Deep Work

Cal Newport

Why I looked at this book

It's hard to concentrate sometimes. Well actually most of the time. We find it all to easy to distract ourselves, and to persuade ourselves that multitasking gets more done - but it isn't true. A period of concentration is often what is needed to move forward with some project which is stuck. I'm hoping that this book will indicate how this might be done, and so help readers in achieving their potential.

First impressions

The book is in two parts, the first explaining why deep work is valuable and the second on how to achieve it. From my point of view it's the second that's important. I think we would all like to be able to concentrate on what needs to be done, but it's tempting to fill our time with less demanding alternatives. I have to admit that i read the sample of this book as a less demanding alternative when in the middle of some coding. Will this book help towards concentrating on some complex computer code or a difficult mathematical proof? We'll have to see.