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tildahlia's review against another edition
4.0
So, I hate to be the person who reads a 'science lite' book and claims it has changed their life, but this time I am guilty as charged. I really enjoyed this book.
It touches on a subject that really fascinates me: the way our workplaces and leisure activities reward shallow activity (emails, IMs, quick posts, easily digested articles) over deep thinking (craftsmanship, study, scholarship). I didn't need much convincing. I experience this on a daily basis by finding it increasingly difficult to dedicate myself to more immersive tasks or experiences. I am that person who is scrolling their feeds while binging TV series because I can't focus enough for a movie. Yep.
I found this book highly readable and infused with plenty of original ideas and it has some solid practical advice that you can customise to your life. I didn't agree with everything - I get decidedly annoyed (defensive is the term Newport uses in describing this reaction) when people who have never used Facebook bag it. There is plenty to bag Facebook about, but those who have never used it tend to oversimplify its supposed shortcomings ('fake' friends, mundane updates etc) without recognising that it does, for many of us, facilitate deeper connections to IRL friends and provide intellectual stimulation by exposing us to great writing, ideas, debates. While I agree we can afford to apply greater scrutiny to our use of social media to assess what value they are adding to their lives, the 'holier than thou' of those who absent themselves from the socials is a bit galling.
If you worry about frittering away your time, or ever get to the end of a week and wonder what you actually achieved at work: this is the book for you.
It touches on a subject that really fascinates me: the way our workplaces and leisure activities reward shallow activity (emails, IMs, quick posts, easily digested articles) over deep thinking (craftsmanship, study, scholarship). I didn't need much convincing. I experience this on a daily basis by finding it increasingly difficult to dedicate myself to more immersive tasks or experiences. I am that person who is scrolling their feeds while binging TV series because I can't focus enough for a movie. Yep.
I found this book highly readable and infused with plenty of original ideas and it has some solid practical advice that you can customise to your life. I didn't agree with everything - I get decidedly annoyed (defensive is the term Newport uses in describing this reaction) when people who have never used Facebook bag it. There is plenty to bag Facebook about, but those who have never used it tend to oversimplify its supposed shortcomings ('fake' friends, mundane updates etc) without recognising that it does, for many of us, facilitate deeper connections to IRL friends and provide intellectual stimulation by exposing us to great writing, ideas, debates. While I agree we can afford to apply greater scrutiny to our use of social media to assess what value they are adding to their lives, the 'holier than thou' of those who absent themselves from the socials is a bit galling.
If you worry about frittering away your time, or ever get to the end of a week and wonder what you actually achieved at work: this is the book for you.