The Chairs Are Where the People Go: How to Live, Work, and Play in the…

by Misha Glouberman

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Conversations
81	7	213,953	(3.14)	None

Add to Your books

Add to wishlist

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

bealv, MikeLindgren51, Aaron_Keeler, aclason, poutmouthomaha, woolgathering, copystar, libraryhead, cmhonart

numbers

show all

▾Tags

* (1) BN (1) book group (1) Canada (1) city (1) culture (1) essay (1) essays (11) femme (1) from library (1) humor (1) improv (1) improvisation (1) Kindle (2) music (1) NF (1) non-fiction (16) philosophy (5) pop culture (1) problem solving (1) rants (1) read (3) read in 2011 (2) relationships (1) self-help (4) sold (1) to-read (10) Toronto (4) unread (1) wisdom (1)

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

refresh

▾Member recommendations

None.

▾Lists

None

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

▾Member reviews

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 7 (next | show all)

Annoyingly twee mini-essays from Canadian hipster and soi-disant social theorist Glouberman, as transcribed by n 1 writer Sheila Heti. It takes a while with this odd little book to penetrate its wide-eyed, slapdash nonstyle and to understand just how vacuous and self-absorbed its riffs on contemporary urban culture really are. Kind of like what you'd get if you cross-bred a stoner Malcolm Gladwell with Zooey Deschanel or Miranda July and raised them in Williamsburg. The horror. (

)

MikeLindgren51 | Aug 7, 2018 |

Don't pretend there is no Leader, essay # 6, is an excellent illumination of this common problem in many groups. (

)

Janientrelac | Dec 7, 2014 |

The Chairs Are Where the People Go by Misha Glouberman is a collection of performance art ramblings as transcribed by Sheila Heti.

This is one of those books that I read completely out of context. I chose it because I liked (and still do) the title and the cover art. The problem I had was in not knowing how to approach these short essays.

Some of the essays seemed to be rather scholarly looks at different aspects of culture and psychology with a semiotics bent. Others though came off as self absorbed ramblings.

In the end I decided to move onto other books in my to be read pile. While there were certainly essays I enjoyed (the titular one, the on on bar fights, and the one on how to stop smoking), there wasn't enough to keep me reading. (

)

pussreboots | Mar 12, 2014 |

like a blog as other reviewers suggested. not really very interesting. why did i finish it??? how did it get published????? (

)

mahallett | Dec 27, 2012 |

An endearingly unassuming collection of short essays from a smart and sensible mind. (

)

jorgearanda | Feb 23, 2012 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 7 (next | show all)

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

▾Other authors

» Add other authors

▾Work-to-work relationships

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Series (with order)

Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Quotations

Last words

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Publisher series

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary

▾Book descriptions

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0865479453, Paperback)

Should neighborhoods change? Is wearing a suit a good way to quit smoking? Why do people think that if you do one thing, you’re against something else? Is monogamy a trick? Why isn’t making the city more fun for you and your friends a super-noble political goal? Why does a computer last only three years? How often should you see your parents? How should we behave at parties? Is marriage getting easier? What can spam tell us about the world?

Misha Glouberman’s friend and collaborator, Sheila Heti, wanted her next book to be a compilation of everything Misha knew. Together, they made a list of subjects. As Misha talked, Sheila typed. He talked about games, relationships, cities, negotiation, improvisation, Casablanca, conferences, and making friends. His subjects ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. But sometimes what had seemed trivial began to seem important—and what had seemed important began to seem less so.

The Chairs Are Where the People Go is refreshing, appealing, and kind of profound. It’s a self-help book for people who don’t feel they need help, and a how-to book that urges you to do things you don’t really need to do.

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:14:23 -0400)

▾Library descriptions

"How should neighborhoods change? Is wearing a suit a good way to quit smoking? Why do people think that if you do one thing, you're against something else? Is monogamy a trick? Why isn't making the city more fun for you and your friends a super-noble political goal? Why does a computer last only three years? How often should you see your parents? How should we behave at parties? Is marriage getting easier? What can spam tell us about the world? Misha Glouberman's friend and collaborator, Sheila Heti, wanted her next book to be a compilation of everything Misha knew. Together, they made a list of subjects. As Misha talked, Sheila typed.... The Chairs are Where the People Go is refreshing, appealing, and kind of profound. It's a self-help book for people who don't feel they need help, and a how-to book that urges you to do things you don't really need to do."--P. [4] of cover.… (more)