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But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past by Chuck Klosterman
amyhungerford's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars
This wasn't my favorite Chuck Klosterman book, but it was interesting and worth the read.
This wasn't my favorite Chuck Klosterman book, but it was interesting and worth the read.
kerry_reads_books's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
horseheadbookends's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
4.25
storiesofsilva's review against another edition
3.0
Really fascinating thought experiment with cool topics like the Multiverse, the future of the NFL and team sports, the "hero's journey" phenomenon in determining the defining rock 'n' roll star of our lifetime, and even the Constitutional foundations of American democracy. But really, all the book boils down to is this: how we currently view the universe and all cultural artifacts within depends on context and perspective, and as society develops, those contexts will change and everything that we currently take for granted will almost definitely be viewed differently in a matter of years. We haven't discovered all that can possibly exist, so of course our collective knowledge and peoples' cultural tastes will evolve. All in all, it was a relatively quick read although pretty far out at times, but some of the chapters go on a bit longer than necessary and get into very abstract territory. Regardless, Klosterman is still one of the more fun pop culture writers out there.
vegantrav's review against another edition
5.0
In But What If We're Wrong?, Chuck Klosterman asks a lot of questions. Fascinating questions. Curious questions. Obscure questions. Rarely asked questions. Questions that will really make you think.
But Klosterman doesn't give any answers--primarily because the questions he asks are, for the most part, unanswerable. And these aren't questions where we can say that the answers don't really matter and that just asking the questions is important. It is true that posing these questions and trying to answer them is important, but the answers matter a lot, too. It's just that we have no way of knowing the answers to those questions.
So, what are some of the questions he asks? That question, I can answer. Klosterman asks us to imagine distant future generations looking back on our generation. How will they remember us and our culture? Which books being written now will make the canon of the future? Will they be writers we already acknowledge as great, or is there some contemporary Kafka toiling away in anonymity that we will never know but whom future generations will look back upon as the greatest writer of our time? Or, even more interesting, what if the writer who will be hailed by future generations is someone whom we currently view as middling or even bad? Klosterman asks similar questions about music and television. Not content to delve only into the subjective realm of the arts, Klosterman ventures into science: will future generations look back on our beliefs about the universe in dismay and shock at just how wrong we are about so many things? Is our current state of scientific knowledge going to be viewed just as we now view the Aristotelian scientific world-view that reigned prior to Newton? In equally entertaining chapters, Klosterman asks questions about the simulation hypothesis, conspiracy theories, and politics.
But What If We're Wrong? is a great book not because of the answers that it provides because, again, it doesn't provide answers. It's a great book because it makes you think. You'll put this book down and find yourself thinking about these questions as you go about your day: is the current it book that I'm reading one that will endure, or will it slide into the waters of Lethe? Will any of the music and movies that I enjoy today be at all remembered a few centuries from now? It's a very humbling book. It asks us to look back into the past and consider how little of the past we actually remember and then put ourselves into the perspective of someone a few hundred years in the future looking back at us: we and what we value will be as of little interest and import to future generations as the lives and values of people living in, say, 1516 are to us. We are not special. We don't have all the answers. But trying to answer these questions--even though we are, as Klosterman continually asserts, almost certain to be wrong--is still both enjoyable and educational.
But Klosterman doesn't give any answers--primarily because the questions he asks are, for the most part, unanswerable. And these aren't questions where we can say that the answers don't really matter and that just asking the questions is important. It is true that posing these questions and trying to answer them is important, but the answers matter a lot, too. It's just that we have no way of knowing the answers to those questions.
So, what are some of the questions he asks? That question, I can answer. Klosterman asks us to imagine distant future generations looking back on our generation. How will they remember us and our culture? Which books being written now will make the canon of the future? Will they be writers we already acknowledge as great, or is there some contemporary Kafka toiling away in anonymity that we will never know but whom future generations will look back upon as the greatest writer of our time? Or, even more interesting, what if the writer who will be hailed by future generations is someone whom we currently view as middling or even bad? Klosterman asks similar questions about music and television. Not content to delve only into the subjective realm of the arts, Klosterman ventures into science: will future generations look back on our beliefs about the universe in dismay and shock at just how wrong we are about so many things? Is our current state of scientific knowledge going to be viewed just as we now view the Aristotelian scientific world-view that reigned prior to Newton? In equally entertaining chapters, Klosterman asks questions about the simulation hypothesis, conspiracy theories, and politics.
But What If We're Wrong? is a great book not because of the answers that it provides because, again, it doesn't provide answers. It's a great book because it makes you think. You'll put this book down and find yourself thinking about these questions as you go about your day: is the current it book that I'm reading one that will endure, or will it slide into the waters of Lethe? Will any of the music and movies that I enjoy today be at all remembered a few centuries from now? It's a very humbling book. It asks us to look back into the past and consider how little of the past we actually remember and then put ourselves into the perspective of someone a few hundred years in the future looking back at us: we and what we value will be as of little interest and import to future generations as the lives and values of people living in, say, 1516 are to us. We are not special. We don't have all the answers. But trying to answer these questions--even though we are, as Klosterman continually asserts, almost certain to be wrong--is still both enjoyable and educational.
tmvallehoag's review against another edition
5.0
A fascinating book. Klosterman is not asserting that we could be wrong so much as asking the question of what would happen if we are. When I first picked up this book I assumed that 90% of it would be about science but this is a book about culture and the assumptions we make about how we will be perceived as a generation.
This is also not a political book. Politics are discussed, but Klosterman’s thesis isn’t an attempt to reinvent the wheel of any discipline.
The lens this book takes on culture is a really interesting way to analyze the zeitgeist. It will convince you that you *could* actually be wrong. And once you believe that, you’ll find yourself being a lot more honest with ideological and cultural assumptions you never really questioned. It’s a humbling experience we all need in an era when internet posting culture has conditioned us to have strong beliefs about everything and political polarization has eliminated our ability to honestly analyze the basis of our own assumptions about truth.
This is also not a political book. Politics are discussed, but Klosterman’s thesis isn’t an attempt to reinvent the wheel of any discipline.
The lens this book takes on culture is a really interesting way to analyze the zeitgeist. It will convince you that you *could* actually be wrong. And once you believe that, you’ll find yourself being a lot more honest with ideological and cultural assumptions you never really questioned. It’s a humbling experience we all need in an era when internet posting culture has conditioned us to have strong beliefs about everything and political polarization has eliminated our ability to honestly analyze the basis of our own assumptions about truth.
ashcarpelibrum's review against another edition
I started it. Seemed like a pretty good book. I agreed with the general discussion but not interested in the overall topic.