Book
But what if we're wrong? : thinking about the present as if it were the past / Chuck Klosterman.
Explores the idea that today's mainstream beliefs about the world are fundamentally incorrect, drawing on original interviews with intellectuals and experts to consider how music, sports, literature, and other present-day conventions may be perceived in future centuries.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780399184123 (hardcover)
- Physical Description: 272 pages ; 22 cm
- Publisher: New York : Blue Rider Press, [2016]
- Copyright: ©2016
Content descriptions
| General Note: | Includes index. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Forecasting. Social prediction. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stroud Branch | 303.49 Klo | 31681010015048 | NONFIC | Available | - |
- Baker & Taylor
"We live in a culture of casual certitude. This has always been the case, no matter how often that certainty has failed. Though no generation believes there's nothing left to learn, every generation unconsciously assumes that what has already been defined and accepted is (probably) pretty close to how reality will be viewed in perpetuity. And then, of course, time passes. Ideas shift. Opinions invert. What once seemed reasonable eventually becomes absurd, replaced by modern perspectives that feel even more irrefutable and secure--until, of course, they don't. But What If We're Wrong? visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who'll perceive it as the distant past. 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 seriouslyshould 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? 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.""-- - Baker & Taylor
Explores the idea that today's mainstream beliefs about the world are fundamentally incorrect, drawing on original interviews with intellectuals and experts to consider how music, sports, literature, and other present-day conventions may be perceived in future centuries. - Baker & Taylor
The best-selling author ofSex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs explores the idea that today's mainstream beliefs about the world are fundamentally incorrect, drawing on original interviews with forefront intellectuals and experts to consider how the music, sports, literature and other present-day conventions may be perceived in future centuries. - Baker & Taylor
"But What If We're Wrong? visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who'll perceive it as the distant past"-- - Penguin Putnam
The tremendously well-received New York Times bestseller by cultural critic Chuck Klosterman, exploring the possibility that our currently held beliefs and assumptions about the world will eventually be proven wrong -- now in paperback.
But What If We're Wrong? is a book of original, reported, interconnected pieces, which speculate on the likelihood that many universally accepted, deeply ingrained cultural and scientific beliefs will someday seem absurd. Covering a spectrum of objective and subjective topics, the book attempts to visualize present-day society the way it will be viewed in a distant future. Klosterman cites original interviews with a wide variety of thinkers and experts -- including George Saunders, David Byrne, Jonathan Lethem, Alex Ross, Kathryn Schulz, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Greene, Junot Díaz, Amanda Petrusich, Ryan Adams, Dan Carlin, Nick Bostrom, and Richard Linklater. Klosterman asks straightforward questions that are profound in their simplicity, and the answers he explores and integrates with his own analysis generate the most thought-provoking and propulsive book of his career.
