Genres: Productivity
So Good They Can’t Ignore You – Cal Newport
by
This is Cal Newport’s investigation of what it takes to be so good at your job, that you can’t be ignored. Unlike many online personalities, he doesn’t tell you to follow your passion, in fact he feels it leads to a life of disappointment as you continue to fail to find the “right” career and
Barking Up The Wrong Tree – Eric Barker
by
Eric Barker is going to be the new guru that saves us from all the other gurus that purport to know how to achieve success, by turning to science to tell us what matters in our quest for success. Yes it matters more if your boss likes you than if you are good at your
I Didn’t Do The Thing Today – Madeline Dore
by
Madeline Dore takes a hard look at the poisonous productivity culture that has permeated our lives and gives readers tools to reject it. No you don’t need to find the best morning routine on YouTube, or the best task manager and system to use it. You need to take a break, visit a friend with
Breaking Busy – Alli Worthington
by
In Breaking Busy, Alli Worthington, takes a look at how being “busy” is intoxicating, how we wear it like a badge of honour. The whole book has strong Christian overtones with much talk about forgetting about the approval of society and only looking for the approval of God. If the God talk is going to
A Simplified Life – Emily Ley
by
Ley is writing a book, predominately to women, about how to simplify your life. Pair down your commitments, cut back on all the stuff you have in your house, don’t fall into consumer culture. This is a decent book in the genre, and only has a light touch of Christian overtones instead of throwing it
Feel Good Productivity – Ali Abdaal
by
Is productivity about grinding and hustle? Is there something else that can help you get your important tasks done? In this book Ali Abdaal looks at the field of Positive Psychology to see how it can help us be more productive. Purchase Feel Good Productivity on Amazon
How to Do Nothing
by
Jenny Odell spends the first half of this book looking at how to disengage from the attention economy and the second half trying to give us the tools to engage with something worthwhile in our live. I particularly like the idea she presents that social media promotes connectivity, mere likes and shares, while what we
The PARA Method
by
I haven’t enjoyed Forte’s work thus far, but it was this book that made me realize why. I’ve been reading them as books about knowledg, but that’s not what Forte is writing about. He’s dealing with a new type of productivity system that is meant to deal with all the knowledge coming at a worker
A World Without Email – Cal Newport
by
Despite being a Newport fan, I’m not sure that this is required reading in the productivity genre. Newport does have some good ideas that you may be able to implement to cut your email workflow, but I don’t think he’s making the big leap in productivity that he feels knowledge work needs to see the
The Case Against Education – Bryan Caplan
by
Bryan Caplan argues that education much past early high school is mainly to signal to employers that you’ll sit and listen like a good replaceable robot. Unless you’re going to teach, when was the last time that high school physics was useful (never for me)? So why do we require students learn all this stuff
