Meditations for Mortals

From the author of the global bestseller Four Thousand Weeks, a liberating four-week journey towards a saner, freer, more meaningful, more enchantment-filled life.

Banish burnout. Choose calm. Embrace life.
One day at a time.

'Thoughtful, level-headed, and useful ... a book to meditate upon' THE TIMES

Meditations for Mortals takes us on a liberating journey towards a more meaningful life – one that begins not with fantasies of the ideal existence, but with the reality in which we actually find ourselves. Designed as a four-week ‘retreat of the mind’, it offers daily wisdom, solace and inspiration to aid a saner, freer, and more enchantment-filled way of living.

Addressing fundamental questions about how to live, Oliver Burkeman proposes a powerful new guiding philosophy of ‘imperfectionism’. How can we embrace our limitations? Or make good decisions when there’s always too much to do? What if being truly productive means letting things happen, not making them happen?

Reflecting on philosophy, literature, psychology, religion and self-help, Burkeman explores practical tools and shifts in perspective. The result is a bracing challenge to much familiar advice, and a profound yet entertaining crash course in living more fully.

‘Full of wisdom and comfort … a really important book about embracing truth and reality which will help a lot of people leave their fantasies and dive into real life' CHRIS VAN TULLEKEN, author of Ultra-Processed People

'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

'Meditations for Mortals offers a practical path toward personal transformation … A must-read' CAL NEWPORT, author of Slow Productivity