Meditations for Mortals

Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts

By: Oliver Burkeman

Narrated by: Oliver Burkeman

Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Long-listed, Barnes and Noble Best New Books of the Year, 2024

"The philosophical tone of his delivery is perfect."—AudioFile on Four Thousand Weeks

This program is read by the author.

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

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 non-negotiable 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.

To be listened to either as a four-week “retreat of the mind” or devoured in one or two sittings, Meditations for Mortals will be a source of solace and inspiration, and an aid to a saner, freer, and more enchantment-filled life. In anxiety-inducing times, it is rich in truths we have never needed more.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

©2024 Oliver Burkeman (P)2024 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“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

“More than a book of ideas, Meditation for Mortals offers a practical path toward personal transformation—one that helps you sidestep the shallow allure of frenetic busyness and find a liberating joy in the limits and imperfections of life. A must-read.”—Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author of Slow Productivity and Deep Work

“I follow Oliver Burkeman's personal, literary, and journalistic adventures into wisdom with admiration and exhilaration. Now he brings us a ‘retreat of the mind’ in a very special book. We should all read this, preferably in the company of others—for the sake of our aching world as well as the state of our souls.”—Krista Tippett, host of On Being

Brilliant- I want to remember it all

I’m grateful to have stumbled on an article about this book coming out - and I got it the first day available. I listened once, and just completed a second listen, TAKING MY OWN NOTES as a nice summary for easy & succinct reference. I gained so much from this book. I wish I’d had it as a guide when I was much younger. Such insight for a life to be well lived.

solid advice

I liked the narration and the message the author conveys about living a productive life.

Great!

A very nice listen, It puts your feet back on the ground, while you effortlessly absorb the messages it gives you through interesting stories

Refreshing and humorous perspective

Refreshing and humorous perspective. Reality of and permission to be imperfectly human. Exceptional storytelling and writing style.

Concept

This concept gave me a new valuable perspective. Already having positive effect even while still reading .

Has Burkeman been peering inside my head?

I am a big fan of 4000 Weeks and thought this might be a rehash of that work. I was wrong. Burkeman has such a gift for reframing what we unthinkingly accept as given and we discover how unhelpful if not toxic those ideas can be. I found myself recognizing my own thinking so often in these short one-a-day essays I felt he was writing to me personally. I now find myself both being kinder to myself and doing the work I want to do but have often procrastinated about. I also enjoy his wry sense of humor and narration. I can imagine listening to the days over and over to reinforce the messages.

One of the few self-help books that actually helps

Burkeman writes the only ‘self-help’ book that gives a damn. He invites you to follow him in contemplating what it means to allocate time to something and the agonizing anxious experience of doing so. Part-memoir, part-philosophy, all meaningfully helpful.

Bite-size wisdom

Relatable, helpful, and short enough chapters to listen to more than once in a given day.

Performance is excellent. I purchased a hard copy as well, but very much prefer the audio.

About to start listening to it again, one chapter per day, like I did the first time around.

If you only listen to the first 3 chapters on repeat, there’s enough wisdom there for a decade.

Okay, stop reading this review and get the book already!!

Actually helpful

Mindset, as loaded as that term may be to some, is the focus of this book. If you're a fan of his already, this distills a lot of what he says about time and productivity from the perspective of mental choice, changing your perspective toward quality of time spent as the most important thing, again. I liked the language he used in this one, even the resignation to 'what is will be' part of the perspective. But you don't have to take my word for it.

Humorous and deep at the same time!

This book really took me by surprise. It was offered for a reduced price at the top of my Audible home page. I’m so glad I listened to the preview because the author’s narration drew me right in. He describes my own life struggles with “turning over a new leaf”, remaking myself etc so wittily and yet provides a refreshing alternative to the usual self help fare. It’s okay to be an imperfect human! Highest recommendation =)