THIS IS WATER Hardcover – 14 April 2009

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.”

It's the brief and only graduation speech given by David Foster Wallace. This is my first DFW. I have Infinite Jest in my to-read list for long period of days such that the number of pages are relatively shorter. And this one book is way more shorter and briefer and precise about the importance and the emphasis on how to think which really means exercising some control over how and what to think. If you have teenage sibling or recently graduated nephew, this book can enlighten them. Nothing about religion, morality and other aesthetic virtues but eviternal wisdom of self awareness. The Graduation Speech is available on YouTube as well, I believe. Highly recommended for life.

A very short read. But immensely deep.

Small and neat book. Liked the focus on how to think, n how to cope with the rat race of the world

Interesting read with a simple message. Review your "default" settings and Mae a co scoops choice of what you want it to be !

Very dirty. Used book

5 stars for the book. -2 stars for overpricing. The biggest joke (or fallacy) about people who pretend to help you or understand you is that they often start with I. I can understand. I know. I am sorry. In the name of God, the world is not about you. You are not the centre of the universe. So, try for once, to be free from the shackles of the self and realize that the world out there is more than your I. Not in a similar manner, but David Foster Wallace, a genius author, delivers the same message in this commencement speech, now presented as a book. The true and the important freedom is when you are aware, attentive, and disciplined to truly care about others and make sacrifices for them. This simple message personally hit me hard because obviously this world and the society is not individualistic but collective, and a collective conscience, therefore, is the key to greater happiness and sense of freedom.Please read this. It shouldn't take more than 20 minutes of your time. To save your hard earned money, you can listen to the speech on Youtube, available for free.