Review: Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I probably wasn't the right target market for this book, in that I already agreed with everything he said. I've never gotten rid of all social media on my phone in order to give it a break, and then start from there, as he advocates. But I make it a point to keep very few apps (especially social media apps) on my phone. Only keeping the ones I use for work, and using my desktop for anything else. 

I also use Rescuetime to analyze how much time I spend on every app/website, and my numbers are nowhere near some of the crazy numbers he mentions, luckily. 

Regardless, some good points were made. I believe this would have made an excellent article, maybe with relative website to sign a pledge, or join a group, in order to enact what he mentions. As a book it's a bit long-winded. 

https://4201mass.blogspot.com/

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Review: So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love

So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love by Cal Newport
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Someone should write a book about people who followed points in books like this to a tee, but were still unsuccessful. I don't say this because I disagree with the author's points, but because this would probably lead to some refinement and readjustment (and would just be interesting).

Like with Deep Work, he seems to have read extensively about the issue and have gathered quite a bit of information. It is a bit annoying how it's all anecdotal evidence, although I still ended up agreeing with pretty much everything. Let's face it, even those who say "Follow your passion" only have anecdotal evidence to back it up, and the examples they give display the mother of all biases, since we never hear from those who followed their passion and weren't able to hack it.

I particularly liked how he divides all jobs into either "Winner take all" or "Auction" jobs. It will be a useful way to look at various jobs from now on.

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