Name: Overwhelmed
ISBN: 9780374228446

Brigid Schulte

Drawing on interviews with neuroscientists, sociologists and working parents, an award-winning journalist explores the factors contributing to our collective sense of being overwhelmed and seeks insights, answers and inspiration for achieving the perfect work-life balance. 40,000 first printing.

Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time

Overwhelmed

Sarah Schumacher

The book itself is great; the subtitle was poorly chosen. It should be something like "Why Mom Never Has Time" since it's almost entirely focused on working women with kids.

It covers a lot of ground, opening with a relatable description of The Overwhelm, discussion of negative workplace norms toward mothers and family-focused dads, family implications when there's inherent bias toward the "woman-as-homemaker" mindset, examples of people doing it better (Denmark) and why play is worth thinking about. If you read nothing else, read the section on Play.

While the author talks about herself, her family, and how she's made changes as a result of her research, this definitely reads more like investigative journalism (her profession) vs. a personal memoir, with an extensive list of endnotes.

Brigid prior 

This was a good book (or should I say, research project), but at times it was WAY too damn long. Pretty hefty stuff, though I liked it. I do think it would have been improved if it was more concise.

An award-winning journalist and a mother, Brigid Schulte was feeling overwhelmed by the demands of her work and home lives. As journalists do, she decided to find out if she was alone in this feeling and how she could fix it. She was relieved to discover that most working mothers felt as crazed as she did. Few of them were really enjoying “leisure” time. They weren’t complaining; they chose to have children and to work, and they made the best of it. But what about that term women’s magazines are so fond of: “me time”? Was there anything working mothers could do to make their lives feel less like a treadmill gone haywire? Anything they could change? Schulte interviewed working mothers and examined how not just individual pressures but biological, societal, economic and cultural ones were splintering their days into slivered messes. She explored everything from the wiring of the female brain to male–female income distribution and the current state of gender equality in the workplace and home. She talked to neuroscientists, sociologists, and above all, other working mothers in order to tease out all the factors contributing to our collective overwhelm. And then she sought out insights and answers and inspiration: investigating companies, travelling across Western Europe to meet families and researchers, and seeking out the sages of the age for their wisdom on how to manage time. Overwhelmed is the story of what she found out. It’s a map of the stresses--individual, historical, biological and societal--that have ripped working mothers’ leisure to shreds, and a look at how it might be possible to put the pieces back together.

Work, Love and Play When No One Has the Time

Travis Well

Lee Herman

An award-winning journalist and a mother, Brigid Schulte was feeling overwhelmed by the demands of her work and home lives. As journalists do, she decided to find out if she was alone in this feeling and how she could fix it. She was relieved to discover that most working mothers felt as crazed as she did. Few of them were really enjoying "leisure" time. They weren't complaining; they chose to have children and to work, and they made the best of it. But what about that term women's magazines are so fond of: "me time"? Was there anything working mothers could do to make their lives feel less like a treadmill gone haywire? Anything they could change? Schulte interviewed working mothers and examined how not just individual pressures but biological, societal, economic and cultural ones were splintering their days into slivered messes. She explored everything from the wiring of the female brain to male-female income distribution and the current state of gender equality in the workplace and home. She talked to neuroscientists, sociologists, and above all, other working mothers in order to tease out all the factors contributing to our collective overwhelm. And then she sought out insights and answers and inspiration: investigating companies, travelling across Western Europe to meet families and researchers, and seeking out the sages of the age for their wisdom on how to manage time. Overwhelmed is the story of what she found out. It's a map of the stresses-individual, historical, biological and societal-that have ripped working mothers' leisure to shreds, and a look at how it might be possible to put the pieces back together.

David Young

Shyn

Leah

Jeremy Anderberg

Overwhelmed is a map of the stresses that have ripped our leisure to shreds, and a look at how to put the pieces back together. Schulte speaks to neuroscientists, sociologists, and hundreds of working parents to tease out the factors contributing to our collective sense of being overwhelmed, seeking insights, answers, and inspiration. She investigates progressive offices trying to invent a new kind of workplace; she travels across Europe to get a sense of how other countries accommodate working parents; she finds younger couples who claim to have figured out an ideal division of chores, childcare, and meaningful paid work. Overwhelmed is the story of what she found out"--Provided by publisher.

Overwhelmed Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time

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