Orality and Literacy

Should I Use Notebooks More Often? (Cal’s Strategy) | Monday Advice

Deep Questions with Cal Newport, 13 July 2026. The book comes up at 53 min 42 sec in.

Cal Newport reports finishing Orality and Literacy by Walter Ong, a mid-20th-century scholar. The book argues that writing fundamentally changed how the human mind works. Newport found it very readable despite its academic character, and was struck by Ong's analysis of Plato's Phaedrus and the irony that Plato criticised writing while his own philosophical thought was only possible because of writing. Newport calls it "a really good book" and says many people who cite it may not have actually read past its headline thesis.

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