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

When you open it, you’ll be surprised how little text is on each page. But it works. It’s a commencement speech from a US college, and the fragments are so easy to read - it lets the message hit home much more effectively. A pity we lost this brilliant man.

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.

Never having previously encountered any of this author's books, I bought this as a Christmas present for my daughter and read it myself a couple of days ago. It's a very short, precise piece of advice on living compassionately, the concomitant difficulties in feeling empathy ("Think about it: There is no experience you’ve had that you were not at the absolute center of”), and a briskly-constructed argument about "deciding to worship [...] some sort of god or spiritual-type being [because] pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive". Although it only takes about half-an-hour to read, there's plenty to ponder here. Recommended.

Poignant and thought provoking, really enjoyed this short speech. Reading this reminded me that despite so enjoying infinite jest , I never followed up on reading his other essays and works - something this speech has ensured that I’ll be addressing immediately

After watching the “This is water” speech online by David Foster Wallace I had to buy the book. The speech is one that stays with me and encourages me to think differently. I can honestly say that this speech changed my life and the way that I choose to think. Love love love it.

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.

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.

I bought this as a graduation gift but was far too embarrassed to give it to the well read and highly intelligent English Literature graduate! It's not really what I'd call a book. It's a fairly short and very American speech printed with just one sentence per page and although claims to be "thoughts ... about living a compassionate life" is highly critical of atheists, describing them as repulsive, arrogant and obnoxious. So glad I took the 5 minutes needed to read it before giving it. I suppose it will appeal to some people so it went in the charity bag and I went out and bought a proper book.

Se lee en 15 minutos pero te deja pensando durante días y aprendes que la forma de pensar la eliges tú.

Read it. It is really inspirational, it has very much in common with what I read about Sikhism. Read it.

I really enjoyed this book. I'll keep it on the shelf forever.

Simple, powerful and life-changing. What a compassionate approach, and what a great civilisation we would be if we were successful at David's suggestion.

I have read quite a few commencement speeches by authors. Authors who celebrate creativity (Rowling), some who talk about making art great again or creating good art (Gaiman) and some others who speak of the future and what it has in store (Saunders). And then there is someone like Foster Wallace who gives it to you the way it is – the real world, with no sugar-coating whatsoever. I knew that would be the case once I received this backlist title from the good folks at Hachette India. David Foster Wallace has left behind a legacy. A cannon of work that I at least read in bits and pieces because sometimes what he says is too much to bear. This is Water is a speech given by Foster Wallace to the graduating class at Kenyon College in 2005. He starts with a little parable – the one that seems like one, and quickly goes on to break that mode of starting a commencement speech. David’s speech is a trove of wisdom and compassion, thought provoking, and what it means to live in the 21st century. I think the thing about such books that there is no single universal message. There is something that relates with everyone. The message of giving up on the rat-race (is that even possible?), the one that speaks about awareness, self-consciousness before saying or doing what we say or do (this one hit home real hard), or just the one to understand what it means to give and sometimes sacrifice a little bit, if you have to. David Foster Wallace doesn’t speak of glory in the most basic terms. There is glory in empathy. There is glory in understanding. There is glory in small efforts as he rightly puts it. This is Water is the kind of book that is needed at every stage of life. The speech will resonate throughout. I will leave you with this thought that is my favourite from this read: “The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day.”