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

Chuck Klosterman's newest book "But What if We're Wrong" is awesome. Its out there but it continues a trend I find with him where reading his writing is almost like finding a better articulated and more edited version of some of my deep meandering thoughts. but maybe even more so in this book because of the topic. Guess i'm admitting i too am out there ;) The general question he asks is this: What will future generations see when they view this generation? What books will be studied from our century (as he puts it, who is going to be our century's kafka)? What about music; what will really define "rock n roll", or the even less defined genre of "Rock"? And as the title suggests: what if we're wrong about what we think is defining our generation? It seems we think history repeats itself, but then how could we ever predict how different today is compared to even 50 yrs ago? When he starts to delve into the sciences, he tackles the idea of paradigm shifts (taken from Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions) and the question of what can we expect next. This is where its almost freakish how similar this section gets with what i discuss in some of my honors classes (i.e. can we make predictions? Will we see the atom? Will we see the proton? Will we see the strings?) Highly recommending this book to all, sciencey or non sciency peeps. There are interviews with some amazing people: rockstar scientisits Neal De Grass Tyson, Brian Greene, director Robert Linklater, talking heads founder David Byrne, authors Jonathan Lethem and Junot Diaz and more. There are some classic Klosterman off the wall theories about pop culture (probably my favorite part is his coming to the conclusion that the tv show Roseanne may be what future generations will study when looking at the definitive 20th century television programming) and how the future might view it, there is some conspiracy theories, a lot of well crafted "let's pretend" scenarios, and most importantly there is a lot of epistemological questions that at the end of the day make for the difference between living without. To the negative reviewers: much of what you say is that you felt that it rambled, lost its way, provided no strong foundation for the arguments.... Unfortunately, epistemology is often characterized by that. Even Klosterman discusses this in the book: as he puts it the difference between a physicist and a philosopher is the difference between what and why? (one cares about what is the cause, the other about the meaning behind it) Thank you Chuck for putting in the time with this one. Seems you spent quite sometime interviewing, researching, and you put together a great read. Maybe not the definitive book of this generation (hahaha, sorry) but still an excellent book.

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.

listen, i am not ever one to judge a book based on it’s a appearance, but it does kind of suck when i clicked the “buy new” option and clearly got a used copy instead, which i could’ve spent $16 less on. I am excited to read this regardless but i was also excited to open a fresh, clean, unused book to add to my collection. Instead i got the opposite with stains, dents, dog eared pages and other signs of use.

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.

Good book. It really makes you think about the significance of what you think is important in your life. Versus, what will actually be long lasting importance in the future. Helps you to appreciate the random and rare.

great read recommend it to anyone who wants to be confused

The author use a question mark. The answer is an exclamation point: yes, we are wrong. absolutely a recommended reading

Sometimes brilliant but mostly boring. Perhaps the book would be better if shorter. I didn't like when pages stuffed of funny remarks.

In a world where we tend to consume things that reinforce our viewpoint it’s interesting to read something that comes from a perspective other than “I am always right” - even taking the title as a piece of philosophy for every day living could be a useful approach. But I could be wrong.