Great read for those wanting to know more about being a digital nomad. Interesting and invoking. Would recommend to others.

A good collection of research into digital nomads and looking at those who are nomads in Bali. The narration could be a bit faster (1.5 speed was a good speed).

An interesting study of Digital Nomads and nomad life. Sometimes it comes across as unbearably smug but it's still worth reading. Trust millennials to make something complicated out of basic stuff that people have been doing quietly for years. They form a clique, give each other silly names, and expect a participation trophy for every little thing because adulting is hard. People used to bum their way around the world with very little money. They were called Hobos not Nomads. People used to work in different countries because they could make more money abroad and then use it to support their families back home. They called it Immigration not Geo-arbitrage. Just because you have a laptop and an Instagram account it doesn't make you special. Most of the writing by and about Digital Nomads is lifestyle porn intended to be read by sad sacks still stuck in their cubicles. This book at least attempts to look more objectively at what the lives of a selection of Digital Nomads is actually like.

This is a quite a detailed ethnography of "Digital Nomads" who are typically millennial knowledge workers who choose to live as expats in exotic locations. For this book, the authors chose to focus on the expats in Bali. Ever since I started reading this book, I've heard the term "Digital Nomads" in contexts unrelated to this book, so I guess it's a catchy trend to look out for.

That said, the book went in great (I mean _great_) depth into the subject matter, sometimes blurring the line between serious study and subtle mockery of its own subjects. It's definitely an interesting read.

The narrator of the audiobook is quite brilliant, using varying intonations, etc, to bring together a narrative which has multiple POVs. It could have been a dull read, but the narrator keeps it alive.

This was the first time I was introduced to the term Digital Nomads, and though I was familiar with the work-from-home scenario, I never knew much about remote workers and this book gave a detailed description of what digital nomads are and how they go about doing what they do. Especially since the pandemic, the number of digital nomads seems to have grown. And Bali seems to be the destination hub for digital nomads, owing to the tropical climate and low cost of living.
Though remote work has never appealed to me, this book gives an idea on how to go about in becoming a digital nomad, how they start out, what are their options and how to sustain it. And Bali seems to be the most preferred location for digital nomads worldwide.
I really enjoyed the book. It was a refreshing read to know more about an upcoming way of working while leading a more fulfilling lifestyle. This is a must read for those wanting to leave corporate jobs and start remote working.
Thank you #NetGalley and RB media for providing me an advanced audio copy of the book. All opinions are my own. #DigitalNomads

I love this nifty guide to becoming a digital nomad, and I'm not at all surprised that people from the United States are choosing this way of life. I enjoyed understanding the ins and outs of having an unconventional type of life.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for this ARC audiobook for an honest review.

Reviewing
Digital Nomads
By Rachael A. Woldoff and Robert Litchfield

This was certainly an interesting read among the COVID-19 global pandemic which has highlighted the possibility of working remotely. In Digital Nomads, Woldoff and Litchfeild explore the intricacies of this young, creative class choosing to work globally. The authors take you to the heart of Bali where the digital nomad is doing particularly well. While the expatriate and creative class thrives, it seems to be due in large part to the depressed economic conditions and the digital nomads privileged beginnings.

I found this book interesting but unbalanced in its focus on the positive while skimming over the negative.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 stars

I have always seen digital nomads on instagram, and was curious about that lifestyle. I enjoyed the narrator and the format of this book. It provided lots of answers to my questions, and was very informative about this lifestyle, and what kind of person/ worker it was fit for.

I wish I knew this pandemic was going to last this long in the beginning! I could be on the beach somewhere doing the same job that I've been doing from my tiny city apt for the last year. This book was a glimpse into that dream!

I had no idea what Digital Nomads meant until I came across this book. The book was interesting and insightful. It explained everything regarding Digital Nomads. Reading it in audiobook format was more helpful. The narrator did a wonderful work. I liked it. I would recommend it to non fiction lovers.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC for review.

As a remote worker for nearly a decade, I was interested in this book to learn more about actually being location independent. I've often dreamed of pulling up stakes and working from anywhere and I have done the RV thing for a period of time though I've not seriously considered going overseas. It was interesting learning about the ins and outs of working overseas and navigating foreign laws regarding visas and such. In the past year, so many more jobs have transitioned to remote positions to accommodate social distancing. It will be interesting to see how many of those revert to standard office jobs when the pandemic subsides. It does take a certain personality to be able to successfully work on their own and not everyone is suited to it.

Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed learning more about this lifestyle, it was all new to me, even as a millennial. Even though this was written before the COVD-19 pandemic, the authors note how the pandemic will likely only elevate a digital nomad lifestyle moving forward.

A very interesting account about being a digital nomad, why one would want to be and how to go about it

It was a different kind of book for me but I found it to be interesting and informative. I wasn’t aware of the term digital nomad before this book but now I’m inclined to search for more information.
I’ll definitely be recommending it to friends.

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars, rounded up

Digital Nomads is an ethnography of an expat community of freelancers, entrepreneurs, and other distance workers living in Bali. It's an interesting book that offers an in depth look at the sorts of people living in the community, why they choose to live and work there, as well as the emergent ethics and cultural practices of the community.

The authors seem to be interested in what this community can tell us about the state of creative work environments in big cities, the disparity between wages and cost of living in these cities, and the missteps of big corporations. Many of these so-called digital nomads have fled grinding, long work weeks, being constantly on-call, living away from nature, lacking close community, and being denied creative freedom or autonomy due to micro-managing bosses. They seek meaningful work, intimate supportive community, connection with nature, and freedom without constant stress about cost of living. One takeaway is that the corporate world globally (the community includes nomads from cities all around the world) is failing to provide those things.

However, the authors also (correctly) recognize that 1- members of the community typically have some level of privilege, coming from middle to upper class families and networks they could rely on at home in an emergency and 2- in many ways this practice constitutes a form of neocolonialism as expats thrive due to depressed economic conditions in Bali, sometimes at the expense of locals, and are contributing to a sort of bastardized cultural appropriation in some of their practices. While they do recognize these things, I'm not sure the authors adequately grapple with them. Instead they end with a bigger focus on why corporations should take note of this trend and seek to make meaningful changes rather than simply putting a ping pong table in the hallway.

It's particularly interesting reading this now in the wake of COVID, and indeed the introduction recognizes how this global pandemic has changed things. I'm interested to see what if any lasting changes it makes to corporate culture globally. I listened to this via audio and it was reasonably well done. I received an audio review copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.