Driver, Roxane Gay, David Mitchell, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Mark Manson, Seth Godin, Judy Blume, and Quentin Tarantino. 3 Books is published on the lunar calendar with each of the 333 chapters dropped on the exact minute of every single full moon all the way up to April 26, 2040. 3 Books is an Apple "Best Of" award-winning show and is 100% non-profit with no ads, no sponsors, no commercials, and no interruptions. 3 Books has 3 clubs including the End of the Podcast Club, the Cover to Cover Club, and the Secret Club, which operates entirely through the mail and is only accessible by calling 1-833-READ-A-LOT. Each chapter is hosted by Neil Pasricha, New York Times bestselling author of 'The Happiness Equation', 'Two-Minute Mornings', and 'The Book of Awesome.' For more info check out:\xa0https://www.3books.co