4000 weeks

I enjoyed this short little book. Burkeman makes a lot of good points and turns a few common conceptions of time and productivity on their heads. Just like the stoics, he argues that it is because of our finite time that our days are meaningful at all. Definitely give it a listen!

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20 people found this helpful

A wise, interesting and modern take on time

This book is an exposition on the problem of time as considered by philosophers, mystics, scientists through the ages. However, it also a commentary on modernity, how it perceives time, and how this time impact on the way we perceive and live our lives. It does offer specific and concrete prescriptions to the problem of time. I am not in a position to comment on these yet as I have not implemented them, but they do sound relatively straightforward and promising in terms of possibility of success. The broader points of this book, about how ultimately the shortness of life (ie limited time) is the central problem of this life, and how we will never do most of the things we dream to do, have already been very helpful for me to be more present with my kids and be more relaxed in these busy and stressful holiday times.

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12 people found this helpful

Life changing

Listened to this in two days, am now re-listening and am about to buy the hard copy so I can make notes. I immediately started recommending it to everyone who I think needs it, which I rarely do. Never before has a book so radically changed the way I think about life: Burkeman advocates fully acknowledging the finitude (my new favourite word) of life, embracing both your limitations and the fact that you'll never reach that imaginary place in the future where everything is ticked off the life list, and using these insights to just relax and allow yourself to enjoy the present (without any preachy mindfulness) doing just a few things that are actually important to you. Life is short, and you have to make choices: we shouldn't need to be told this, but we CAN'T have it all (where would you keep it?), and trying to chase a never-ending list of life goals is a recipe for unhappiness and endless striving. As he so refreshingly remind us, the universe *really* doesn't care how we spend our time on earth.

I feel utterly liberated having read this and can't recommend it enough. Burkeman's writing is intelligent, eloquent, funny and completely devoid of padding: his references to attitudes towards time through history are fascinating. I'm already working my way through his other books.

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1 person found this helpful

More than a book on time management

I thought this book would be about time management. And it kind of is. But it turned out to be more philosophy and mindfulness.

I always valued time over money, which I thought was a good thing. But having read this book, I now look at valuing time so much as missing the point about how to view time and how we try to turn it into something we master and control.

In today’s fast moving, social media works we can feel we always ought to be using every second of our time seeking improvement or development. We hope that if we get that next job or buy that new town saving gadget, we will finally get to the point where we are in control of our problems.

But we will never get there. There will always be the next thing to develop or the next problem. My takeaway is if we surrender to time and realise we will never have control, we will enjoy our time a lot more and get meaning from the things that really matter.

Embrace the truth about your limited time, whether it be 4000 weeks, more or less. You don’t have control. Its not all going to be “all right”. But that’s alright. Let’s just get on with it.

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1 person found this helpful

Adds a fresh perspective

This book really helped me think about what's important and has given me a fresh perspective for approaching life going forward. Brilliant and very relevant truths especially in the world we live in today.

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Chortled often

Thoroughly enjoyed the author reading me this book. I chortled often .
And clipped as many.
Thanks OB
NV

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Very good!

I’ve read tons of time management and productivity books, each of them saying something similar to one another. This was a good angle and a good reminder to actually do less, and to ensure what you do is more meaningful instead of being productive for productivity’s sake.

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A life changing book

So much to think about in this dissection of modern life, providing a new way of looking at the post vivid world. I'll be reading it again, probably several times, to get the most out of it. Highly recommended.

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Great book with interesting ideas

I would recommend everyone to listen to or read this book.

I've never engaged in time-management strategies and productivity techniques and I wouldn't like reading about such things. Luckily this book is not about that. It's written from the point of view of someone who's tried many productivity techniques and came to a greater realization and it is this greater realization which he thoroughly explains in this book. Therefore, this book is a must-read for everyone.

Great book with many carefully dissected ideas that encouraged the reader to rethink their ideas of time. Oliver Burkeman makes many (disturbing) observations and his line of reasoning can be followed quite easily. In a world of increasingly busier and ambitious people, this book helped me to understand our struggle with time and it gave me some ideas on how to enjoy transience.

His voice and pronounciation is clear and his intonation is on point. Overall, very well-performed.

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Thought provoking and practical

I devoured this book and will be going back to it regularly. It’s an eye opening read with useful and practical tips too. On top of that, the author is a great narrator so it’s a really enjoyable listen. Thoroughly recommend!

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