What to Read Next: Meditations for Mortals

Issue #350, featuring Oliver Burkeman and David Orr

Woman Holding a Balance by Johannes Vermeer, c. 1664

Happy Friday, readers!

Thanks so much for the outpouring of support you’ve all shown in the last week. It’s really meant a lot to see what an incredible community Read More Books has become.

Today, I’m back with the book reviews. The books featured below were rather meditative experiences for me in the last few weeks and I’m happy to share them with ya’ll.

First, though, I’m sharing some news you don’t want to miss. Let’s get right to it.

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Introducing a New Era for The Big Read

Since 2021 I’ve been running a separate online book club called The Big Read. So far, we’ve been doing big, classic books that take 2-3 months to read through.

New things are in store, though. Starting in November paying members will have three options to choose from each month—you can pick just one or all three—and I’m going to start including contemporary titles. Click here to learn a bit more.

For just $5/month, you get:

• A reading schedule + weekly recaps

• Robust weekly discussions with other members

• A bit of motivation and accountability to read more books

• Exclusive interviews with authors (when applicable; I won’t be interviewing Charles Dickens)

Hope you’ll join us!

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Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

Few books have been as personally impactful in the last handful of years as Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks. It forced me to take a hard look at what “productivity” means and what we’re all doing with our finite time here.

So when I saw that Oliver had a new book landing this month, I knew I had to get my hands on it. I like to say that Burkeman’s work is seemingly about time management and productivity, but it’s actually about meaning and fulfillment.

Meditations for Mortals takes many of those same ideas from Four Thousand Weeks and packages them into 28 short, potent chapters intended to be read over four weeks.

What’s especially refreshing is that it’s not just a rehashing of his previous book. Oliver offers plenty of fresh insights and stories, all in his trademark approach that forces you to contemplate big questions while providing loads of compassion and empathy along the way.

I loved Meditations for Mortals so much that I’m featuring it as a November selection for The Big Read. It’s rather appropriate for the month, given the high stress of the U.S. presidential election as well as the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of the month.

Regardless of if you join us at The Big Read, it’s a book well worth reading.

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The Road Not Taken by David Orr

As with millions of other households, I grew up with a copy of Scott Peck’s self-help classic The Road Less Traveled on our bookshelves. Partially because of that book, Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” is “on a word-for-word basis . . . the most popular piece of literature ever written by an American.”

Most readers of that poem see it as an ode to courageous individualism, especially in the face of great odds. As David Orr masterfully shows in this short book, however, that analysis is far too one-dimensional:

“I took the one less traveled by” is often assumed to mean “I took the more difficult road,” but this isn’t necessarily true in either a literal or metaphorical sense.

Robert Frost was a complex artist who never intended to write a surface-level motivational poem. Each line has layers of earnest introspection, as well as playfulness and even sarcasm. In truth, “The Road Not Taken” offers deeper meditations on the whole subject of choice and decision-making than what we normally encounter.

Orr’s book is broken into four short and very readable sections:

• A bio of Robert Frost

• A look at how Frost composed his most famous poem

• A line-by-line analysis of “The Road Not Taken”

• What the poem says about decision-making and American individualism

Ultimately, Orr argues, what matters most is the act of choosing—not necessarily the exact road you’re on.

I already loved “The Road Not Taken,” but Orr’s explanation of it gave me a deeper, fuller, and more appreciative understanding of its wisdom and beauty. I’m not much of a poetry person, to be honest, but I really enjoyed The Road Not Taken.

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Thanks so much for reading. I deeply appreciate your time and inbox space.

-Jeremy

P.S. I’m now offering sponsored book reviews for Read More Books. Inquire at jeremy.anderberg@gmail.com.

P.S.S. I’m also doing some work as a freelance writer, editor, and content strategist. If you have any needs in those areas, check out www.thecaspercreative.com.