This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life

And I hate using those words but they are the only ones that come to mind. I wish I could have been there to hear the speech live, to know him when he was alive… but reading this… the impact will continue on.

A moving 22-minute speech when delivered by David, the audio track readily available on your favorite online video channel.A well-documented and easily Google-able text, entire speech, on the internet.And now, for those that require hardcover or digital books to slow down their reading, to create "atmosphere" in order to better appreciate the words of Mr. Wallace, there is this book, with one or two lines per page, 140+ pages, hardbound, for your pleasure. Like reading a fortune cookie, one might read a page a day to savor the zeal of the graduation speech. Conversely, one could sit and read the entire book in less than the time it took David to say it, aloud, at Kenyon College. The extremes are allowed by this book.I pity those that say they enjoy the speech broken into a few words per page to allow them to "slow down" and "appreciate the words". They must be ones to take ten dollars each day out of an ATM machine to control their spending. Perhaps these same people eat with a miniature fork to better enjoy food.For the rest of us, who have self-control, the question is not of expense (this book is, unquestionably, the most expensive method for taking in this speech--the others are free); not of efficiency (the work being so short, we all have the time); not of pretty, bound baubles with eventually yellowing pages, broken-glue bindings and housing silverfish while aging on a sagging bookshelf (the bibliomaniacs among us will cringe); but of how best to take in the message. How best to connect with the author's intent.Do newsroom soundbites reflect the context of a Presidential speech? Would Twitter's 140-character tweets do justice to the Gettysburg Address? Sadly, the answer is that the true context of words is held in the sentences in which they are homed; those sentences next dwell in paragraphs; paragraphs build themes.And the overall message is lost in shattering a flowing speech into publisher-determined, bite-sized "nibbles", like smashed M&Ms that will leave one licking their fingers to get the last crumbs of chocolate from the bottom of the candy dish.David Wallace, whether in Jest, King, Broom, or any of his essays and shorts, is best kept whole--the way he demanded it. The enforcer, Mr. Wallace was, of leaving things as he intended them. Only with a fight would he cut pages, re-work styles, or even change punctuation; the fragmentation of a monumental speech would be disallowed by the author. This is evident in any profile of Mr. Wallace, and in particular the DT Max biography (which is money much better spent if one wishes to "know" this author)  Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace To hear David's words, from his mouth, with his intonation and inflections, is priceless. Fortunately, that speech is archived elsewhere, as ubiquitous as butterflies in the springtime. And, best of all, it's free.

I honestly do not even know where to begin in describing this book. Fosters concise insights into the human condition are a revelation. I've purchased this book several times as a gift for friends, family, and co-workers because of my belief in the usefulness of this book. That's a funny way to describe a book isn't it? Useful. Certainly books can expand the mind and offer new ways of thinking about things, but often the enlightenment they offer is not practical. Plato's Republic is bound to give you plenty to think about and illuminate your understanding the human condition, but how can you truly put those lessons to use in the modern era? This is Water is a guide to life. Foster offers scenarios we are all familiar with and our reactions to them. He then proposes an alternate approach to these mundane activities that can relieve the stress and tension they so often create. My two takeaways from this book would be mindfulness and humility. Mindfulness in understanding that you are not alone in how you feel and that unknown circumstances you could sympathize with may be at factor in your interaction with others. Humility in that you do not know everything and that you are not the center of the universe. The ideas in This is Water are bound to be so obvious that you might dismiss it altogether, but that's the point. Foster explains how often it's the things right in front of us that we take for granted and the solution is putting that understanding in the forefront of our thoughts more often. William S. Burroughs famously said "The job of the artist is to show you what you already know." And in my opinion Foster satisfies that function.

A short read of a big idea / reminder of what we should be looking at in ourselves every day, every moment. Meditate on this!

I lovely short boo..each page reads almost like a Japanese koan, which was why, I think, it is written this way. One sentence to a page.. The texture of the boo also makes it a nice formal read. One can stop and reflect upon each Wise sentence as one carefully absorbs the rich meaning behind what is said and how the author chooses to say it. The book presentation is part of what the author intended to enhance meaning and it works! The audio book does not let in these pauses and the meaning and power of the words suffer from it. This book is NOT for listening, but is a short enough thing to have, to touch and to think upon as one goes through it... It clearly explains deep concepts about how adults should approach complex issues which require more than knee-jerk thoughts in response to what is written. The texture of this little book, it pages, its small size, all belie the raw power of the thoughts expressed so gently and with compassion for the reader and the author, both. DEEP nut simple. Lie zen for the American mind.

It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over: 'This is water.

I bought this book for my husbands birthday after hearing on a podcast that Hugh Jackman buys it for people because it’s a quick, easy, profound read. My husband loves it and I feel very clever.

What a waste of paper and space this book is. Not for what is written in it - DFW is great as always, but this book just has one sentence written on each page. So much blank space, so much wasted paper. Save yourself some money and just download the video or text of this speech. This should be included in another book of his essays, not sold as its own book. There is barely enough here to fill a chapter, let alone a book.

I'm in the process of reading everything the man wrote in his tragically curtailed life. This essay is thought provoking and, as ever, brilliantly written and, to use one of many words Ihabe learned from the man himself, slightly pleonastic.Go on, look it up.

You will be able to read this little book in an hour or two, but such is its power, its message will hang around in your mind for weeks, months or maybe longer. Beautiful and haunting. A wise author who has left a gem of a book for the curious reader to dip into, again and again.

Great and profound prose on living a good life in the 21st Century really enjoyed it very much thank yo7

Best commencement speech ever. Short, simple yet the most profound advice one could give. Very much enjoyed this book. It's short too so doesn't take much time. I definitely recommend it.

Great little book which can be easily lifted for another read time and again.