What We Are Reading Today: Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

Updated 23 August 2019
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What We Are Reading Today: Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

  • Digital minimalists are all around us

Minimalism is the art of knowing how much is just enough. Digital minimalism applies this idea to our personal technology. It is the key to living a focused life in an increasingly noisy world.

In this timely and enlightening book, the bestselling author of Deep Work introduces a philosophy for technology use that has already improved countless lives, according to a preview published on goodreads.com.

Digital minimalists are all around us. They are the calm, happy people who can hold long conversations without furtive glances at their phones. They can get lost in a good book, a woodworking project, or a leisurely morning run. They can have fun with friends and family without the obsessive urge to document the experience.

Drawing on a diverse array of real-life examples, from Amish farmers to harried parents to Silicon Valley programmers, Newport identifies the common practices of digital minimalists and the ideas that underpin them. 

He shows how digital minimalists are rethinking their relationship to social media, rediscovering the pleasures of the offline world, and reconnecting with their inner selves through regular periods of solitude.

He then shares strategies for integrating these practices into your life, starting with a 30-day “digital declutter” process that has already helped thousands feel less overwhelmed and more in control.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Mystery of the Mind’ by Wilder Penfield

Updated 09 February 2026
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Mystery of the Mind’ by Wilder Penfield

Can the mind be explained by what we know about the brain? Is a person’s being determined by their body alone or by their mind and body as separate elements?

With a foreword by Charles W. Hendel, an introduction by William Feindel, and reflections by Sir Charles Symonds, “The Mystery of the Mind” is Penfield’s compelling personal account of his experiences as a neurosurgeon and scientist observing the inner workings of the brain in conscious patients.