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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
Lots of great advice for improving your focus and managing your time. Would work well for those who have more control over thir time in the first place, but probably difficult if not impossible to apply if an office underling.
I can't remember a single thing about this book. Which is really ironic since it was built on focus.
informative
fast-paced
informative
slow-paced
A Knowledge Compound book club selection, I liked it more than I thought I would. I skipped over part one of the book as after a chapter, I realised I didn’t need convincing. I thought it obvious that concentrating and prioritising on a project would provide better results than not doing either of those things!
I really appreciate non fiction work that sets out clear actionable steps and have taken notes of what Cal Newport proposes. As a mother of a 5 year old and 7 month old my time is splintered and practically unplannable, but I took heart that I could utilise the journalistic approach and achieve some deep work slots when possible.
I liked his approach to social media, the lesson of assessing whether just ‘some benefit’ is enough to warrant your time (and your data) was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me.
I also liked his chapter on planning your day, in what I am calling the wet concrete approach. The point is not to set it in stone - but just to actually give it some thought. Any tool that allows for guilt free rewrites is currently a win in my book.
Deep work isn’t needed in every job, but the ability to concentrate and not fall prey to every shiny (smartphone) distraction is a life skill that may be in dangerously in decline. For that reason I think most people could get something out of this book.
Some points didn’t quite have the impact I thought they could of, there’s nothing profound in here and the writing is a bit long winded in places. In book club I gave it a 7 out of 10 which would translate to a 3.5 out of 5 in this star system. I rounded up rather than down as I do think it’s a worthwhile read.
I really appreciate non fiction work that sets out clear actionable steps and have taken notes of what Cal Newport proposes. As a mother of a 5 year old and 7 month old my time is splintered and practically unplannable, but I took heart that I could utilise the journalistic approach and achieve some deep work slots when possible.
I liked his approach to social media, the lesson of assessing whether just ‘some benefit’ is enough to warrant your time (and your data) was a bit of a lightbulb moment for me.
I also liked his chapter on planning your day, in what I am calling the wet concrete approach. The point is not to set it in stone - but just to actually give it some thought. Any tool that allows for guilt free rewrites is currently a win in my book.
Deep work isn’t needed in every job, but the ability to concentrate and not fall prey to every shiny (smartphone) distraction is a life skill that may be in dangerously in decline. For that reason I think most people could get something out of this book.
Some points didn’t quite have the impact I thought they could of, there’s nothing profound in here and the writing is a bit long winded in places. In book club I gave it a 7 out of 10 which would translate to a 3.5 out of 5 in this star system. I rounded up rather than down as I do think it’s a worthwhile read.
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
Quite helpful! Did a mix of reading and listening on this book.
inspiring
I found this book pretty annoying. Even though the idea of practicing a few hours per day of "deep" (uninterrupted and meaningful) work is quite valuable, I would have preferred a more advice-focused book, rather than this weird mix of misleading scientific terminology and success ideology.
In this book, Cal tries to convince us that his deep work hypothesis is "true": "The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive". Is this hypothesis falsifiable? I don't think so. Does he provide any scientific evidence to support it? Not really. So why use hypothesis testing terminology anyway? He does mention a few cognitive/neuroscientific findings, the presentation of which I found very misleading. For example, the author seems to suggest that, by concentrating on a task at a time (e.g., learning SQL), the "relevant neural circuit" /"group of neurons" would be "isolated" and "strengthened". I am pretty sure that no neuroscientific study can support such a statement: with our current knowledge and methods, we are not able to isolate a group of neurons responsible for learning a programming language (I suspect that a large part of the brain is busy performing such a task) and test whether the connections among them can be strengthened practicing deep work.
The other thing I found pretty annoying is the obsession with output and success. For example, he mentions a story about a group of professors that organized a workshop on "data-driven observations about how to produce academic work at an optimum rate". As an academic, I find this very depressing. I thought deep work meant doing something meaningful and not being obsessed with academic output. Also, Cal repeatedly takes famous people as exemplars of "a clear winner in our economy" and their life/work style as a model for our own. I simply do not believe that there is a clear recipe (or set of recipes) to achieve success, nor that success should mean the same for everyone.
In this book, Cal tries to convince us that his deep work hypothesis is "true": "The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive". Is this hypothesis falsifiable? I don't think so. Does he provide any scientific evidence to support it? Not really. So why use hypothesis testing terminology anyway? He does mention a few cognitive/neuroscientific findings, the presentation of which I found very misleading. For example, the author seems to suggest that, by concentrating on a task at a time (e.g., learning SQL), the "relevant neural circuit" /"group of neurons" would be "isolated" and "strengthened". I am pretty sure that no neuroscientific study can support such a statement: with our current knowledge and methods, we are not able to isolate a group of neurons responsible for learning a programming language (I suspect that a large part of the brain is busy performing such a task) and test whether the connections among them can be strengthened practicing deep work.
The other thing I found pretty annoying is the obsession with output and success. For example, he mentions a story about a group of professors that organized a workshop on "data-driven observations about how to produce academic work at an optimum rate". As an academic, I find this very depressing. I thought deep work meant doing something meaningful and not being obsessed with academic output. Also, Cal repeatedly takes famous people as exemplars of "a clear winner in our economy" and their life/work style as a model for our own. I simply do not believe that there is a clear recipe (or set of recipes) to achieve success, nor that success should mean the same for everyone.
informative
fast-paced
Insight stuff. A bit dry and I just don't care for many examples from the authors life. But overall I agree with the topic and many of the wisdoms are good to know.