I really liked "infamous Boston AA cake analogy" which compares AA's methods to baking a cake on page 467. I liked the tone of determined frustration in Gately's thought process as he describes it: "It didn't mater one fuckola whether Gately like believed a cake would result, or whether he understood the fucking baking-chemistry of howa cake would result:if he just followed the motherfucking directions, and had sense enough to get help from slightly more experienced bakers .... a cake would result. He'd have his cake." I think the analogy goes a long way to show that we can't understand everything on our own and that sometimes we just have to accept a blind faith in the directions in order to obtain the end result. I think one of the great ironies of these addicts and culture as a whole is how far they are willing to figure out how to be progressively more entertained when simple directions could pretty much do about the same. In other words, sometimes it just works.

Everyone should read the acknowlegements on the copyright page in the front of Infinite Jest. It especially pertains to this block of reading and the long explanations of the AA meetings.
"Besides Closed Meetings for alcoholics only, Alcoholics Anonymous in Boston, Massachusetts, also has Open Meetings, where pretty much anybody who's interested can come and listen, take notes, pester people with questions, etc. A lot of people at these Open Meetings spoke with me and were extremely patient and garrulous and generous and helpful. The best way I can think of to show my appreciations to these men and women is to decline to thank them by name."