Cal Newport’s 2017 Reading List
The 5 books Cal Newport recommended in 2017, with the reasons in their own words. See all the books Cal Newport recommends.
5 books recommended in 2017
Birth of a Theorem: A Mathematical Adventure
For a great study in the reality of “24 hours a day and forget everything else” technical work at the highest level, I recommend Birth of a Theorem.
Perennial Seller
by Ryan Holiday
my friend Ryan Holiday, who is also, in many ways, my hero (he lives on a quiet ranch with a library-sized collection of books), has a great new book coming out next week titled: Perennial Seller. It’s an inside look at the hard but rewarding… Read the full quote
my friend Ryan Holiday, who is also, in many ways, my hero (he lives on a quiet ranch with a library-sized collection of books), has a great new book coming out next week titled: Perennial Seller. It’s an inside look at the hard but rewarding task of producing work that stands the test of time. I read a galley copy: I’m 100% on board with Ryan’s thinking on this topic.
A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age
This is all to say that I was, quite naturally, excited to learn that my friend Jimmy Soni was co-authoring a big new biography of Shannon. The resulting book came out earlier this week (I read a review copy — it’s great).
The Four-Dimensional Human: Ways of Being in the Digital World
this doesn’t mean that Scott’s book only contained 30 pages that interested me: it’s a complicated and interesting work of literary techno-social criticism — which came close to winning the Samuel Johnson Prize two years ago — that I found thought provoking throughout.
Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman
by Peter Korn
If you’re attracted to the idea of an artisan woodworker learning his craft, I recommend the surprisingly thoughtful (and quite aspirational) memoir, Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman.