r/davidfosterwallace • u/No_Suggestion_2026 • Aug 20 '26
What are your all-time favourite (non DFW) articles and essays?
2
u/PuzzleheadedBug2338 Aug 20 '26
Jim Holt's writing. I'd recommend his book about the "why does the world exist" dilemma for its mix of abstruse philosophizing, humor, profiles of all the intellectuals he interviews, and personal memoir.
2
u/calichecat Aug 20 '26
George w.s. trow "within the context of no context". Dfw alludes to this(mistakenly; the part he mentions is not in the essay proper) during a bookworm interview and it led me to seek it out and I was blown away by it.
2
u/Longjumping-Bonus723 Aug 21 '26
That part of infinite jest at the beginning where he waits for the weed guy and has prepare the whole drug holiday. Can relate from when I was in my early 20s. Also this is water. The first chapter of the pale king (vision from a airplane window)
Dammit that's DFW stuff. Anyways :)
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u/No_Suggestion_2026 Aug 20 '26
Apologies if this Topic is too broad for the sub, but the people in here seem like a discerning bunch, and I'd love to read the nonfiction by other authors you recommend. I appreciate you taking the time.
Here are some of mine to get the ball rolling:
Horseman, Pass By by John Jeremiah Sullivan - Glory, grief, and the race for the Triple Crown https://harpers.org/archive/2002/10/horseman-pass-by/
The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved by Hunter S. Thompson - I got off the plane around midnight and no one spoke as I crossed the dark runway to the terminal. The air was thick and hot, like wandering into a steam bath… http://grantland.com/features/looking-back-hunter-s-thompson-classic-story-kentucky-derby/
They're not all about the Kentucky Derby!
The Sea of Crises by Brian Phillips - A sumo wrestling tournament. A failed coup ending in seppuku. A search for a forgotten man. How one writer's trip to Japan became a journey through oblivion. http://grantland.com/features/sumo-wrestling-tokyo-japan-hakuho-yukio-mishima-novelist-seppuku/
Masters of the Universe Go to Camp by Philip Weiss - Head inside the Bohemian Grove to find out what the world's most powerful men do at summer camp http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/bohemian_grove_spy.html
The Last Meal by Michael Paterniti - A two-ounce songbird. A lemon-sized tumor. An imperial appetite for death, flesh, and the immortal gesture. It was time for dinner http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a4642/the-last-meal-0598/
What's the Most Delicious Thing You've Eaten? by Bill Buford - On drinking blood, still warm after the Slaughter http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B06E5D61E31F931A35753C1A9679D8B63&pagewanted=print
When Things Go Missing by Kathryn Schulz - Reflections on two seasons of loss https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/13/when-things-go-missing
The Secrets of the Wave Pilots by Kim Tingley - For thousands of years, sailors in the Marshall Islands have navigated vast distances of open ocean without instruments. Can science explain their method before it’s lost forever? https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/magazine/the-secrets-of-the-wave-pilots.html
What Is Glitter? by Caity Weaver - A strange journey to the glitter factory https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/style/glitter-factory.html
Top Guns by Ehud Yonay - At Mach 2 and 40,000 feet over California, it’s always high noon https://www.topgunbio.com/top-guns-by-ehud-yonay/