Schulte structures the book around her quest to make her own life more sane. (To be fair, she had to: “Scandinavians do it better” chapters are mandatory in 21st-century pop-sociology books.) And, as the subtitle promises, she uncovers significant problems in Americans’ work culture, our relationships and our approach to leisure. She flies to Paris to report on a time-use conference and to Denmark for a smart chapter on why Danes report such low levels of stress. In pursuit of both a diagnosis and a cure, Schulte talks to psychologists, sociologists, neuroscientists, CEOs and even Pat Buchanan. Washington Post reporter Brigid Schulte’s new book, “Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time,” documents the incredible rise of what she calls “the overwhelm”: “that everything-all-at-once feeling that you’re burning the candle from both ends and out the middle.” These days, most of us experience boredom only in the rare moments when our smartphones are out of reach. The Harvard Business Review fretted in 1959 that “boredom, which used to bother only aristocrats, has become a common curse.” Remember boredom? Fifty years ago, big thinkers were wringing their hands over an oncoming age of mass boredom prompted by ever-increasing worker productivity. “Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time” by Brigid Schulte Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus and Giroux ($26) Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.

Overwhelmed by Brigid Schulte