Anthony Doerr’s new bestseller, All the Light We Cannot See, holds special appeal for me. That’s how I would describe it. From the poetic language, to the realization of what the tile actually means: that underneath the surface of history, there is light that has not been seen, and stories that have gone untold.

I’m going to be honest-love for this book didn’t hit me straight away. In fact, my first attempt to read it last month ended with me putting it aside and going to find something easier, lighter and less descriptive to read. But this book is built on beautiful imagery. Both in the literal sense-the physical world of 1940s Paris and Germany, and the metaphorical (隐喻性的)sense-scientific and philosophical references to light, to seeing and not seeing, and the differences between the two. It’s a beautiful work of genius, but it does get a little complicated at times.

However, when we get into the meat of this World War II novel, it’s also an upsetting story of a childhood torn apart by war. It’s about Parisian Marie Laure who has been blind since she was six, and a German orphan called Werner who finds himself at the center of the Hitler Youth. Both of their stories are told with sensitivity and sympathy, each one forced down a path by their personal circumstances and by that destructive monster-war.

I think this is the kind of book you will never appreciate if you stop too soon-I learned that lesson. From the first to last page, there is a theme of invisible lines running parallel (平行的)to one another and sometimes, just sometimes, crossing in the strangest way. These two lives we are introduced to seem to be worlds apart, and yet they come together and influence one another. It was this, more than the predictably awful tale of war, that made me feel quite emotional.

A lot of media attention has focused on the harmful effects of working long hours. Logging excessive hours at work is rooted in the work culture of the West. From Bay Area startups to various multinationals, their idea is centered around how many hours you can clock at work. It is assumed that the more hours you put into your job, the more career prospects you’ll get out of it.

A new study in Europe challenged this assumption, however. From their analysis of nearly 52, 000 people from 36 European countries, they concluded that it’s not the number of hours you clock at the office, but how intensely you work during those hours, that affects career-related outcomes. Researchers found people, with similar jobs and education levels, were more likely to suffer poorer well-being and inferior career prospects, including satisfaction, security and promotion, when they worked at an intense level for long periods. According to Hans Frankort, a senior lecturer in strategy at Cass Business School, the research suggests career benefits of excessive work effort-longer hours or harder work-may never materialize.

Employers should reduce work intensity rather than try to control excessive hours, the authors concluded. “Compared with overtime, work intensity predicts much greater reductions in well-being and career benefits,” Hans Frankort said.

There is also a range of things for employees to do to ensure they’re working smarter, and not just harder. Beth Belle Cooper, a former content creator at Buffer, the social media scheduling app, suggests taking more breaks to refresh your mind and reset your attention span. She also recommends taking naps to consolidate new information in the brain and help you avoid burnout. You might also consider completely unplugging from work more consistently, and for longer periods of time. This is what Sean McCabe and his small team does when they take a week-long vacation every seventh week.