You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
thecasecloser 's review for:
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
by Cal Newport
This is the best career-focused book I've read, I can't recommend it enough. It's especially relevant to careers where ideas are more important than what you actually produce (e.g. software developer vs window installer), but I think would benefit anyone who would do better in their career/life by developing the ability to focus intensely for long periods of time, which I think is most people.
Last year I read another of Cal's books and it had really good ideas but was horribly written. A few months ago I started listening to his podcast (Deep Questions with Cal Newport) and loved that it has all of his great ideas without the terrible writing of So Good They Can't Ignore You. He definitely improved as a writer (and he actually talks about how much his work improved as he was writing this book and applying its principles) and I'm much more excited about his other newer books now.
One of the most impressive things about this book is how Cal responds to opposing ideas. I remember my high school English teachers saying that you should anticipate criticism of your writing and proactively respond to it, and Cal does that with such surgical precision and conciseness that I'm actually fully convinced of I think everything he says here.
It's rare to have new ideas, and even more rare for them to be easily understandable and applicable. Cal's advice here is often immediately intuitive and cuts right past toxic hustle culture and into how to live a more meaningful and fulfilling life by setting boundaries and maximizing your potential within them. Calling this life-changing feels dramatic, but this is certainly work-changing for me.
Last year I read another of Cal's books and it had really good ideas but was horribly written. A few months ago I started listening to his podcast (Deep Questions with Cal Newport) and loved that it has all of his great ideas without the terrible writing of So Good They Can't Ignore You. He definitely improved as a writer (and he actually talks about how much his work improved as he was writing this book and applying its principles) and I'm much more excited about his other newer books now.
One of the most impressive things about this book is how Cal responds to opposing ideas. I remember my high school English teachers saying that you should anticipate criticism of your writing and proactively respond to it, and Cal does that with such surgical precision and conciseness that I'm actually fully convinced of I think everything he says here.
It's rare to have new ideas, and even more rare for them to be easily understandable and applicable. Cal's advice here is often immediately intuitive and cuts right past toxic hustle culture and into how to live a more meaningful and fulfilling life by setting boundaries and maximizing your potential within them. Calling this life-changing feels dramatic, but this is certainly work-changing for me.