Oliver Burkeman’s art of the non-retreat
Oliver Burkeman’s art of the non-retreat  
Podcast: The Clearing with Katherine May
Published On: Sat Dec 13 2025
Description: Kicking off the episode with an existential crisis, the inimitable Oliver Burkeman joins Katherine to explore his own, unique take on rest and retreat. A familiar name to many in both the US and the UK, Oliver’s book Four Thousand Weeks has put him at the heart of the global conversation around building a meaningful life. As you might expect, Oliver turns the concept of the podcast on its head whilst taking Katherine on a wild ride through topics from whether we should use AI as a creative tool to favourite notebooks to whether TS Eliot was on the path to spiritual enlightenment. A wonderful, brain-stretching conversation that reaches way beyond the confines of an imagined cabin in the woods to explore wider ideas around what it really means to get away from it all and if we should even try.Oliver’s LinksOliver's website to buy his books and sign up to his newsletterThings mentioned in the programmeKendra Allenby’s New Yorker beach cartoon NYC stationery store Goods for the StudyShinzen Young on T.S. Eliot Visit The Clearing website www.theclearingpod.com for a full transcript and to discover how to enjoy the episodes ad freeBuy Katherine’s books: Enchantment | Wintering | The Electricity of Every Living Thing: UK / USFollow Katherine on InstagramVisit Katherine’s WebsiteProduction CreditsGuest Booker and Admin Support - Meghan HutchinsSubstack Manager - Rebecca ArmstrongProducer - Alice LloydMusic - The Leaf Library @theleaflibrary Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.