If This Isn't Nice, What Is?

If This Isn't Nice, What Is? is a posthumous compilation of commencement addresses delivered by Kurt Vonnegut between 1978 and 2004. Edited by Dan Wakefield, a long-time friend and literary executor, the collection was assembled to preserve Vonnegut’s signature blend of humanist philosophy, skepticism, and dry wit. It emerged as a testament to his role as a secular sage, capturing the advice he offered to graduating students on themes of kindness, community, and the absurdity of the human condition.

The 2014 edition published by April is a localized iteration of this thematic collection. The design reflects the mid-2010s trend of packaging Vonnegut’s essays in accessible, trade-paperback formats intended for a new generation of readers. While the prose remains quintessential Vonnegut—characterized by his deceptively simple sentences and earnest moral appeals—the presentation was intended to distill his complex worldview into bite-sized, digestible chapters suitable for casual reading and gifting.