Meditations for Mortals
Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts
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A map for a liberating journey toward a more meaningful life-a journey that begins where we actually find ourselves, not with a fantasy of where we'd like to be-from the New York Times bestselling author of Four Thousand Weeks
How would life open up if we stopped treating it as a problem to be solved?
Addressing the fundamental questions about how to live, Meditations for Mortals offers a powerful new way to take action on what counts: a guiding philosophy of life Oliver Burkeman calls "imperfectionism." It helps us tackle challenges as they crop up in our daily lives: our finite time, the lure of distraction, the impossibility of doing anything perfectly.
How can we embrace our nonnegotiable limitations? Or make good decisions when there's always too much to do? How do we shed the illusion that life will really begin as soon as we can "get on top of everything"? Reflecting on quotations drawn from philosophy, religion, literature, psychology, and self-help, Burkeman explores a combination of practical tools and daily shifts in perspective. The result is a life-enhancing and surprising challenge to much familiar advice-and a profound yet entertaining crash course in living more fully.
About this Author
Oliver Burkeman is the author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals as well as The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking and HELP! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done. For many years he wrote a popular column for The Guardian, 'This Column Will Change Your Life', on psychology, productivity, self-help culture, and the science of happiness. His writing has also appeared in The Observer, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Psychologies magazine and New Philosopher. A resident of Brooklyn, New York for more than a decade, he lives with his wife and son in the North York Moors in England.
Reviews
One of TIME's "32 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024"
A Lit Hub Pick for "The Ultimate Fall 2024 Reading List"
"Rehab for burned-out high achievers."
--The Guardian
"Oliver Burkeman has a way of giving you the most unexpected productivity advice exactly when you need it."
--Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
"More than a book of ideas, Meditations for Mortals offers a practical path toward personal transformation--one that helps you sidestep the shallow allure of frenetic busyness and find a liberation joy in the limits and imperfections of life. A must-read."
--Cal Newport, author of Slow Productivity
"Liberating and humane."
--Kirkus
"I follow Oliver Burkeman's personal, literary, and journalistic adventures into wisdom with admiration and exhilaration. Now he bring us a 'retreat of the mind' in a very special book. We should all read this, preferable in the company of others--for the sake of our aching world as well as the state of our souls."
--Krista Tippett, author of Being Wise
"Full of wisdom and comfort. I enjoyed every page and read it in a single sitting. This is a really important book about embracing truth and reality."
--Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People
"Meditations for Mortals offers a bracing and refreshing antidote for what ails high achievers. With crackling wit and counterintuitive wisdom, Burkeman shows that it's okay-and often smarter-to do less, let some goals slide, and embrace our imperfections. This book is both a comfort and a challenge-exactly what our trying times demand."
-Daniel H. Pink, New York Times bestselling author of The Power of Regret
"A delightful, engaging, rigorous and reassuring book. The world would be a better and less frightening place if more people stopped what they are doing and read this book"
--Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of How to Feel Better
"A deeply helpful reflection on how to permit our lives a sigh of relief. Moments stopped me in my tracks. Oliver is a steersman through sanity, and must be read alongside any attempts at self-improvement"
--Derren Brown, author of Happy and A Book of Secrets
"Meditations for Mortals offers a refreshing crash course in productivity that encourages us to do less."
--TIME
"This helpful, intelligent guide shows life is more meaningful if we throw away the to-do lists and embrace the chaos. . . . [T]houghtful, level-headed and useful."
--The Times (UK)
"Burkeman's insight [is] always clear-eyed and jargon-free . . . reassuring and constructive.''
--The Guardian
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