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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
A very well written book with real life historical examples. Great introduction to the concept of slow learning and deep living that Cal Newport perpetualy purports.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
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#أصدقاء_الكتاب_2019
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اسم القارئ: فاطمة الطائية
اسم الكتاب: Deep work
عدد الصفحات: 296
اسم الكاتب: Cal Newport
دار النشر: Grand Central Publishing
الفئة: Non fiction
تاريخ بدأ القراءة: ٢٠١٩/٢/٢٤
تاريخ الإنجاز: ٢٠١٩/٢/٢٦
المستوى: ٣٥/٧
*Why I read this book?
I decided to read this book because of a youtube video I watched about what books to read to perform better in university.
*Summary:
The book is caterogized in two parts:
Part 1: The idea
And part 2: The rules
In part 1, there are three chapters and in part 2 the four rules are:
•Rule #1: Work deeply
•Rule #2: Embrace bordem.
•Rule #3: Quit Social Media
•Rule #4: Drain the shallows
The author gives many examples and is very persuasive.
*Personal opinion:
The author was really convincing when talking about quiting social media. This is my second time reading this book and the author didn’t fail to convince me to quit social media as I have quited social media for two weeks now and still counting. I agree with the author that social media is time consuming and reduces your focus and makes you perform shallow work. In my first time reading this book in 2017 finals came after it and I performed well for the first time since I joined the college of engineeringz. My semester gpa increased by a whole grade!
There was a phrase the author mentioned which was quite hard for me to relate to or want to do which was “Don’t use the internet to Entertain yourself” I was like what no more netflix no more shows??
*Quotes:
•”To be great at something is to be well myelinated.”
•”To learn hard things quickly, you must focus intensely without distraction. To learn, in other words, is an act of deep work. if you’re comfortable going deep, you’ll be comfortable mastering the increasingly complex systems and skills needed to thrive in our economy.”
Rating:
5/5
informative
medium-paced
Cal Newport is a great recapitulator - most of his points could be achieved in a blog post. His books are more like annotated bibliographies with a healthy dose of his personal preference and biases thrown in. If you're looking for some coaching and encouragement to get on track, or a summary of what people have to say on the topic - start here. If you want to read primary research, go straight to "Flow" by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi.
Newport's books are derivative but not nearly as bad as Malcolm Gladwell (for example). He says some odd things - like encouraging people to do "productive meditation" ("moving meditation" or "walking meditation" is a term that already exists) when they are doing "low value" things like "walking the dog." Frankly, if you have a dog and consider walking the dog to be "low value" -- perhaps you shouldn't have a dog as you are missing out on the opportunity to improve your bond with this wonderful creature and to observe what's happening in the neighborhood around you.
There are a few other "LOL" moments in the book. The author goes into detail about a mid-19th century critic of the emerging class of "salary man" who believed they should focus on reading the classics. Our intrepid author said, without irony, that was somewhat pretentious and elitist. Hm. Pot? This is kettle calling.
His overall message is as follows:
- It is important to spend more of your time on "high value" activities - or activities that are "productive" and which require deep focus and concentration - it's practically your duty as a human to do so.
- Cut off or reduce your use of social media.
- Utilize a "productive response" approach to emails (avoid open ended questions, outline next steps and make clear what your role is in the activity or task).
- Create a time box for your work -- and block out time for deep focused work. This will help you to shift status updates/chit chat and be more productive.
- Don't avoid boredom, instead use the time standing in line to solve other issues such as book outlines and math proofs.
- Move - don't just sit at your desk. Walk. Walking and moving stimulates your brain and so on.
- Successful working environments permit for many different levels of engagement. There's an interesting proposal by a colleague of Newport described for a "perfect" workspace that might be an interesting blog post somewhere. Think "hub and spoke" vs "open workspace."
First, the idea of always being productive and creating value is super subjective and arbitrary: humans are not put on this plant to "create value" or "be productive." That's Capitalism talking -- it's all red pill / blue pill stuff.
Second, boredom does not exist. It's just a sign that you're not doing what you'd really like to be doing. Newport takes a highly neurotypical view in many ways -- which excludes people experiencing cognitive or mental health issues and for whom diving into the internet to surf cat pictures while in line is the only way they can cope with the anxiety of being in a store or surrounded by people who might ask something of them.
Third, there's really a lot to be said about building relationships, listening to people and engaging in the world around you. It's fine if you have a vision about what you want to do to improve the world and have a plan that makes you happy. It's great if you have heroes (pretty much all men) like Carl Jung that you want to emulate -- but simply reading biographies and other people's primary research and regurgitating it does not put you in the same class as those "Great White Men" used profusely as examples in Newport's books.
Don't disrespect dog walking as low value - that's just wrong.
Newport's books are derivative but not nearly as bad as Malcolm Gladwell (for example). He says some odd things - like encouraging people to do "productive meditation" ("moving meditation" or "walking meditation" is a term that already exists) when they are doing "low value" things like "walking the dog." Frankly, if you have a dog and consider walking the dog to be "low value" -- perhaps you shouldn't have a dog as you are missing out on the opportunity to improve your bond with this wonderful creature and to observe what's happening in the neighborhood around you.
There are a few other "LOL" moments in the book. The author goes into detail about a mid-19th century critic of the emerging class of "salary man" who believed they should focus on reading the classics. Our intrepid author said, without irony, that was somewhat pretentious and elitist. Hm. Pot? This is kettle calling.
His overall message is as follows:
- It is important to spend more of your time on "high value" activities - or activities that are "productive" and which require deep focus and concentration - it's practically your duty as a human to do so.
- Cut off or reduce your use of social media.
- Utilize a "productive response" approach to emails (avoid open ended questions, outline next steps and make clear what your role is in the activity or task).
- Create a time box for your work -- and block out time for deep focused work. This will help you to shift status updates/chit chat and be more productive.
- Don't avoid boredom, instead use the time standing in line to solve other issues such as book outlines and math proofs.
- Move - don't just sit at your desk. Walk. Walking and moving stimulates your brain and so on.
- Successful working environments permit for many different levels of engagement. There's an interesting proposal by a colleague of Newport described for a "perfect" workspace that might be an interesting blog post somewhere. Think "hub and spoke" vs "open workspace."
First, the idea of always being productive and creating value is super subjective and arbitrary: humans are not put on this plant to "create value" or "be productive." That's Capitalism talking -- it's all red pill / blue pill stuff.
Second, boredom does not exist. It's just a sign that you're not doing what you'd really like to be doing. Newport takes a highly neurotypical view in many ways -- which excludes people experiencing cognitive or mental health issues and for whom diving into the internet to surf cat pictures while in line is the only way they can cope with the anxiety of being in a store or surrounded by people who might ask something of them.
Third, there's really a lot to be said about building relationships, listening to people and engaging in the world around you. It's fine if you have a vision about what you want to do to improve the world and have a plan that makes you happy. It's great if you have heroes (pretty much all men) like Carl Jung that you want to emulate -- but simply reading biographies and other people's primary research and regurgitating it does not put you in the same class as those "Great White Men" used profusely as examples in Newport's books.
Don't disrespect dog walking as low value - that's just wrong.
informative
slow-paced
Already a bit dated. Very repetitive. Like most of these books could have been summed up in a blog post that didn’t exceed 5 pages
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced
I am excited to use these strategies! I was familiar with the concept of deep work but did not realize how much practice and experimentation it may take to really get the most out of deep work.