If you’ve ever wondered how to be better at charades, what’s good about Toronto’s Kensington Market, or why Harvard is so weird, Misha Glouberman has the answers. A collection of short chapters on topics Glouberman “thinks about,” this book is full of advice you never knew you needed and answers to questions you never thought to ask.

Although it draws on Glouberman’s life and philosophies, the book is actually a joint project between the author (a Toronto-based event facilitator, community activist, and “games guru”) and his friend, novelist Sheila Heti. In the introduction, Heti explains that she originally tried to write a novel about Glouberman, to be called The Moral Development of Misha. It didn’t work for various reasons, and instead became The Chairs. The two met day after day over coffee – Misha talked and Heti transcribed. The resulting series of short pieces – with titles like “People’s Protective Bubbles Are Okay,” “Miscommunication Is Nice,” and “Is Monogamy a Trick?” – are barely edited selections from these meet-ups.

Unsurprisingly, the prose is conversational, and Glouberman is funny even when it seems he’s being serious. In “The Conducting Game,” he describes an exercise from his music improv classes. “You walk around the room and make sounds, whatever sounds you want. If and when you decide you want to be conducted, you stand still and put your hand up and point to your head.”

Glouberman also takes swings at a few progressive ideas many lefties never question. In a chapter entitled “Making the City More Fun for You and Your Privileged Friends Isn’t a Super-Noble Political Goal,” he ruminates on what might occur should privileged young urbanites run roughshod: “[What] the city will end up looking like if such people achieve all their goals is one that’s uniquely and specifically well suited to people who are young and well educated and able-bodied, with a fair amount of free time, who are interested in culture and parties and living in a dense, downtown core. In other words, people just like themselves.”

The Chairs may not be a profound piece of modern literature, but it’s a fun read that will make readers think about the random things we skim over in everyday life. These are exactly the things that Glouberman is apparently always pondering.