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But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past Chuck Klosterman 9780399184123 Books

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But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past Chuck Klosterman 9780399184123 Books

This short, thought-provoking book ranges widely from politics to music to physics but always returns to the main question of 'what if we are wrong'.

There are countless cases in history of widely-held beliefs about culture, philosophy and even the nature of the world being overturned almost overnight. Artists unknown in their time are celebrated today as unsung geniuses while the giants of those ages are forgotten. Which raises the question, what do we think, believe or know today that will be proven false tomorrow?

It's a good question and there isn't necessarily an answer in here but that's fine because it does make us think. I first learned of this book when one chapter was reprinted in a magazine. It asked the question 300 years from now, when rock and roll is as historical and irrelevant as, say, opera, who will historians hold up as the example of rock, who will be remembered?

Now ask the same question about television.

Or any other aspect of our lives.

Are the Grammy, Emmy and Oscar winners really the most important works of art in the world today? If not, what is?

Klosterman also asks the equally challenging question, what if we're right? Yes people once believed the world was flat and were proven wrong. But that sort of scientific revolution has become rarer as we've shared more information and established methods, so what if this is it? What if our understanding of the world is it, and there are no more revolutions?

Again he doesn't have answers but there's a lot to chew on here.

Klosterman's style is very friendly, he sprinkles in self-deprecating humor and personal anecdotes throughout which keeps this book from being too heavy. I found it a perfect read for a long plane trip.

I recommend it.


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But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past Chuck Klosterman 9780399184123 Books Reviews

Klosterman asks some interesting questions and while I don't agree with the premise of much of what he poses, I enjoy the way his mind works so much that my ambivalence is overcome by my desire to understand how he thinks about complex issues. I hope he keeps writing about whatever topics engage these unique brain networks. I'll keep reading along.
I picked up this book at the store at University Village one day last fall. I hadn't a clue what it was about, I just liked the title and the idea that a writer can be such a skeptic. The stories, which maybe read more like magazine articles, blog posts, or almost-essays than what I think they are intended to be essays, and are about a lot of different subjects (music, TV, science, history, sports), each one with something that calls our typical thinking about it into question. After reading it through the first time, I handed it off to my also-skeptical teenage son, who chose it to give to one of his robotics team mentors. Having forgotten much of the book's minutiae, which I suppose means it wasn't that memorable, I recently read it again.

Here are some things I liked about it (in no particular order)

Skepticism!

The idea that some things, Moby Dick for example, are overwhelmingly thought of by most as excellent, although they really may not be. I loved the review the author includes about Moby Dick. I tend to hate books that the general public loves and love the books they hate, so I appreciate this idea. He also mentions Tenth of December, a short story collection by Saunders, I tried to read it twice and gave up. Just saying.

Seemingly crazy at the time predictions that came true.

The idea that far into the future, our beliefs about something (say gravity) may turn out to be entirely wrong.

The Dark Net

That we all might be part of a computer simulation.

A discussion of arguments in favor (or not) of voting

Reality (or not) TV

The fact that football may become extinct (not that I mind football, the idea just seems very unlikely)

In summary, I liked this book because it made me look at several ideas, concepts, and subjects differently, but I didn't love it, maybe because the essays didn't feel quite like what I'm used to...which should probably have made me like them even more. See, even what I believe doesn't always make sense.
Engrossing collection of essays speculating about what humanity may consider differently in the future. Even if you disagree with specific conclusions, the subject of cultural blindspots is a fascinating one and it is discussed with wit and intelligence. As long as you don't expect Klosterman to tie it all up with a bow at the end, you might enjoy this book. He's way more interested in exploring what we don't know than drawing any conclusions.
Don’t take this in a wrong way, I have read everything Chuck Klosterman has ever written. At his best Klosterman is magic with words and wit. He excels at Rock music he understands it, he gets it, and his insight into that art form is 2nd to none. He also understands sports and his take on football in this book was per usual interesting.
My background is in science and Klosterman dives headlong into that field. The chapters on gravity and the evolving field of quantum physics felt mildly forced and impersonal. The chapter on dinosaurs felt more personal and that evolving field has changed in my lifetime as well.

The book goes off the rails once the writer enters the world of politics and American history. This is maybe a perceived forte but why? It felt like an off the cuff personal, but not researched take on a world he is not that well connected to. If he is connected to American politics or American historians I did not get where it all came from,
That being said, anything Klosterman either knows really well like Rock or anything he has highly researched is well written.

I plead to Chuck Klosterman to get back to your roots, write a big book on Rock, a really big book on Rock.
This short, thought-provoking book ranges widely from politics to music to physics but always returns to the main question of 'what if we are wrong'.

There are countless cases in history of widely-held beliefs about culture, philosophy and even the nature of the world being overturned almost overnight. Artists unknown in their time are celebrated today as unsung geniuses while the giants of those ages are forgotten. Which raises the question, what do we think, believe or know today that will be proven false tomorrow?

It's a good question and there isn't necessarily an answer in here but that's fine because it does make us think. I first learned of this book when one chapter was reprinted in a magazine. It asked the question 300 years from now, when rock and roll is as historical and irrelevant as, say, opera, who will historians hold up as the example of rock, who will be remembered?

Now ask the same question about television.

Or any other aspect of our lives.

Are the Grammy, Emmy and Oscar winners really the most important works of art in the world today? If not, what is?

Klosterman also asks the equally challenging question, what if we're right? Yes people once believed the world was flat and were proven wrong. But that sort of scientific revolution has become rarer as we've shared more information and established methods, so what if this is it? What if our understanding of the world is it, and there are no more revolutions?

Again he doesn't have answers but there's a lot to chew on here.

Klosterman's style is very friendly, he sprinkles in self-deprecating humor and personal anecdotes throughout which keeps this book from being too heavy. I found it a perfect read for a long plane trip.

I recommend it.