Bit Literacy: Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload [Hardcover]

Mark Hurst (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2007

"Bit Literacy" is essential reading for anyone who has experienced "digital overload": the daily flood of e-mail, multiple todo lists, a cluttered desktop, documents in various file formats, and the constant distraction of cell phones and other devices. More than a quick fix or another "how-to" guide, the book offers an entirely new way of attaining productivity that users at any level of expertise can put into action right away. This is "bit literacy," a method for working more productively in the digital age, with less stress. Mark Hurst - who has reached hundreds of thousands of readers through his Good Experience e-mail newsletter, Uncle Mark technology guides, thisisbroken.com, and other websites - has revealed the way to survive, and thrive, in the digital age: "Let the bits go."

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Praise for Bit Literacy

This is The Elements of Style for the digital age.
- Seth Godin, author, The Dip

Mark Hurst has written the indispensable guide to the digital era. Instead of a mere "how-to" guide, Hurst shows what's really going on when we struggle with e-mail and todo lists. For anyone who has ever used a computer, this will not just wildly increase their productivity (as it has for me!) - it'll also let their ideas fly.
- David Bodanis, author, E=mc2 and Passionate Minds

An informative and clear step-by-step guide on how to turn the ever-increasing avalanche of bits into a force that will propel your life and career.
- Tom Hughes, Chief Design Officer, Idealab

Mark Hurst is the smartest person thinking about ways technology can make our lives easier rather than harder. If you're willing to give up some of your useless bytes for true knowledge and crowded RAM for zen clarity, then get bit-literate today.
- Douglas Rushkoff, author, Get Back in the Box

A lot of people feel left out of the whole Internet and computer thing, but realize it could be really valuable for them. Bit Literacy provides the basic skills required for anyone to engage the wave of informational change.
- Craig Newmark, founder, craigslist.org

Most of us learned how to deal with digital technology in piecemeal fashion. We developed habits that served us well for a time. But for the modern digital age, almost all of our habits are bad. In Bit Literacy, Mark Hurst provides brief, no-nonsense, clear, and unbelievably helpful advice on how to replace those bad habits with good ones. Take his advice and instead of being tyrannized by the overload that comes at you daily, you'll be liberated.
- Barry Schwartz, author, The Paradox of Choice

The word 'empowerment' should be included in the subtitle of this book, as I believe reading it reduces the hypertension involved in our daily journey through the flotsam and jetsam of life. Bit Literacy helps make the complex clear.
- Richard Saul Wurman, author, Understanding USA

About the Author

Widely credited for popularizing "customer experience" online, Mark Hurst has worked since the birth of the Web to make Internet technology easier to use. Named one of the 1,000 most creative individuals in the U.S. by Richard Saul Wurman, and Netrepreneur of the Year by InfoWorld magazine, Hurst is a leading authority on making people more productive with technology.

As the founder of Creative Good and Good Experience, and host of the renowned Gel conference (Good Experience Live), Hurst and his companies help organizations work more productively and create better customer experiences. Hurst holds bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science from MIT. He lives in New York City with his wife.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Good Experience Press (June 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979368103
• ISBN-13: 978-0979368103
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (132 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #208,494 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Book, October 31, 2007

By 

Kenneth Shubin Stein - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bit Literacy: Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload (Hardcover)

This is a superb book. As a doctor and an entrepreneur I have read many books on time management and being more efficient, and been disappointed by most of them. This book is by far the best I have read.

It has just enough theory to help the reader get the big picture, but nothing more. Unlike a lot of books that are twice as long as they should be, this short book respects the reader by delivering the information in an efficient and easy to digest manner.

I especially appreciate the clear instructions on how to implement the author's suggestions. I gave the book out to all my co-workers and several friends. Recently, our entire team talked about how each of us has implemented the book's ideas. Some of us are using all of them, and some are using a few of them, but no one decided not to use any of them. Given how challenging it is to change human behavior, I think this is amazing.

I give this my highest possible recommendation without any reservations at all.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly life-changing for a little book, July 31, 2007

By 

Brian Felsen "Twitter: @brianfelsen" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bit Literacy: Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload (Hardcover)

I don't typically buy business books but want to be more effective in reaching my goals, and this book is worth its weight in gold. It helps you understand the problem of a huge amount of "bits" of information flooding your life (and inbox!) in this digital age, as well as multiple "bitstreams" - the bit sources one has to manage (your desktop, your family, your mailbox, your inbox, to-do list, task lists, voicemail etc.) This book, better than any other system, gives you a simple set of tools to get your inbox down to absolute zero and to pare down the number of bistreams you have to manage, so you can focus on achieving the more important goals and enjoying the finer things in life. Get this book.

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoy the Shock of an empty inbox!, May 29, 2007

By 

George D. Girton (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bit Literacy: Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload (Hardcover)

The other night sitting at dinner, someone asked me the small-talk question of the age "So, how much time do you spend on your email?" I listened in surprise as I heard myself say "Oh, ten or fifteen minutes at most."

I used to think I was SO clever, for having discovered I could use my email inbox as an address book, database, calendar, bookmark, and to-do list all rolled into one. "Gee," I thought, "I bet most people aren't this effective in managing information." Was it any surprise that I had two thousand emails in one inbox, and seven thousand in another, stretching back seven years? And I even thought this was a GOOD thing. Oy!


It's the genius of Mark Hurst's Bit Literacy that he gives a thoughtful and convincing set of reasons for getting your email inbox down to ZERO every day. "Let the bits go" he says. He tells you exactly how to do it -- and no, it doesn't involve just deleting everything -- as well as why. He gives you the day-to-day method, and he gives you the one-time "induction" procedure that tells you how to get to that point. These MIT grads are so methodic about technology! Anyway, soon you too can share the shock of seeing an empty email inbox. And then... go on to get something done!

Hurst tells you how to perform the magic on your email in-box, your to-do list, your photos, tells you how and where you store your files (and a good way to name the files too) and how to manage your media diet. He recommends some free tools, and some you might want to pay for.

For me, the greatest value of this book will most likely be using what Hurst calls a bit literate to-do list. In a bit literate to-do list, you can create 'to-do' items with an email, with each item tied to a particular day, and display the items in priority order, showing detail as well as summary. The Bit Literacy book actually can serve as a manual for Hurst's online to-do list service, for which he charges three dollars a month. A cynical reader might suggest that the book ought to be given away free with a paid subscription, or the relevant chapter (Chapter 5) posted for free on his service's website (to be fair, maybe it is). Not being cynical, I simply signed up for the site, and am now moving forward in creating a more-aggressive summer vacation schedule. There has to be some personal payoff for increased productivity, doesn't there?


Whether you 1) just use his OEM strategy (open, engage, move) to clean up your email inbox, or whether you 2) sign up for his bit-literate to-do list gootodo dot com or whether 3) you go whole hog, and install and use the programs he recommends in a footnote on page 177 of Bit Literacy (you could drop six or seven hundred bucks), this book is worth well more than the modest amount time you will invest in reading it. This first edition lacks an index.