If nothing else, the current time crisis is connected with the absolutization of the vita activa. It leads to a work imperative which reduces people to beasts of burden (animal laborans). Everyday hyperactivity depletes people's lives of all ability to linger and be contemplative. This renders a fulfilling experience of time impossible. Revitalization of the vita contemplativa and relearning of the art of lingering are essential to overcoming the current time crisis.'Scent of Time' makes explicit the philosophico-temporal foundations of Han's critique of neoliberalism and of digital culture, and is indispensible for an understanding of his later books 'society of tiredness' and 'society of transparency'.