Lifehacker: The Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, and Better [Kindle Edition]

I will admit to being a sucker for books like this. I love books that offer ways to improve your time management, limit interruptions, and streamline your life. Lifehacker helps you do all that and more. It is the most practical book I have read on this subject, and I promise that it will improve the way you work.

There are a ton of "theory" books out there. Books that will tell you to spend your time more productively, not visit certain site, and get rid of all the extra emails. All great advice, but it can be hard for you to put into place without the right tools. Adam Pash and Gina Trapani give you those tools in Lifehacker. From email reduction to time-wasters to creating doable to-do lists, this is the best resource to turn to.

The book is structured in an easy to read way. At the beginning of each hack, the authors tell you the three most important pieces of information right up front:

Level: How easy is this going to be?

Platform: Where do I use this? Web, Windows, Mac, All?

Cost: How much does it cost?

This is a great way to evaluate the hacks that you will need quickly and will help you to find the information that will benefit you most. Fortunately, most of the hacks offered in this book are both easy and free.

Some of my favorite hacks in the book include:

Hack 1: Empty Your Inbox (and Keep It Empty)

Hack 9: Script and Automate Repetitive Replies

Hack 14: Instantly Recall Any Number of Different Passwords

Hack 24: Design Your Own Planner

Hack 25: Make Your To-Do List Doable

Hack 29: Dash Through Tasks With a Timer

Hack 39: Limit Visits to Time-Wasting Websites

Hack 53: Reduce Repetitive Typing

Hack 59: Become A Scheduling Black-Belt with Google Calendar

Hack 82: Augment Reality With Your Phone

Bottom Line: There is a ton of great information contained in this huge 476 page book. You probably won't use every hack and you probably already follow some of the author's advice, but you will (at least you should) use most of the hacks in this book. Highly Recommended.

BONUS: Lifehacker also has a companion website that has updates, additional information, and more tips and tricks.

BONUS #2: For the best theory book on why you should implement these time-saving tools, read The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated: Expanded and Updated, With Over 100 New Pages of Cutting-Edge Content. They complement each other very well.

I bought this book as a birthday present to myself. Lucky me!

Adam Pash and Gina Trapani have distilled the very best tools from the Lifehacker blog to help you streamline your workflow, focus your attention and work on the stuff that matters. I read it straight through in a weekend and now I am going back through, and following their clear, detailed instructions to implement very meaningful changes to the way I work. They have included hacks for everyone - newbies to geeks.

This is an outstanding example of book written to take full advantage of the digital format. They have included many links, allowing readers to go deeper into the content if they want. The table of contents is like a toolbox filled with gems. After reading it on my ipad, I downloaded it to my desktop and I am working from there to upgrade my digital life.

Lifehacker continues to be a Lifechanger!

I've read the occasional article from Lifehacker blog and often found them to be hit-or-miss. However, the Lifehacker guide is a great collection of the best-of-the-best tips and tricks for making you more effective and efficient. Most of the tips are completely free and many of them don't even require a third-party application (such as using your smart phone, Outlook, or Mail client more effectively).

The authors also make an effort to provide instructions/tips for Mac/Windows/iPhone/Android/etc. They also provide step-by-step instructions and links to software to minimize confusion or hassle.

The three caveats about this book are:
1. The book appears written for a computer novice, but many of the tips require you to be fairly proficient with computers and "tinkering" with applications. While the step-by-step instructions make it fairly easy to follow, the troubleshooting instructions often leave something to desire (especially if mess up a step). However, there are ample warnings when you can irreparably mess up your computer.

2. The tips have a relatively short lifespan--that is, within a year or two, many of the tips will be outdated or the instructions will be incorrect. There's a website to get updated instructions for the tips, but it's not clear how long the website will actually be maintained. A proficient computer user will still be able to understand and apply the tips provided even if the written material goes out of date.

3. The sections on social engineering are not nearly as useful as the ones on tech tips. Unless you are a person who gets a lot out of self-help books, those sections won't add much value. They will sometimes throw in ideas on how to 'remind' yourself to be more efficient, but your mileage may vary.

Overall, a pretty good book. Worth the read as most people will get at least a few, really useful tips. Heck, anyone who uses Outlook and hasn't "mastered" inbox rules will find the book worth reading.