Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
This Is Water: The Original David Foster Wallace Recording  By  cover art

This Is Water: The Original David Foster Wallace Recording

By: David Foster Wallace
Narrated by: David Foster Wallace
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $3.88

Buy for $3.88

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life

Only once did David Foster Wallace give a public talk on his views on life, during a commencement address given in 2005 at Kenyon College. This is the audio recording of David Foster Wallace delivering that very address. How does one keep from going through their comfortable, prosperous adult life unconsciously? How do we get ourselves out of the foreground of our thoughts and achieve compassion? The speech captures Wallace's electric intellect as well as his grace in attention to others. 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.

Writing with his one-of-a-kind blend of causal humor, exacting intellect, and practical philosophy, David Foster Wallace probes the challenges of daily living and offers advice that renews us with every listen.

©2005 David Foster Wallace (P)2010 Hachette

What listeners say about This Is Water: The Original David Foster Wallace Recording

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,084
  • 4 Stars
    108
  • 3 Stars
    36
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    8
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    885
  • 4 Stars
    86
  • 3 Stars
    27
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    5
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    878
  • 4 Stars
    73
  • 3 Stars
    30
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Decent but pretentious

There are good points in this commencement speech, but it's a bit pretentiously delivered. Still worth a listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A must listen

Down to earth, no nonsense capital T truth. Brilliant mind taken away too soon. It’s available free on the internet but I bought it to continue to play it over and over anytime, anywhere.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great narrative

This is a great commencement speech. Perhaps the greatest ever. I highly recommend this recording. Give it a listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very inspiring

I listen to this any time that I think that the world around me is so terrible and crashing down, or if I just need inspiration or motivation to do important things in my life. I love this speech. David Foster Wallace is missed, but he did wonderful things while he was here.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent advice for everyone!

I love this speech. Such an important thing for people to think about in their daily lives that often goes unmentioned.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The most important thing I have ever heard.

about what life is really made of and why we don't realize our role in this.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Reality check

He does a remarkable job reminding us that reality is something that takes place beyond our own heads. It's particularly striking with his use of clichés and platitudes to make his point striking and memorable.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Impactful

24 minutes very much well spent, A brilliant speech that deserves more attention, especially in our fast-paced modern society.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Essential advice for all humans

I came to this because it’s graduation season, and I heard it mentioned, and realized even at 49. It was some thing that was so important for me to hear. Worth the download and possibly an annual listen to regularly remind yourself of the important capital T truths herein.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brought me to tears

I read this speech years ago and found it compelling and thought provoking and delightful. But not until listening to this, to David Foster Wallace’s own reading of it, did its real power hit me. I listened to this for the first time while running around the track at my gym, and it hit me so hard I literally began crying mid-run. This is powerful and painful and wonderful and heartbreaking and uplifting. It is, as DFW says, “Capital-T Truth.”

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!