This Is Water

David Foster Wallace · first published 2009 · ISBN 9780316068222

Compiled from the 2005 commencement address Wallace delivered to Kenyon College's graduating class, this slim volume explores the fundamental act of choosing what to think about in everyday life. Wallace argues that true education teaches us not what to think but how to think, and he examines the often-painful work of directing our own attention toward compassion rather than automatic self-interest.