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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
This book is not as negative as the title may lead one to infer. Quite the opposite, it takes a serious look at alternative paths to happiness that go against the typical self-help mantras of "smile all the time" or "forget impossible." Taking a critical look at life can help to put things on perspective, I recommend this book for everyone!
This book did more for my thinking than any saccharine-laden self-help book ever has. I am particularly fond of the chapter on goals. Tremendous experience reading this.
2017: I guess this is the nonfiction book I reread. I didn’t know I had one of those. The moment is already over. Ha.
2017: I guess this is the nonfiction book I reread. I didn’t know I had one of those. The moment is already over. Ha.
informative
Aside from a few overly-lengthy illustrative anecdotes, this is a solid summary of a lot of the reading I’ve done over the past few years in pursuit of questioning “a life well lived”. I highly recommend also reading the source materials Burkeman cites as well as actively incorporating some of the suggested activities, i.e. meditation, and mental perspective shifts this book covers. There are no bullet pointed tips or quick fixes to be found here, but I’ve found ‘the negative path’ to be helpful by leading to more clarity as it’s followed over time.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
The truth that many people never understand is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt (Thomas Merton)
Yes, this book is for those who cannot stand positive thinking. No, this book is not telling you to make sarcastic joke about positive-thinking people because "nothing good will happen, ever, you lowly peasants."
Through explanation ranging from Stoicism, Buddhist philosophy, to other more recent approaches, Oliver Burkeman convincingly pointed out that so-called "positive thinking" could be contra-productive. That there are other definition of happiness, something that is not related to goal achievement and avoidance of failure. That uncertainties is a part of life, you cannot control everything, and that is okay, too. I think this passage summarize his message perfectly :
Optimism is wonderful; goals can sometimes be useful; even positive thinking and positive visualization have their benefits. The problem is that we have developed the habit of chronically overvaluing positivity and of the skills of "doing", in how we think about happiness, and that we chronically undervalue negativity, and the "not-doing" skills, such as resting in uncertainty or getting friendly towards failure.
After years spent trying to exert more control of my future, sometimes forgetting to live in the present, I could relate to many of Burkeman's stories. I am glad I read this, at such a right time in my life.
I came to this book via [b:Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals|54785515|Four Thousand Weeks Time Management for Mortals|Oliver Burkeman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1627425434l/54785515._SY75_.jpg|85465206], so I was already familiar with the author's pessimistic optimism, familiarity with death and ability to grapple with the ultimate meaningless of life. I still enjoyed the book, however, because he's a) a great and witty writer and b) much of the content in terms of philosophy on which 4000 weeks relies is found here- so we get an introduction to Stoicism, Buddhism and Swedish death cleaning. Now, Burkeman is a clever chap and so his thesis that negativity is not necessarily negative is quite subtle, he's not suggesting you go full-on nihilist (well, you can if you want), but rather he positions himself as being able to see through the not-so-subtle overly optimistic self-help genres of goals, targets and being annoyingly upbeat. He is not the only author to question this- I'm thinking of Dr Susan David calling out 'toxic positivity' and of course, the Stoics got in there first with their idea you should always start with the worst-case scenario and try to reframe your thinking, given your lack of control over external factors. I am also a big fan of Swedish death cleaning, but as I struggle with Ordinary Life cleaning, I'm not sure how far I am going to advance on this in practice.
Overall, if I had to read one Oliver Burkeman book, I'd choose 4000 weeks because it's such a simple, potentially life-changing concept, but my advice is to spoil yourself and read two.
Overall, if I had to read one Oliver Burkeman book, I'd choose 4000 weeks because it's such a simple, potentially life-changing concept, but my advice is to spoil yourself and read two.
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
I encountered this book exactly when I needed it, during a period of my life when I was floundering with the concept of happiness, and success, and life purpose. It introduced me to Stoicism, Eckhart Tolle, Alan Watts, Buddhist theories of self, and the philosophy of Memento Mori. After reading this book, I feel more at peace with the constantly morphing Ship of Theseus that I refer to as "myself." I give myself and other people more compassion and grace. I feel more at home in this ephemeral period of time between my birth and my death, even against the scale of the universe and forever.