← search

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Cal Newport is a computer science professor and a New York Times bestselling author who writes about the impact of technology on society, and the struggle to work and live deeply in a world increasingly mired in digital distractions. On this podcast, he answers questions from his readers and offers advice about cultivating focus, productivity, and meaning amidst the noise that pervades our lives.

Want the full transcripts? Read any episode of Deep Questions with Cal Newport word for word on Podmenti. Podmenti →
Why is Google Holding Schools Hostage?
Nov 2026
Can We Escape Our Internet Hell?
Nov 2026 · 4 books
Cover of Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs
Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs
Johann Hari
“because it reminds me of Johan Harari's book Chasing the Scream, which was about drug addiction”
Cover of Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
Cal Newport
“That came up in digital minimalism, my book, where someone talked about they got rid of all the apps off their phone”
Cover of The Deep Life
The Deep Life
Cal Newport
“I think what all of these answers What we learned in all three stories is orbiting in some degree around the central idea of my next book. which is coming out in March called The Deep Life”
Cover of The Outrun
The Outrun
Amy Liptrot
“so in my book I talked about, I I I want to get the author's name right. Um so it's Amy Liptrot, The Out Run was a book I talk about in in my book”
Reading As an Act of Resistance (Notes on Harvard’s Hum 10)
Nov 2026
A Better Way to Think About Tech
Nov 2026 · 10 books
Cover of Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
Cal Newport
“in my two thousand nineteen book, Digital Minimalism, I get into this”
Cover of Deep Work
Deep Work
Cal Newport
“read your book, Deep Work, especially that chapter called Quit Social Media”
Cover of The Looming Tower
The Looming Tower
Lawrence Wright
“origins. of the nine eleven. Attacks”
Cover of Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less
Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less
Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz
“I think I already mentioned the book. Simplify. And that was written by the founders of Axios”
Cover of Telephone: The History of AT&T
Telephone: The History of AT&T
John Brooks
“I was about to finish the book Telephone from nineteen seventy five. The history of A T T”
Cover of Spare
Spare
Prince Harry
“I think Ghost wrote the Prince Harry. Spare memoir, very good ghostwriter”
Cover of The Tender Bar
The Tender Bar
J.R. Moehringer
“Bar, right. So he's a he's a good ghostwriter”
Cover of Who Is Michael Ovitz?
Who Is Michael Ovitz?
Michael Ovitz
“If you compare it to Mike Ovitz's memoir. Which I also read”
Cover of Tree Line: The People and Plants of the Arctic's Treeline
Tree Line: The People and Plants of the Arctic's Treeline
Ben Rawlence
“Oh, tree line. Dense book. I like that book. It's an environmental book from like two thousand twenty two, two thousand twenty three”
Cover of Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV
Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV
Warren Littlefield
“So then I got Warren Littlefield. Who was the like entertainment executive NBC that was there who started Must C T V ... his memoir about how they made must see TV Thursday night on ABC a big thing”
Do Hard Things (Featuring: Jerry Seinfeld)
Oct 2026 · 1 book
Cover of A World Without Email
A World Without Email
Cal Newport
“Now I documented this effect, for example, in my twenty twenty one book here, I'll hold it up here, A World Without Email”
When Productivity Theory Meets Practice
Oct 2026 · 3 books
Cover of Time Block Planner
Time Block Planner
Cal Newport
“It's shortly and it's hidden where most people aren't gonna see it because it is in the introductory text of the actual time block planner I sell”
Cover of A World Without Email
A World Without Email
Cal Newport
“This is a Part of my explanation for of all my books, actually the the the book that performed the worst was A World Without Email”
Cover of Slow Productivity
Slow Productivity
Cal Newport
“I write about this in my last book, Slow Productivity, that the problem is is that each major project that has a deep work core brings with it its own administrative overhead”
Why Did Big Tech Stop Building Useful Products?
Oct 2026
“Rogue” AI Not Inevitable. It’s a Choice.
Oct 2026 · 1 book
Cover of Telephone: The First Hundred Years
Telephone: The First Hundred Years
John Brooks
“I'm just finishing up a long book, Jesse, that I found at a Use book store nineteen seventy five. Telephone the first hundred years by John Brooks”
An Unlikely Team Tackles AI Brain Rot
Oct 2026 · 1 book
Cover of Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less
Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less
Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz
“Read a new book recently, Jesse. Simplify By Jim Vanderhy, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz”
A Stark Warning From a Former AI Doomer
Oct 2026 · 2 books
Cover of If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies
If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies
Nate Soros
“if anyone builds it, everyone dies, you kind of get that impression”
Cover of The Singularity Is Near
The Singularity Is Near
Ray Kurzweil
“I came across the work of Ray Kurzwell, who I later ended up being a research assistant too ... was completely Outrageous. There's a point In the book where Ray Kerswell says ... he believes there is a Um greater than fifty percent chance Of us making it through This century. Without destroying ourselves”
Combating the Whirlwind with a Single Sheet of Paper
Oct 2026 · 6 books
Cover of Slow Productivity
Slow Productivity
Cal Newport
“All of the strategies for this, the best place to find them in my canon would be my last book, which was Slow Productivity”
Cover of So Good They Can't Ignore You
So Good They Can't Ignore You
Cal Newport
“I think they're talking about So Good They Can't Ignore You. All right. So this is about my first hardcover book. From two thousand and twelve”
Cover of Floating Mountains
Floating Mountains
Joe Rode
“I do know I read earlier in September I read the book Floating Mountains by Joe Rode”
Cover of Journey into Imagination
Journey into Imagination
Steve Alcorn and Jim Carstensen
“Carstensen. wrote a book called Journey into Imagination”
Cover of Dungeon Crawler Carl
Dungeon Crawler Carl
Matt Dinniman
“I then read Dungeon Crawler Carl. It's actually for a book group I joined, that's what they wanted to read”
Cover of The Tree Line
The Tree Line
Ben Rawlence
“a really good book my neighbor loaned me called The Tree Line”
An Insider's Guide to AI Doom
Oct 2026
Kids Should *Not* Use Chatbots! (You Should Be Wary, Too…)
Sep 2026 · 6 books
Cover of Slow Productivity
Slow Productivity
Cal Newport
“That was my My most recent book. For those who are new to the show, it was called slow productivity”
Cover of So Good They Can't Ignore You
So Good They Can't Ignore You
Cal Newport
“like what you wrote in the Craftsman mindset ... The Craftsman mindset comes from my book. So good they can't ignore you back from twenty twelve”
Cover of How to Win at College
How to Win at College
Cal Newport
“you need to read how to win a college, how to become a straight student, and how to become a high school. Superstar”
Cover of How to Be a Straight-A Student
How to Be a Straight-A Student
Cal Newport
“you need to read how to win a college, how to become a straight student, and how to become a high school. Superstar”
Cover of How to Become a High School Superstar
How to Become a High School Superstar
Cal Newport
“you need to read how to win a college, how to become a straight student, and how to become a high school. Superstar”
Cover of Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology
Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology
K. Eric Drexler
“They were very inspired by a book that was written by a researcher named Eric Drexler”
The Truth About Brain Rot
Sep 2026 · 4 books
Cover of Critique of Pure Reason
Critique of Pure Reason
Immanuel Kant
“Today I was wrestling with the depiction of Immanuel Kant's critique of pure reason and wondered whether you will address these developments”
Cover of The Deep Life
The Deep Life
Cal Newport
“Well, I have an upcoming book in March called The Deep Life, which I'll talk about more soon”
Cover of Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout
Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout
Cal Newport
“Slow Productivity and Deep Life have both been released right around then, so it's a fun birthday treat to have a new one of your books released”
Cover of More Everything Forever
More Everything Forever
Adam Becker
“You should read Adam Becker's book, More Everything Forever”
The AI Resistance is Forming. (Should You Join?)
Sep 2026 · 2 books
Cover of Slow Productivity
Slow Productivity
Cal Newport
“slow productivity, We have this issue in knowledge work where it's hard to measure quality”
Cover of Orality and Literacy
Orality and Literacy
Walter Ong
“I mean I recently read Walter Ong's on orality and literature, literacy and culture, right”
How Worrisome is GPT-6’s “Stealth Thinking”? | Tech Decoded
Sep 2026
How I’m Organizing My Life this Fall | Advice
Sep 2026 · 4 books
Cover of Getting Things Done
Getting Things Done
David Allen
“if you're using like David Allen's getting things done. He suggests answering the win question with physical context”
Cover of The Deep Life
The Deep Life
Cal Newport
“I have this new book coming out in March called The Deep Life”
Cover of The New Dark Age
The New Dark Age
Nigel Biggar
“I finished a book last week. I read The New Dark Age by Nigel”
Cover of Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning
Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning
Nigel Biggar
“book and I believe had a big grant that was looking critically at colonialism and saying There's a lot that was bad about colonialism. There's other things that was good. It's complicated. It was called colonialism a moral reckoning”
Did OpenAI Create “Secret AI Civilizations”? | Tech Decoded
Sep 2026 · 1 book
Cover of Prey
Prey
Michael Crichton
“my thirteen year old son is reading Michael Crichton's two thousand and two book, Pray”
Rethinking the Deep Life Stack (Again!) | Monday Advice
Aug 2026 · 10 books
Cover of Slow Productivity
Slow Productivity
Cal Newport
“when you went on your last book tour with slow productivity, it always came back to The three you know, core fundamentals of soul productivity”
Cover of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert M. Pirsig
“Zen in the R of motorcycle maintenance, I want numbered subsections”
Cover of In Defense of Food
In Defense of Food
Michael Pollan
“I went back and reread in Defense of Food, you know, a few months ago because that's my model”
Cover of [Untitled Autobiography]
[Untitled Autobiography]
Michael Ovitz
“remember way back like I read his bu I was reading his autobiography And as I finished it. I got an email from Michael Lovitz”
Cover of An Inside Job
An Inside Job
Daniel Silva
“One of the books I finished this last week was An Inside Job by Daniel Silva”
Cover of Three Years in Wonderland
Three Years in Wonderland
Tom James Pierce
“the other book I finished was Speaking of Disney, Three Years in Wonderland by Tom James Pierce”
Cover of Disney's Land
Disney's Land
Richard Snow
“Disney's Land, which I thought was very good”
Cover of How to Win at College
How to Win at College
Cal Newport
“So my first three books, How to Win to College, How to Become a Strat A Student, How to Become a High School Superstar”
Cover of How to Become a Straight-A Student
How to Become a Straight-A Student
Cal Newport
“How to Win to College, How to Become a Strat A Student, How to Become a High School Superstar”
Cover of How to Become a High School Superstar
How to Become a High School Superstar
Cal Newport
“How to Win to College, How to Become a Strat A Student, How to Become a High School Superstar”
Has AI “Gone Rogue”? Let’s Look Closer… | Tech Decoded
Aug 2026
Loading more episodes…