#14 in Economics
A World Without Email
- 304
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“A World Without Email” makes a persuasive case that constant messaging keeps knowledge workers from doing real work. Newport diagnoses the problem, then proposes concrete processes to replace the overflowing inbox, with case studies along the way. Some readers who know software-development methods find the second half familiar, and the academic examples feel remote to them. Managers and teams willing to change how work is assigned are its natural readers.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
A New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller From New York Times bestselling author Cal Newport comes a bold vision for liberating workers from the tyranny of the inbox--and unleashing a new era of productivity. Modern knowledge workers communicate constantly. Their days are defined by a relentless barrage of incoming messages and back-and-forth digital conversations--a state of constant, anxious chatter in which nobody can disconnect, and so nobody has the cognitive bandwidth to perform substantive work. There was a time when tools like email felt cutting edge, but a thorough review of current evidence reveals that the "hyperactive hive mind" workflow they helped create has become a productivity disaster, reducing profitability and perhaps even slowing overall economic growth. Equally worrisome, it makes us miserable. Humans are simply not wired for constant digital communication. We have become so used to an inbox-driven workday that it's hard to imagine alternatives. But they do exist. Drawing on years of investigative reporting, author and computer science professor Cal Newport makes the case that our current approach to work is broken, then lays out a series of principles and concrete instructions for fixing it. In A World without Email, he argues for a workplace in which clear processes--not haphazard messaging--define how tasks are identified, assigned and reviewed.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.7 across 78 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 35% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Economics average of 7.8. That is how 7.8 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.0 | 5 | 6% |
| Hardcover | 7.7 | 73 | 94% |
Frequently asked
How long is A World Without Email?
It has 304 pages — shorter than 62% of the ranked books in Economics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Economics — with scores between 7.8 and 7.9, closest to this book.
