Four thousand weeks - Oliver Burkeman - Review

4000 weeks spells out the approximate lifespan of human beings on earth, it leads to an important constraint that needs to be highlighted, it's the finitude of life. Having said that Oliver Burkeman hasn't scripted a bunch of productive hacks and methods to organize our tasks, by implementing the Eisenhower matrix. On the contrary, in a life bound by finitude, will it be considered wise to spend the currency of time filled with preconceived notions, which is exactly the question Oliver provokes us to explore.   

Pre-modern or maybe even prehistoric humans weren’t troubled by such thoughts for whom life presented a relatively insignificant prelude for an eternity in heaven as German sociologist Hartmut Rosa points out. While on the other end of the spectrum we have modern humans who are driving themselves to be pathologically productive, at least a handful of them. Consider the case of Danielle Steel who has authored 190+ books by 2021, delivering at the rate of 7 books a year over the last 2.5 decades. As her urge to write kicks in, 20 hour work days are common while a sleepless stint of continuous writing also occurs at a certain frequency. Narayana Murthy will be elated at Danielle Steel’s exceptional level of productivity. Ofcourse, there is a far cry between work driven by passion versus obligation.  

While Danielle’s case appears to be an aberration from normal, a modern human in a digital era has hedonist inclinations and is least likely to be industrious for an extended period of time. Archetypal case is being lured away from work towards social media and endless scroll of instagram reels with the core intention of escaping the reality of present experience, pre-modern man was indeed blessed to be left alone. 

The crux of the point nailed by Oliver is that humans are obsessed with the future value of time presuming that the real meaning of life lies ahead culminating in an era of happiness and free of all problems. Alas, you get to face the unpalatable reality that life isn’t leading us towards some moment of truth.   

The cover picture picked by Oliver opens up a hint on the direction he is pushing us towards. Continuous stretches of mountains in the backdrop, coniferous trees occupy a proportional space in front of it with a wide expanse of calm blue waters that draws closer to an empty wooden bench. Indicating the readers and bystanders that life is meant to be experienced by what’s present in the moment and absorb them like a sponge, neither falling into the past nor drifting into an imaginary future. 

Oliver delivers a philosophical content expressed in plain and simple form.