I've had a copy of this book for so long, but it reeks to me of something that should be a blog post I can read in 5 minutes, and so I've never been able to muster the interest to crack it open.

How seriously would you recommend it?

I guess you're lucky that Cal Newport starts with blog posts and turns them into books later. This post seems to be the one that introduced deep work.

https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2012/11/21/knowledge-workers...

"Last week I introduced the deep work philosophy" in this blog post links to the one above: https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2012/11/27/some-notes-on-dee...

I find many "productivity" books tend be easily summarizable... but reading the book is really to drill the concept in your head so that you're conscious of the tips/advice in your day to day.

Plus, if you spread out the reading over a few days/weeks, you can apply what you've learned throughout the day as you read along.

It could be a blog post. Hell I can even summarize it with a few sentences.

Work on one thing without distractions for big blocks of time, 1-4 hours. You will make great progress by concentrating on one thing at a time.

....there you have it

I didn't get anything from the book. What was the best insight you got from the book?

I feel the same. Not a bad idea, but really just a blog post stretched out.

My takeaway was that I wasn’t crazy for only answering email every few hours and helped quell the anxiety that people “needed” my response.

Cal Newport sounds like a made up Chappelle Show character that Dave does in whiteface.

Even having read a lot of Cal Newport, and am a fan of the principles he writes about, this was hilarious to read. Needed that. Thank you.

Having met Cal, the description tracks.