Episode · Modern Wisdom · 2026-03-05
Books mentioned on The collapse of modern attention (and how to get it back) - Cal Newport - #1067
Cal Newport is a computer science professor at Georgetown University, a productivity expert and an author. Has AI “workslop” damaged our ability to focus?
Chris Williamson discussed Deep Work by Cal Newport. Cal Newport recommended The Shallows by Nicholas Carr.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Deep Work
Deep Work by Cal Newport is a practical guide on cultivating focused success and eliminating distractions in an increasingly noisy world.
Discussed“Slack Slack wouldn't have been that big during deep work, I'm going to guess. It wasn't big.”
Where to get it
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The Shallows
The Shallows by Nicholas Carr is an influential examination of how internet technology, web browsing, and social media alter human cognition, diminish deep reading capacity, and encourage superficial thinking.
Recommended“A lot of this is captured in um the best book on this would be uh The Shallows. Nick Carr's book The Shallows.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (5) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Plugged Deep Work
“It's I'm at the 10-year anniversary now of the book Deep Work. So this like this month is the 10-year anniversary.”
Plugged Deep Work
“So, um in Deep Work, like one of the big ideas was you can train your personal ability to focus.”
Plugged A World Without Email
“Then uh I wrote a book after that called A World Without Email. And in that book, I was arguing”
Plugged Slow Productivity
“And then the the most recent book, Slow Productivity from a couple years ago, in that book I argued, "Oh, wait a second. Workload matters, too."”
Plugged Deep Work
“I I wrote about this in Deep Work even and and people pushed back. I was like, this is what it's like in that world.”