First Light is deeply honored to welcome Oliver Burkeman to Austin to celebrate the paperback release of his national bestseller, MEDITATION FOR MORTALS.

This event will take place at the Commodore Perry Estate’s Chapel at 4100 Red River Street. This event is ticketed, and tickets include a copy of MEDITATIONS FOR MORTALS for Burkeman to sign as well as a seat at the event.

There is street parking near the venue and a large parking lot at the Hancock Shopping Center on the other side of Red River Street.

About the book

Addressing the fundamental questions about how to live, MEDITATIONS FOR MORTALS offers a powerful new way to take action on what counts: a guiding philosophy of life Oliver Burkeman calls “imperfectionism.” It helps us tackle challenges as they crop up in our daily lives: our finite time, the lure of distraction, the impossibility of doing anything perfectly, the feeling that the world is spinning out of control.

How can we embrace our nonnegotiable limitations? Or make good decisions when there’s always too much to do? How do we shed the illusion that life will really begin as soon as we can “get on top of everything”? Reflecting on quotations drawn from philosophy, religion, literature, psychology, and self-help, Burkeman explores a combination of practical tools and daily shifts in perspective. The result is a life-enhancing and surprising challenge to much familiar advice—and a profound yet entertaining crash course in living more fully.

To be either read as a four-week “retreat of the mind” or devoured in one or two sittings, MEDITATIONS FOR MORTALS will be a source of solace and inspiration, and an aid to a saner, freer, and more enchantment-filled life. In anxiety-inducing times, it is rich in truths we have never needed more.

About the author

Oliver Burkeman worked for many years at The Guardian, where he wrote a popular weekly column on psychology, “This Column Will Change Your Life.” His books include the New York Times bestseller Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals and The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking.