Deep Work: Book Review

I've spent a surprising amount of time of last year reading about ways to be productive (I had no internet in my apartment so books were my past-time). These books snuck up on me, and while some of the material was useful, I did find their advice and suggestions repetitive and most times totally ignorant of context. This brings me to one book in particular Deep Work.

Deep Work was a well-written and overall okay read. It was written by Cal Newport, a professor in computer science at Georgia Tech.  I am a HUGE fan of his blog: Study Hacks, and his writing style in general. We share some of the same struggles (dealing with academia) and some practices (I independently quite social media as well, and spent the past year living without internet at home). Given the our similarities and my general respect for what he has accomplished as a person and an academic, I was surprised that I did not at all find Deep Work that compelling. If asked, I would still recommend it as maybe a sporadic read, but I would not say it is a must-read or game- changing book. I will attempt to briefly explain why with this review.

The first part of the book makes the argument that Deep Work is important- he goes through a bunch of anecdotes about great thinkers and how they achieved many of their notable accomplishments through deep work. Newport then argues that working deeply is a useful skill that must be developed in knowledge workers. The first part of the book is well researched, and contains nice tidbits of insightful information.

The second part of the book is where, in my opinion, it falls apart. Newport details his four rules for deep work. They are:
#1: Work Deeply 
#2: Embrace Boredom
#3: Quit Social Media
#4: Drain the Shallows

To me what he describes here borders on preaching. Worse is that the evidence and behaviours prescribed are better described in other books and media. For example, the idea behind the neurological basis for Deep Work is way better described by Barbara Oakley in the learning how to learn course on coursera. Furthermore, some of Newport's ideas are also devoid of context, which makes them less applicable to audiences who don't enjoy too much leisure time or are not super well off financially. Also, the overall message that a more  productive life is the best type of life, and that grand accomplishments and acclaim are what we should strive for is a bit shaky. Newport addresses this in the conclusion to some extent but does not tell the reader much about the limitations and caveats of his methods and rules. 

In addition to the aforesaid larger gripes, Deep Work also justifies unprofessional academic behaviours such as not responding to professional emails. For me these were just a few things that pushed Deep Work over the deep end.