Cal Newport

Calvin C. Newport is an American nonfiction author and full time professor of computer science at Georgetown University.

Background and education
Newport completed his undergraduate studies at Dartmouth College in 2004 and received a Ph.D. in computer science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009 under Nancy Lynch. He was a post-doctoral associate in the MIT computer science department from 2009-2011. His grandfather, John Newport, was a Baptist minister and theologian.

Career
Newport joined Georgetown University as an assistant professor of computer science in 2011, was granted tenure in 2017, and was promoted to full professorship in 2024. His work focuses on distributed algorithms in challenging networking scenarios and incorporates the study of communications systems in nature. Newport is currently Provost's Distinguished Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Georgetown University and the author of eight books.

Attention management
Newport started Study Hacks blog in 2007 where he writes about "how to perform productive, valuable and meaningful work in an increasingly distracted digital age".

Newport used the existing  term "deep work" in his book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (2016), which refers to studying for focused chunks of time without distractions such as email and social media. He challenges the belief that participation in social media is important for career capital.

In 2017, he began advocating for "digital minimalism."

In 2021, he began referring to the role email and chat play in what he calls "the hyperactive hive mind".

Books

 * How to Win at College (Crown, 2005) ISBN 978-0767917872
 * How to Become a Straight-A Student (Crown, 2006) ISBN 978-0767922715
 * How to Be a High-School Superstar (Crown, 2010) ISBN 978-0767932585
 * So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion In The Quest For Work You Love (Grand Central Publishing, 2012) ISBN 978-1455509126
 * Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (Grand Central Publishing, 2016) ISBN 978-1455586691
 * Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World (Portfolio, 2019) ISBN 978-0525536512
 * The Time-Block Planner (2020)
 * 2nd ed. (Portfolio, 2023) ISBN 978-0593545393
 * A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload (Portfolio, 2021) ISBN 978-0525536550
 * Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout (Portfolio, 2024) ISBN 978-0593544853