Meditations for Mortals — Oliver Burkeman
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Hardcover | October 8, 2024
The Gist
You’re going to wrestle with your mortality and you’re kind of going to like it.
Read If You Like
Four Thousand Weeks also by Oliver Burkeman
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday
The Verdict: Read It
In Meditations for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman once again pushes us to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that we are finite. Yes, he is once again reminding us that we are going to die, so we should probably make the most of the time we have. The problem, as Burkeman points out, is that right now time feels like a commodity. We don’t seem to have enough of it, no matter how hard we try to get our shit together and complete our to-do lists. Unlike others in the self-help space, Burkeman pushes back on productivity hacks and tips for decreasing distractions. Instead, he focuses on proposing questions rather than dishing out advice. The topics vary widely and are organized into four sections (Being Finite, Taking Action, Letting Go, and Showing Up) and pull from philosophy, religion, psychology, literature, and more. Through sharp writing and sarcasm, Burkeman argues that to live fully means accepting where you are, rather than struggling to achieve the fantasy of where we think we want to be. It’s the reason Meditations for Mortals will resonate with both perfectionists and procrastinators alike, and although it is tempting to chew through this 162-page book, I would encourage readers to stretch it out.
