Four Thousand Weeks — Oliver Burkeman
Paperback | Picador | June 27, 2023
The Gist
Contrary to the subtitle, this book is about building a good relationship with Time rather than trying to manage and control it. There is also some existential dread involved.
Read if you like
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
The Antidote also by Oliver Burkeman
On the Shortness of Life by Seneca
The Verdict: Read, Reflect, Revisit
Despite the subtitle, this is not another time management book. Burkeman has actually written an anti-time-management book. In Four Thousand Weeks, Burkeman examines our modern-day relationship with time and reflects on how the more we try to be productive, the busier and more exhausted we feel. To help us unpack our relationship with time and why so many of us have become efficiency junkies, Burkeman states the obvious: We’re all going to die. It’s a fact he doesn’t shy away from and although the first chapter is enough to stir up some serious existential dread, Burkeman argues that if we can accept that our time is finite, we may not feel so compelled to be so rigid with our four thousand weeks. Although there are moments where Burkeman leans a little bit too much into the doom, gloom, and dread—especially in his afterword—we get an important book that should be revisited. Not just to remind ourselves that the time we have on this planet is fleeting, but to analyze and build a better relationship with time and, in turn, a meaningful life where we feel whole, present, and proud.
