The Boston Globe has a nice review of Rest:

Tools for dealing with work, life in rapidly shifting digital age

Americans are known for overworking, notes Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, along with rushing, multitasking, and frowning on those who sleep or daydream. Especially in Silicon Valley, where the author lives, “the reigning assumption is that success is a race against time and obsolescence.” But time spent in England convinced Pang to take a look at the idea of rest — whether through sleep, vacation, and nonwork activities like walking and other exercise — and its relationship to creativity and productivity. “Rest is not work’s adversary,” he concludes. “Rest is work’s partner. They complement and complete each other.”

Pang blends advice, storytelling, and scientific research in a way that’s been familiar since readers first met Malcolm Gladwell (and with its one-word title and simple cover — a vintage beach chair against a blank background — Pang’s book looks as if it’s related to blockbusters by the author of “Blink” and “Outliers”). But he writes with an admirable focus on balance, on pleasure as well as success; in the end, it’s difficult to argue with his conclusions. “If you want to burn out and die young, no one will stop you,” Pang writes, “but if you want to live to a ripe old age, enjoy that life, and be engaged and active throughout, it seems deliberate rest can help you get there.”

While I always like good intellectual engagement and smart reviewers who like the book, I also really appreciate (and my publishers will LOVE) the line, “Pang’s book looks as if it’s related to blockbusters by the author of Blink and Outliers.”

Thanks, Kate Tuttle!