Book · 2016 · Business & Economics
Deep Work
Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
#29 of 13,863 books, ranked by how many different people bring it up on podcasts
- mentions
- 77
- people
- 31
- podcasts
- 15
- episodes
- 58
- critical mentions
- 0
One of his more notable books is entitled "Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World," which has had a tremendous positive influence on my work life and indeed my life in general.
What they say about it
- Huge fan of author“I'm a big fan of Cal Newport”3

- Calls it a favorite“favorite book is deep work”2
- Calls it the Bible“Deep Work by Cal Newport is the Bible”2

The best things said about it
The second book is by Cal Newport, it's called Deep Work, and this is why I'm so passionate about attention: without your attention, you can't do anything.
Jonathan Haidt The Ezra Klein Show · Apr 2025 Cal's book Deep Work changed my life, no exaggeration.
Rich Roll The Rich Roll Podcast · Mar 2024 The book that I read and got a lot out of was a book called Deep Work by Cal Newport, which is about understanding when your most profitable periods of the day are. Make sure you do your hardest work there.
Deep Work by Cal Newport is the Bible on this.
Chris Williamson Modern Wisdom · May 2019 There's this guy that wrote a book called Deep work and every it's like going viral people are paying attention to this guy's ideas that are exactly what we're talking about you need to shut off social media advice uh you know stuff input um and allow your brain to sink down deep.
Joe Rogan The Joe Rogan Experience · Jul 2017 Where and when it comes up
Mentions per year
How it comes up
Most mentions, by podcast
31 people who brought it up
Chris Williamson12 mentions · 6 recs
Andrew Huberman10 mentions · 4 recs
Jonathan Haidt5 mentions · 3 recs
Rich Roll3 mentions · 3 recs
Lex Fridman5 mentions · 2 recs- Michael Cazayoux2 mentions · 1 rec
- Pamela Paul2 mentions · 1 rec
Ryan Holiday2 mentions · 1 rec
Ben Greenfield1 mention · 1 rec- Cory Muscara1 mention · 1 rec
- David Pakman1 mention · 1 rec
- Eddie Jones1 mention · 1 rec
Why people recommend it
Deep Work by Cal Newport is a prominent self-improvement guide that examines the ability to focus without distraction on cognitively demanding tasks, offering rules for achieving success in a noisy world. Rich Roll recommended the book on The Rich Roll Podcast as part of a reading list designed to help people cultivate a healthier relationship with their attention. Jonathan Haidt similarly praised the book on The Ezra Klein Show and mentioned on The Daily Stoic that he assigns it in his NYU flourishing course because attention is fundamental to human capability and combating social media addiction. On The Book Review, Pamela Paul summarized Molly Young's positive assessment of the title among distraction-focused books. Lex Fridman brought up Newport's work on the Lex Fridman Podcast to discuss the detrimental effects of task switching on overall productivity. Andrew Huberman dedicated discussion time on the Huberman Lab podcast to express his long-standing admiration for the author, noting the tremendous positive influence the book has had on his personal work life and general routine. Across these varied discussions, podcasters consistently highlight the urgent necessity of protecting focus, eliminating shallow digital habits, and reclaiming deep intellectual engagement in an era defined by constant notifications, digital noise, and widespread modern distraction.
Every mention
Chris Williamson so for Cal Newport who's written deep work which was out to review just written a book called digital minim… 12
“have you ever read the book deep work by cal newport”
“Cal Newport's Deep Work, and you know, seminal books, like awesome, really, really great books. Amazing books.”
“i think it was cal newport's book deep work where i was reminded or i was first told what it is that we do in the workplace that we're complex decision engines”
“looking at how Newports deep work I think he found in that that even the absolute peak performers of knowledge work could squeeze out top top end four to six hours of focus deep work per day”
“and this comes from cal newport's book deep work”
“I'm like, oh, I you read you read the five chapters of Cal Newport's Deep Work, but only implemented one of them. Like, what what what a waste.”
“when it comes to planning in advance and structuring your days I I can't help but think about Cal Newport deep work”
“deep work by Cal Newport is the Bible on this we'll be doing a book review on deep work and digital minimalism coming up soon but if you want to check it out the link will be to the Amazon shop”
“I can't sing appraises about about atomic habit so genuinely can't we have created the [ __ ] duo which is deep work by Cal Newport and that's great”
“we need to talk about this for the Cal Newport deep work review well it's late because he slates open-plan offices for just like the fact that yeah there's been open plan there's a movement”
“so for Cal Newport who's written deep work which was out to review just written a book called digital minimalism so I think the three arguably four three books that everybody should read are atomic habits deep work and this”
“read deep work and DN atomic habits and those if you master those two things still need to know someone needs if someone get a late Christmas present that wants to start reading some stuff for the New Year get those two books for people atomic habits by James Elliot and deep work by Cal Newport and happiness or happy”
Andrew Huberman Deep Work is an excellent book. He has He's not on social media, but he has given some TED Talks. And that… 10
“one of his more notable books is entitled deep work rules for focused success in a distracted World deep work is a book that has had tremendous positive influence on my work life and indeed my life in general because it spells out how exactly to go about doing one's best possible work for me that's in the context of”
“I've been a huge fan ever since I read deep work I can't say that I've adopted all the principles but that's on me not you”
“we have a future guest on this podcast named Cal Newport he wrote the book deep work and he has another book called the world without email”
“We have a future guest on this podcast named Cal Newport; he wrote the book Deep Work, and he has another book called The World Without Email. He's a computer science professor at Georgetown where he talks extensively about the tremendous career, but also relationship and life value of doing essentially what you're describing.”
“I'm a big fan of Cal Newport's work, Deep Work.”
“Deep Work is an excellent book. He has He's not on social media, but he has given some TED Talks. And that book is about getting in the right frame? It's sort of like It's a lot about flow, right?”
“I'm a big fan of Cal Newport who wrote the book "Deep work." He's also written an excellent book, "A world without Email."”
“He's gone on to write books, "Deep Work", which is all about removing yourself from technology and doing deep work.”
“Uh I'm a big fan of Cal Newport. He wrote the book Deep Work. He uh I believe he was the one who said context switching is is terrible for the brain.”
“uh this guy named Cal Newport wrote a book about deep work oh yeah I love that book yeah he's great uh so he I mean one of the nice things I've always practic deep work”
Jonathan Haidt uh the second book is by Cal Newport it's called Deep work and this is why I'm so passionate about attentio… 5
“uh the second book is by Cal Newport it's called Deep work and this is why I'm so passionate about attention without your attention you can't do anything”
“the second book is by Cal Newport it's called Deep work and this is why I'm so passionate about attention”
“um but we read in my in my flourishing class at NYU we we read his book deep work yeah amazing book”
“We read his book, Deep Work, in my flourishing class at NYU.”
“um and so what I work with my students on is it's you know yes it's a muscle but you know as a social psychologist I'm always interested in what are all the external things hitting you”
Rich Roll Cal's book deep work changed my life no exaggeration and now with his latest offering slow productivity 3
“So, I'll close with a few recommendations for those that are interested in cultivating a little bit of a healthier relationship with your attention and I would start with the books of Cal Newport. He's got three great books that I would recommend: Deep Work, Digital Minimalism, and Slow Productivity. If you read nothing else, read those books.”
“Cal's book deep work changed my life no exaggeration and now with his latest offering slow productivity”
“he's written he wrote a book called deep work that's amazing about how to you know sort of be productive and a distracted world”
Lex Fridman he's a friend and someone who's writing like his book deep work for example has guided how i strive to appr… 5
“And I'm very much with Cal Newport on this, he wrote "Deep Work," and a lot of other amazing books.”
“you know cal newport he uh he wrote a book called deep work and he's a mathematician a theoretical computer scientist and he talks about the kind of the focus required yeah to do that kind of work”
“but it i mean cal newport talks about this as ideas of deep work it's you know most of us don't work much at all in terms of like like deeply think about particular problems whether it's math engineering all that kind of stuff you want to go to that place often and that's real hard work”
“i mentioned cal newport uh with his book uh deep work and so on he is of the variety of these creatures that basically does everything ahead of time”
“he's a friend and someone who's writing like his book deep work for example has guided how i strive to approach productivity and life in general”
Michael Cazayoux uh I recently read a book called deep work by Cal Newport yeah we heard of it yes I've have you read it 2
“uh I recently read a book called deep work by Cal Newport yeah we heard of it Yes I've have you read it yep you know for the listeners it basically explains that most of us spend maybe all of our time if not the vast majority of our time spent in shallow work which is not cognitively demanding not”
“uh I recently read a book called deep work by Cal Newport yeah we heard of it yes I've have you read it”
Pamela Paul it sounds like you're saying deep work by Cal Newport is kind of the the most helpful 2
“deep work work rules for focused success in a distracted World by Cal Newport”
“it sounds like you're saying deep work by Cal Newport is kind of the the most helpful”
Ryan Holiday and of course if you haven't read deep work digital minimalism we're so good they can't ignore you 2
“one of the other books that i connected with uh sheikh tanoon about was was cal newport's book deep work which he said he reads on a regular basis”
“and of course if you haven't read deep work digital minimalism we're so good they can't ignore you”
Ben Greenfield you know comment that deep work concepts you know like counting Newports book where i'm just you know wheth… 1
“you know comment that deep work concepts you know like counting Newports book where i'm just you know whether i'm writing or working on a book or a series of articles”
Cory Muscara there is a book by Cal Newport called Deep work 1
“there is a book by Cal Newport called Deep work”
David Pakman he wrote deep work and then more recently he wrote digital minimalism and he goes into detail about just th… 1
“he wrote deep work and then more recently he wrote digital minimalism and he goes into detail about just the effect of write it down my phone”
Eddie Jones The book that I I I read and got a lot out of was a book called Deep Work by Cal Newport, which is about un… 1
“The book that I I I read and got a lot out of was a book called Deep Work by Cal Newport, which is about understanding when your most profitable periods of the day are. Make sure you do your hardest work there.”
Jim Mullane one of my favorite books especially right now given the state of the world say to the event says deep work 1
“one of my favorite books especially right now given the state of the world say to the event says deep work”
Joe Rogan there's this guy that wrote a book called Deep work and every it's like going viral people are paying atten… 1
“there's this guy that wrote a book called Deep work and every it's like going viral people are paying attention to this guy's ideas that are exactly what we're talking about you need to shut off social media advice uh you know stuff input um and allow your brain to sink down deep”
Oliver Burkeman cal newport who wrote the book deep work and digital minimalism who's very good on this has this argument t… 1
“cal newport who wrote the book deep work and digital minimalism who's very good on this has this argument that like what people call writer's block that's just the feeling of writing right”
Cal Newport i mean i think it goes all the way back to 2013 but then i wrote about it in deep work which was 2016. 2
“So I call this productive meditation in "Deep Work."”
“i mean i think it goes all the way back to 2013 but then i wrote about it in deep work which was 2016.”
James Clear Another one that I looked at, I can't remember which one of Cal Newport's books it was, but it was either D… 2
“Another one that I looked at, I can't remember which one of Cal Newport's books it was, but it was either Deep Work or something like that. But he had a section on, here are the rules that you need to follow...”
“Or Cal Newport, Deep Work. You're doing work, but it's a special kind of work.”
Ben Bergeron i'm gonna guess that you're familiar with cal newport's deep work 1
“i'm gonna guess that you're familiar with cal newport's deep work”
Brad Barrett yeah I've been thinking about this lately too because I don't know I feel like I'm kind of all over the pla… 1
“yeah I've been thinking about this lately too because I don't know I feel like I'm kind of all over the place and I'm not really putting in that deep work to quote Cal Newport from his book I definitely feel a little scatterbrained at times and it it's not satisfying”
Dominick Quartuccio and I haven't read the book but I've heard enough people talk about it share stories with me about it's cal… 1
“and I haven't read the book but I've heard enough people talk about it share stories with me about it's called Deep work by Cal Newport”
George Mack yeah deep work from Cal Newport also alludes to that there's neurologically Milan creates around neurons th… 1
“yeah deep work from Cal Newport also alludes to that there's neurologically Milan creates around neurons that are continually firing”
Marc Berman I don't know if Kale Newport talks about this in his deep work, but, you know, I've heard people talking ab… 1
“I don't know if Kale Newport talks about this in his deep work, but, you know, I've heard people talking about in an office, you might want to have like a separate area of your office for deep work.”
Marshall Kosloff um okay so as soccer and i were just talking with you at the start of this we really love your books digita… 1
“um okay so as soccer and i were just talking with you at the start of this we really love your books digital minimalism deep work”
Molly Young and Cal Newport who writes deep work is a big proponent of sort of batching all of your small tasks into di… 1
“and Cal Newport who writes deep work is a big proponent of sort of batching all of your small tasks into discret periods of the day”
Peter Akkies I'm sure you're familiar with the concept of deep work by Cal Newport yeah it's like the work that you do t… 1
“I'm sure you're familiar with the concept of deep work by Cal Newport yeah it's like the work that you do that's the mo that takes the most Focus that's the most valuable right”
Rebecca F. Kuang And then I read Deep Work, too. And I know lots of people have strong feelings, good or bad, about all thos… 1
“And then I read Deep Work, too. And I know lots of people have strong feelings, good or bad, about all those books.”
Saagar Enjeti i'm curious because deep work is the other thing you're best known for 1
“i'm curious because deep work is the other thing you're best known for”
Shaan Puri There was a Cal Cal Newport who wrote Deep Work. He had this thing where he said pass passion is a byproduc… 1
“There was a Cal Cal Newport who wrote Deep Work. He had this thing where he said pass passion is a byproduct of mastery.”
Thatcher Wine and that comes from you know a reference in the book cal newport and deep work like you have to like focus… 1
“and that comes from you know a reference in the book cal newport and deep work like you have to like focus do your when you get into the space of like deep work”
Tiago Forte yes I was reading deep work by Cal Newport recently I know it's overdue and these publishers sent me very k… 1
“yes I was reading deep work by Cal Newport recently I know it's overdue and these publishers sent me very kindly thank you”
Venkatesh Rao so the reason I'm bringing that up is if you look at this conversation we've been having it for about 15-20… 1
“so the reason I'm bringing that up is if you look at this conversation we've been having it for about 15-20 years then I'm Nick Carr Cal Newport on deep work all that stuff but it got particularly acute in the last three or four years for a couple of unrelated reasons”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker11
“One of his more notable books is entitled "Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World," which has had a tremendous positive influence on my work life and indeed my life in general.”
“I'm a huge fan. I've been a huge fan ever since I read "Deep Work."”
“and actually something you said you mentioned a book in their deep work by Cal Newport and I think it's close to the fifth time that I've heard it referenced and I have not yet picked it up like is that a book that you would recommend”
“and then queued up right behind that I have cal newport's book deep work I think that is he has a newer book out now but this is the one that I wanted to focus on just because it's relevant to things that I'm struggling with”
“favorite book is deep work by Cal Newport”
“and then the same for things like the deep workbook or digital minimalism or getting things done like stuff like that is like an entire like operating manual for us”
“I can't help but think about Cal Newport deep work”
“we have created the [ __ ] duo which is deep work by Cal Newport and that's great”
“so in lifehacks one a sudden we talked about Pomodoro Technique and I'm currently reading deep work which I'll be done on soon”
“recently read deep work on users recommendation and thought like so in that in that book they talked about this idea of fixed schedule productivity”
“But deep worthy work is the Bible for this stuff like just sink your teeth into what is the most important thing to do”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (23: passing, ad reads, own books)
“There are approximately one billion podcasts and books that tell you how to create the environment to do deep work. That alone tells us how distracting many of our environments have become.”
“the books are deep work by Cal Newport mindful Tech by David Levy the productivity project by Chris Bailey and poges Basics Life by David pog”
“for example in response to something I suggested in deep work my book from 2016 where I had a very common sense suggestion about email”
“Meanwhile, the title 'Deep Work' reflects the positive action, and 'Digital Minimalism' emphasizes the positive aspect you want to achieve.”
“and so the big sellers are like essentialism my book deep work”
“So the big sellers are like Essentialism, my book Deep Work, Keller’s The One Thing—these are all books about trying to combat overload.”
“I want to be better at like really something I'm really working at like when I wrote Deep Work, for example, it was, yeah, I came out of this environment, the theory group at MIT, in which like focus was the number one thing.”
“I called this productive meditation in deep work actually”
“I wrote deep work and I was like well why don't people just do this that's why they don't just do this because it's not so easy”
“my bestselling book deep work has never been a bestseller”
“I wrote about that in deep work how and people got mad about this but I think there's a kernel of Truth in it”
“Now, if you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say deep work, you should read a book called deep work by Cal Newport. It's brilliant. It makes you understand that there's a very difficult and proper way to work and it should be exhausting. But then if you learn to work that way, you can work less.”
“Newport is the author of seven books. That's a lot of books, man. Including, most recently, Deep Work, Digital Minimalism, and a world without email.”
“yeah i've been working on this for a long time 2016 right so i started writing this working on this before deep work came out”
“now back in my book deep work i hinted at this and said you know i think the switching cost thing is a big deal”
“jack dorsey by the way is an interesting example because you know i used them in my book deep work as an example of like what you were saying”
“so the book deep work is about that the book of world without email is about the the structural and organizational obstacles to having this more fulfilling work”
“yeah and now one of the beautiful and you know people can read about in your book deep work”
“and that's like the philosophical aspect of that book deep work is that there's something very human and deep about just wrangling with the world of ideas”
“i'm talking about cal newport author of deep work”
“he wrote a book called deep work he's a computer science professor and he's currently working on a book about email”
“if I post something up about Cal Newport deep work or doing Pomodoro's or like a new productivity strategy no one cares”
“deep work”





