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But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past (2016)

by Chuck Klosterman

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
8883224,236 (3.54)14
Biography & Autobiography. Literary Criticism. Sociology. Nonfiction. HTML:New York Times bestselling author Chuck Klosterman asks questions that are profound in their simplicity: How certain are we about our understanding of gravity? How certain are we about our understanding of time? What will be the defining memory of rock music, five hundred years from today? How seriously should we view the content of our dreams? How seriously should we view the content of television? Are all sports destined for extinction? Is it possible that the greatest artist of our era is currently unknown (or—weirder still—widely known, but entirely disrespected)? Is it possible that we “overrate” democracy? And perhaps most disturbing, is it possible that we’ve reached the end of knowledge?

Klosterman visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who'll perceive it as the distant past. Kinetically slingshotting through a broad spectrum of objective and subjective problems, But What If We’re Wrong? is built on interviews with a variety of creative thinkers—George Saunders, David Byrne, Jonathan Lethem, Kathryn Schulz, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Junot Díaz, Amanda Petrusich, Ryan Adams, Nick Bostrom, Dan Carlin, and Richard Linklater, among others—interwoven with the type of high-wire humor and nontraditional analysis only Klosterman would dare to attempt. It’s a seemingly impossible achievement: a book about the things we cannot know, explained as if we did. It’s about how we live now, once “now” has become “then.”.
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» See also 14 mentions

English (31)  Dutch (1)  All languages (32)
Showing 1-5 of 31 (next | show all)
A somewhat meandering (a la Klosterman, though less than some other books of his), "lay"-philosophical/historical consideration of the fact that we're (you, me, your mom, your favorite professor) largely wrong about mostly everything. Even if we can say that we know more than e.g. 2000 or 1000 or 50 years ago, we can't claim we are now 'right' (except, maybe/probably, about basic physics and cosmology... probably); people 100 or 500 or 1000 years from now will look back at us and wonder how we could possibly have been so stupid, etc. (except, probably, for the physics...)

This is the usual Klosterman collection of essays strung together into a book... except this really does feel like a book. And he seems more... serious... or at least less flippant. It is an entertaining and relatively lightweight (given the subject) reminder that our certainties are frail before the fullness of time and our tastes, values and judgments will either be misunderstood, lost, or simply left on the cutting room floor of history. We know this, and should be conscious of this. ( )
  dcunning11235 | Aug 12, 2023 |
Not quite the light reading I anticipated.
Not enjoying this at all so am abandoning - too convoluted and presumptuous. ( )
  Kimberlyhi | Apr 15, 2023 |
Never actually got more than a few pages in. I like his writing from previous books and articles, but I just saw him give a talk about this book and it seemed like the book itself might be a rehash of the talk. Plus I've been pretty deep into some other books and this one just didn't float to the top of my pile. Maybe someday...
  steve02476 | Jan 3, 2023 |
Enjoy Klosterman's ideas and thought experiments but this book was too erratic for me jumping back and forth across pop culture. I found the tone too familiar and self consciously clever at times. Lots of diversions, footnotes, and parenthetical comments made it hard to follow his ideas. ( )
  kropferama | Jan 1, 2023 |
Very dissatisfied with this.
I was expecting a somewhat thought-provoking and amusing book, but it wasn't funny and the only thoughts I had were 'what a waste of time.'
Klosterman writes like the Architect from the Matrix talks but makes less sense and isn't nearly as clever or humorous.
Overall a big disappointment. ( )
  Rockhead515 | Dec 22, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 31 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Chuck Klostermanprimary authorall editionscalculated
Hardingham, FionaNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
If what I say now seems to you to be very reasonable, then I'll have failed completely.
—Arthur C. Clarke, speaking in the year 1964, attempting to explain what the world might be like in the year 2000
Dedication
For Silas and Hope
First words
I've spent most of my life being wrong.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Biography & Autobiography. Literary Criticism. Sociology. Nonfiction. HTML:New York Times bestselling author Chuck Klosterman asks questions that are profound in their simplicity: How certain are we about our understanding of gravity? How certain are we about our understanding of time? What will be the defining memory of rock music, five hundred years from today? How seriously should we view the content of our dreams? How seriously should we view the content of television? Are all sports destined for extinction? Is it possible that the greatest artist of our era is currently unknown (or—weirder still—widely known, but entirely disrespected)? Is it possible that we “overrate” democracy? And perhaps most disturbing, is it possible that we’ve reached the end of knowledge?

Klosterman visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who'll perceive it as the distant past. Kinetically slingshotting through a broad spectrum of objective and subjective problems, But What If We’re Wrong? is built on interviews with a variety of creative thinkers—George Saunders, David Byrne, Jonathan Lethem, Kathryn Schulz, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Junot Díaz, Amanda Petrusich, Ryan Adams, Nick Bostrom, Dan Carlin, and Richard Linklater, among others—interwoven with the type of high-wire humor and nontraditional analysis only Klosterman would dare to attempt. It’s a seemingly impossible achievement: a book about the things we cannot know, explained as if we did. It’s about how we live now, once “now” has become “then.”.

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