Hi, it's Cal Newport here. I'm away on vacation this week. So for today's episode, we will

be replaying a classic show from the deep questions archive. In particular, we are replaying

episode 109, which originally aired in June. Among other things that keep an ear open

to in this episode is the rare appearance of a book report segment. This was a short

live segment where I would just review an individual book, which I stopped doing pretty

soon after this point. It's also one of the first times that I tackled a question of how

much you should read. Long time listeners of the show will note that my thoughts on this

have evolved since the answer I give here in this classic episode. In a ways, I hope you

enjoy.

I'm Cal Newport, and this is Deep Questions, episode 109.

Quick announcements, three quick things to talk about. Number one, I am recording this

episode within the brand new remodeled Deep Work HQ broadcast studio. My goal for this

summer, as I've talked about before, is to have more in-person guests. I want to do

collaborative deep dives, like I did with Brad Stolberg a couple weeks ago, more often.

I would like when possible to have video of my conversations with people here in the

Deep Work HQ, because for some reason, when it comes to back-and-forth conversation video,

is hardly compelling some people like to watch it. As I've mentioned before, this was going

to necessitate a redesign of the Deep Work HQ studio, so that we could actually have

a two camera set up, and that redesign is largely done. Now, I am at a round wooden table

in my studio with three walls covered with black drapes, so it's much more dramatic. There

is a mic across from me from this table where my deep dive guests can sit. The only thing

missing is the second camera and the lighting setup. My lighting camera guy hopefully

...