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hirodotsu's review against another edition
2.0
Could be a two page article. It was mostly about how capitalism sucks our souls by preventing people from being able to do good work, but it disguises it as hustle grindset
ciella__'s review against another edition
1.0
1-star, maybe 1.5 if i'm nice; anyway, i read digital minimalism before and was interested in reading deep work because it was written before the latter - i wanted to know where his reflection came from for digital minimalism
well -- i was pretty unconvinced by digital minimalism and deep work well... dnf
basically, deep work is about staying focused on a cognitively demanding task without being distracted
i was expecting tricks to help your brain focus on something (like tricks, like lifehacks) but instead, was told how social media are """bad""" - i agree they're distracting but most jobs now require a certain degree of connectivity (unless you're very privileged and have a position that doesn't require you to be connected/can choose your communication method).
examples given in the book to illustrate the points only include white, privileged men - no women, no poc, well, you got me. this point aside, what does deep work even mean
by reading the book, i mostly understood "deep work" by "working hard", staying focused and hum... i guess "work harder to be successful" ? work harder? when we work, we're already working hard (at least, you try to work hard)
i personally don't think that "deep work" only will help us being successful; it's not because you work longer/harder than the average that you'll have the results - working harder is great, only if you are efficient and have the right learning/working methods that suit you. it will take you nowhere if you just "work harder" - understanding how you work, what are you current methods, what works for you is to me, what makes your work "deep"
and what about the quality of your work if you work "deep"? like you can work very hard on something and not have the quality expected, especially if you have wrong/ unsuited working methods
e.g.: a student spends a lot of time learning foreign vocabulary by writing but they have an auditive memory (they learn and memorise better when they hear things). this student doesn't know they have an auditive memory and could be spending hours writing the vocabulary and not have the expected results at a test because their brain don't work efficiently for a given task
-> finding a good method of working is better than working "deep"
+ the basic method of deep work that most people can apply is just basic time-management - how to schedule your day, according to the life you have; how to balance between your external obligations (like having kids or going to uni) and the time you need to work on something (e.g.: a language, a subject, anything)
+ developing habits is important to implement your "deep work" sessions - i would instead read a book on how to implement habits (tips & tricks to train your brain)
-> avoiding distraction is in developing habits, tricks and willingness to do something, schedule it. you don't especially need to quit social media - it's about managing the "me" time and the "working" time.
to sum up, this book was ironically very shallow, saying that deep work is good because it will make you successful; needlessly to say that success involves a lot of external factors, such as the socio-economic background, time (to focus on your work), resources (to have access to the knowledge related to what you want to work on - while thanks to the internet topics like languages can be found easily, it can depend)
anyway, would not really recommend it honestly...
well -- i was pretty unconvinced by digital minimalism and deep work well... dnf
basically, deep work is about staying focused on a cognitively demanding task without being distracted
i was expecting tricks to help your brain focus on something (like tricks, like lifehacks) but instead, was told how social media are """bad""" - i agree they're distracting but most jobs now require a certain degree of connectivity (unless you're very privileged and have a position that doesn't require you to be connected/can choose your communication method).
examples given in the book to illustrate the points only include white, privileged men - no women, no poc, well, you got me. this point aside, what does deep work even mean
by reading the book, i mostly understood "deep work" by "working hard", staying focused and hum... i guess "work harder to be successful" ? work harder? when we work, we're already working hard (at least, you try to work hard)
i personally don't think that "deep work" only will help us being successful; it's not because you work longer/harder than the average that you'll have the results - working harder is great, only if you are efficient and have the right learning/working methods that suit you. it will take you nowhere if you just "work harder" - understanding how you work, what are you current methods, what works for you is to me, what makes your work "deep"
and what about the quality of your work if you work "deep"? like you can work very hard on something and not have the quality expected, especially if you have wrong/ unsuited working methods
e.g.: a student spends a lot of time learning foreign vocabulary by writing but they have an auditive memory (they learn and memorise better when they hear things). this student doesn't know they have an auditive memory and could be spending hours writing the vocabulary and not have the expected results at a test because their brain don't work efficiently for a given task
-> finding a good method of working is better than working "deep"
+ the basic method of deep work that most people can apply is just basic time-management - how to schedule your day, according to the life you have; how to balance between your external obligations (like having kids or going to uni) and the time you need to work on something (e.g.: a language, a subject, anything)
+ developing habits is important to implement your "deep work" sessions - i would instead read a book on how to implement habits (tips & tricks to train your brain)
-> avoiding distraction is in developing habits, tricks and willingness to do something, schedule it. you don't especially need to quit social media - it's about managing the "me" time and the "working" time.
to sum up, this book was ironically very shallow, saying that deep work is good because it will make you successful; needlessly to say that success involves a lot of external factors, such as the socio-economic background, time (to focus on your work), resources (to have access to the knowledge related to what you want to work on - while thanks to the internet topics like languages can be found easily, it can depend)
anyway, would not really recommend it honestly...
samadli's review against another edition
4.0
Great book, highly recommend to ones who wants to be more organized and focused in any aspect of their lives!
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.