This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life Hardcover – 1 April 2009

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

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.

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.

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.