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skylarkochava's review against another edition
5.0
A really short, speedy read. Basically a collection of very short blog posts put together in categories. Sounds pretty and like a waste of time, right? NO. It gets to the point and provides several actionable items you can do today to improve your life. I didn't even know some of these things were possible, and I try to stay on top of these ideas. My only beef is that the end notes should really be a resource guide, and not every one listed in the chapter is listed. I knew the guide was in the back, so I read through the book without taking notes, only to discover that not all the resources were listed in the back. But since the book is so short, I could flip through the whole book and check for any I missed. I don't think the book will stand the test of time as new companies enter the marketplace, but the principles may continue to be useful. If you liked this book and haven't read The Four Hour Workweek, you should definitely read that too.
margaretmechinus's review against another edition
1.0
Not what I was looking for. Should have been called Doing More with Technolgy.
angelasunshine's review against another edition
informative
2.5
This was informative but really was just a long list of websites and apps. I don’t think it was book worthy.
deeparcher's review against another edition
3.0
This was like The Four Hour Workweek, only with more of the specific tools he uses to optimize and outsource aspects of his own life.
afitta507's review against another edition
1.0
Another book that basically just tells you to outsource and automate, which is helpful if you work for yourself but if you’re not self employed, it’s not practical. It gives a list of a bunch of tools (i.e. IFFT, Evernote) you can use to “organize your brain”, which you can find with some simple Google research. Also, I’m a woman reading this and early on the book talks about optimizing your bio markers, “even testosterone” — yes, women do have some testosterone, but it’s not our primary hormone. Also claims that Pinterest is “how a woman’s brain works”, giving the statistic that 70% of users are women, but that Evernote is a neuroscience approach felt very biased. There was no reason to include that statistic, just say that Evernote is a neuroscience approach. It felt exclusionary and just tells me I’m not the target demographic.
jrc2011's review against another edition
3.0
My first big question from this book is: if you're just outsourcing tasks to other people, are they doing the same? No, wait, that's my second question. The first question really should be: how did this blog post get published as a book as it largely consists of reviews of online services/tools, many of which may be obsolete by now?
The basic jist of this book is "efficiency." Use the tools in the world around you to cope with the information overload and avoid getting bogged down in time-sucking tasks. Even though this book is 7 years old, I have heard of "Fancy Hands" or other virtual assistants and hiring one to do research for an upcoming trip would have saved me a lot of time over the years.
Meisel is also a ruthless inbox weeder -- as I am -- setting an upper limit on the inbox with a Do/Defer/Delete process. I get to "0" at least twice a week and set reminders on items for follow-up using Outlook (rather than some external service).
Funniest story was how he used an email reminder service to send a daily reminder on a question he had to a commercial service provider -- after 63 days they answered his question and begged he shut off the reminder function. Meisel has a course on udemy as of the printing of this book -- I'd recommend looking for his works online rather than reading dead-trees with bit.ly links printed across several pages.
The basic jist of this book is "efficiency." Use the tools in the world around you to cope with the information overload and avoid getting bogged down in time-sucking tasks. Even though this book is 7 years old, I have heard of "Fancy Hands" or other virtual assistants and hiring one to do research for an upcoming trip would have saved me a lot of time over the years.
Meisel is also a ruthless inbox weeder -- as I am -- setting an upper limit on the inbox with a Do/Defer/Delete process. I get to "0" at least twice a week and set reminders on items for follow-up using Outlook (rather than some external service).
Funniest story was how he used an email reminder service to send a daily reminder on a question he had to a commercial service provider -- after 63 days they answered his question and begged he shut off the reminder function. Meisel has a course on udemy as of the printing of this book -- I'd recommend looking for his works online rather than reading dead-trees with bit.ly links printed across several pages.
categal's review against another edition
2.0
This book is packed with tips, advice, ideas, suggestions on how to automate yourself. By turning your brain over to the internet and semi-anonymous online services that will do the thinking for you, you can become more efficient, productive, and creative. I am uncomfortable with signing up for "free" or low fee services that have access to all sorts of personal information and data - I wonder what's being done with all this private data, how else it might be used.
I was also struck by how we have taken some very modern technology, and turned it into a sort of Mad Men style boss/secretary relationship. Let's outsource buying flowers for our girlfriends - have your online assistant send flowers, but not too regularly, that way it seems more spontaneous and heartfelt. Do we all need secretaries to handle our dry cleaning and make appointments for us? Is it ok to pay anonymous services pennies a month to schedule mammograms and write checks on our behalf because we don't feel like we should have to do it ourselves? Do we have a responsibility to know the working conditions of these establishments? These are some of the thoughts that popped up for me during this read, which makes me think that I am not quite up-to-speed in this modern world.
If your work is primarily online, there are very useful explanations of different softwares and apps that you'll want to check out, and I like the minimize everything approach. I liked the Wellness chapter because it was an excellent analysis of how to think about health, along with solid suggestions that weren't just app reviews.
This is a book that I would like to revisit in maybe five years, and see if my own ideas about privacy and the quantified self have changed enough to appreciate this approach.
I was also struck by how we have taken some very modern technology, and turned it into a sort of Mad Men style boss/secretary relationship. Let's outsource buying flowers for our girlfriends - have your online assistant send flowers, but not too regularly, that way it seems more spontaneous and heartfelt. Do we all need secretaries to handle our dry cleaning and make appointments for us? Is it ok to pay anonymous services pennies a month to schedule mammograms and write checks on our behalf because we don't feel like we should have to do it ourselves? Do we have a responsibility to know the working conditions of these establishments? These are some of the thoughts that popped up for me during this read, which makes me think that I am not quite up-to-speed in this modern world.
If your work is primarily online, there are very useful explanations of different softwares and apps that you'll want to check out, and I like the minimize everything approach. I liked the Wellness chapter because it was an excellent analysis of how to think about health, along with solid suggestions that weren't just app reviews.
This is a book that I would like to revisit in maybe five years, and see if my own ideas about privacy and the quantified self have changed enough to appreciate this approach.
antidietleah's review against another edition
4.0
Read this at the request of my boss - lots of good tips for organizing and streamlining. Tips can definitely be used in my personal life as well as work.
alsoapples's review against another edition
1.75
As a nurse who has common sense and does not live most of my life online, this book was nearly useless. A few helpful tips, but otherwise could have been a buzzfeed list of the author's favorite apps.