The New York Times bestselling author of Digital Minimalism and Deep Work proposes a bold
vision for liberating workers from the tyranny of the inbox--and unleashing a new era of
productivity. Modern knowledge workers communicate constantly: their days are defined by a
relentless barrage of incoming messages and back-and-forth digital conversations--a state of
constant anxious chatter in which nobody can disconnect and so nobody has the cognitive
bandwidth to perform substantive work. There was a time when these tools felt cutting edge but
current evidence reveals that the hyperactive hive mind workflow they helped create has become
a productivity disaster reducing profitability and perhaps even slowing overall economic
growth. Equally worrisome it makes us miserable. Humans are simply not wired for constant
digital communication. We have become so used to an inbox-driven workday that it's hard to
imagine an alternative. Drawing on case studies from innovative contemporary companies as well
as those that thrived in the age before email author and computer science professor Cal
Newport lays out a series of principles for overhauling how you or your organization
operate--providing concrete instruction for shifting your efforts away from constant
communication and toward more structured approaches to producing valuable output. The knowledge
sector's evolution beyond the hyperactive hive mind is inevitable. The question is not whether
a world without email is coming (it is) but whether you'll be ahead of this trend. If you're a
CEO seeking a competitive edge an entrepreneur convinced your productivity could be higher or
an employee exhausted by your inbox A World Without Email will convince you that the time has
come for bold changes and walk you through exactly how to make them happen.
