Meditations for Mortals

Stop trying to sort your life out. Start living.


Our lives can feel defined by the struggle with overwhelm, endless decisions and striving to be productive. Wouldn’t it be good to stop doing all that? What if we could find freedom – and get more of the important things done – by embracing our limitations, and by letting things happen instead of forcing them?

Meditations for Mortals begins with the reality in which we actually find ourselves, not with fantasies of an ideal existence. Reflecting on ideas from philosophy, religion, psychology and self-help, it offers us a powerful and practical new way to do what counts: a guiding outlook Oliver Burkeman calls ‘imperfectionism’.

This book is a profound and liberating crash course in living more fully. It overturns much familiar advice and opens a gateway to a saner, freer and more enchantment-filled life.

Review

Thoughtful, level-headed and useful ... a book to meditate upon ― The Times

I'm sceptical about self-help - but a four-week 'mind retreat' changed me ... [Meditations for Mortals] teems with good sense, sensibly dispensed ― i

A bracing read ... I'd bet that his audience will finish it in one sitting ... uplifting ― FT

Illuminating ... Burkeman's insight [is] always clear-eyed and jargon-free ... reassuring and constructive ― Guardian

Full of wise advice on not getting overburdened by work ― The Times

Life-changing ― Stylist

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

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

A very special book. We should all read this - for the sake of our aching world as well as the state of our souls -- Krista Tippett, author of Becoming Wise

A practical path towards personal transformation. A must-read -- Cal Newport, author of Slow Productivity

About the Author

Oliver Burkeman is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Four Thousand Weeks and The Antidote, and for many years wrote a popular weekly column on psychology for the Guardian, 'This Column Will Change Your Life'. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Psychologies and New Philosopher.

He has a devoted following for his writing on productivity, mortality, the power of limits, and building a meaningful life in an age of bewilderment.