I found this deeply entertaining and very funny, and yet despite seeing how this paid off for Wallace I have no desire to try it for myself. Thing is, I realise it might actually benefit me in some ways. I say no a lot. That certainly has its effect. Frankly, though, the thought of being forced (for example) to socialise at every random invitation has absolutely no appeal. I'm exhausted thinking about it... I suspect that Wallace is less of an introvert than I am. But I think this book's strength is not that it's saying "You must go out and say Yes at every level, without discrimination", because even the author doesn't do that. It's more that you can get into a rut, and that being both open-minded and open to new experiences can be enriching. And that I've no argument with. To put it on a book level - because this is a book site, and most people here are obsessed with reading - it's what I've been trying to do more of lately. I tend to read speculative fiction - fantasy and sci-fi and horror, and I read a lot of it. A LOT. But if you only read in very limited genres, you miss a great deal of other interesting things. So, trawling through the Goodreads list function as I so often do for entertainment (hey, it's better than tv) I find myself clicking on random lists and tucking them away in my favourites folder... and then reading through them, no matter how bizarre they are. Because there's some fascinating and wonderful books out there, and some deeply terrible ones as well, granted, but I find myself making connections between them and thinking new things and that's immensely valuable if you like thinking in general, which I do.

So basically, this book is an argument for treating life like a Goodreads book list, and it's something worth doing. Some of the time, at least. I'm still not going to any fucking parties, though.