Consider the Lobster and Other Essays

Here is one of the great Wallace innovations: the revelatory power of freakishly thorough noticing, of corralling and controlling detail.

“Damn. I’ll post you this collection of essays, Inside the Whale.” “Thanks.” I fluked an 8, a 9, a 10, and acted like it was nothing special.

And who could not love that special and leonine roar of a public toilet?