This is water book. Book Summary: This is Water by David Foster Wallace 2022-11-16
This is water book Rating:
9,3/10
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"This is Water" is a book written by David Foster Wallace in 2005. It is based on a commencement speech he gave at Kenyon College in 2005, in which he reflects on the importance of leading a meaningful life and finding purpose in one's everyday existence.
In the book, Wallace discusses the concept of "default settings", or the automatic and unconscious ways in which we perceive and interact with the world around us. He argues that, as human beings, we have a tendency to get caught up in our own thoughts and emotions, and to view the world through a narrow, self-centered lens. This can lead us to become unhappy, anxious, and disconnected from the world around us.
To counter this tendency, Wallace suggests that we practice "the kind of mental discipline that is required to realize that what is going on inside of us is not necessarily the truth of the world." He encourages readers to take a step back from their default settings and to actively seek out alternative perspectives, in order to gain a deeper understanding of the world and our place in it.
One of the key themes of "This is Water" is the importance of cultivating empathy and compassion for others. Wallace argues that, by making an effort to understand and connect with others, we can transcend our own ego and find a sense of meaning and purpose in life. This, in turn, can help us to lead more fulfilling and rewarding lives.
In conclusion, "This is Water" is a thought-provoking and insightful book that encourages readers to think deeply about the way they perceive and interact with the world. Through its focus on empathy and mental discipline, it offers a powerful message about the importance of leading a meaningful and fulfilling life.
This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life by David Foster Wallace, Hardcover
After his death, it became a treasured piece of writing reprinted in The Wall Street Journal and the London Times, commented on endlessly in blogs, and emailed from friend to friend. Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life. And the so-called real world will not discourage you from operating on your default settings, because the so-called real world of men and money and power hums merrily along in a pool of fear and anger and frustration and craving and worship of self. Academic education has taught me to intellectualise my self-centredness, to think of it as a skill that was cultivated through conscious effort, while the truth is that self-centredness is one of the most natural human dispositions. Anyway—one star for the cash-in and four stars for the speech.
I would say probably most high school students would be able to process the content of this speech. On one level, we all know this stuff already. Just like Wallace, the people I knew expressed depression in other ways than direct communication. As I helped her grieve her brother, many things became apparent that I did not know before. Well, this is a commencement address by David Foster Wallace to the graduates of Kenyon College in 2005. He makes us consider what's beneath us and around us—like water. For that 80s ponytail look! As I came here to post my review of this book, I stumbled onto reviews posted by others.
This is Water by David Foster Wallace (Full Transcript and Audio)
. For a text that I ended up highlighting half of, I would like to take this particular insight with me, forever. So: what age would be appropriate? Having each sentence broken up page per page adds some aphoristic profundity, though it took a few minutes to get used to as the quicker flow of reading it in paragraph form online was what I was extremely accustomed to and is more aligned with Wallace's rather fast talking style. Both are widely read by those not familiar with that systematic thought. To be just a little less arrogant. For some reason I sort of hope it is. He makes us consider what's beneath us and around us--like water.
This is Water by David Foster Wallace Book Analysis
I sometimes worry that I'm so far beyond the line that I'll forget there ever was one. At the time his writing came out so infrequently, that I always wanted to have things of his to read at some point in the future, when I would really want something new of his. The point here is that I think this is one part of what teaching me how to think is really supposed to mean. The book makes two references to suicide, one can read into them what they want. So the checkout line is incredibly long, which is stupid and infuriating.
Book Summary: This is Water by David Foster Wallace
We see the whole world through this lens. Ah well, the thoughts weaved into this beautiful message says it all. The chance to know yourself, this is your journey, little fish. You can find it easily on the Internet and it takes 20-30 minutes to read. On the way to the grocery store there is traffic, because of course everyone else had to buy groceries as well. The way in which we can rid ourself of our self-centeredness, is, in David's opinion through a myriad of little unsexy doings throughout our everyday life. 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.
This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life by David Foster Wallace
If I choose to think this way in a store and on the freeway, fine. Publication date April 14, 2009 Mediatype Pages 137 This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life is an essay by The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2006 and in 2009 its format was stretched by Little, Brown and Company publication to fill 138 pages for a book publication. I am not the wise old fish. His last novel, The Pale King, was published in 2011. I thought he was well beyond that level of, um, maladjustment.
This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about ...
I sometimes worry that our language structures are evolving to support more self-centredness. And look at how repulsive most of them are, and how stupid and cow-like and dead-eyed and nonhuman they seem in the checkout line, or at how annoying and rude it is that people are talking loudly on cell phones in the middle of the line. Bolger and Scott Korb have said that Wallace used the speech to outline his own spiritual philosophy and that these were the methods with which Wallace attempted to acquire a modicum of peace when wrestling with anxiety and depression. Or maybe this very lady is the low-wage clerk at the motor vehicle department, who just yesterday helped your spouse resolve a horrific, infuriating, red-tape problem through some small act of bureaucratic kindness. Also in my litera What the hell is this you may ask.
. And while this is an address to graduates, it seems to me that he speaks, in a way, to try to convince himself too. This is water: some thoughts, delivered on a significant occasion about living a compassionate life. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about much in the great outside world of wanting and achieving…. Ο Wallace δεν λέει κάτι πρωτότυπο-αλλά οι γνωστές αυτές αλήθειες ξεχνιούνται εύκολα,και μας τις θυμίζει με όμορφο τρόπο. It has deep implications about the harsh tediums of adult life.
