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The Resource But what if we're wrong? : thinking about the present as if it were the past, Chuck Klosterman

But what if we're wrong? : thinking about the present as if it were the past, Chuck Klosterman

Creator
Author
Summary
  • "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 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? 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.""--
  • "But What If We're Wrong? visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who'll perceive it as the distant past"--
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
272 pages
Contents
  • A brief examination as to why this book is hopeless (and a briefer examination as to why it might not be)
  • A quaint and curious volume of (destined-to-be) forgotten lore
  • But that's the way I like it, Baby. I don't want to live forever.
  • "Merit"
  • Burn thy witches
  • The world that is not there
  • Don't tell me what happens. I'm recording it.
  • Sudden death (over time)
  • The case against freedom
  • But what if we're right?
  • Only the penitent man shall pass
Isbn
9780399184123
Instance
Label
But what if we're wrong? : thinking about the present as if it were the past
Title
But what if we're wrong?
Title remainder
thinking about the present as if it were the past
Statement of responsibility
Chuck Klosterman
Creator
Author
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
  • "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 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? 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.""--
  • "But What If We're Wrong? visualizes the contemporary world as it will appear to those who'll perceive it as the distant past"--
Assigning source
  • Provided by publisher
  • Provided by publisher
Cataloging source
DLC
Index
index present
LC call number
E169.12
LC item number
.K5548 2016
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
But what if we're wrong? : thinking about the present as if it were the past, Chuck Klosterman
Label
But what if we're wrong? : thinking about the present as if it were the past, Chuck Klosterman
Publication
Related Contributor
Related Location
Related Agents
Related Authorities
Related Subjects
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
A brief examination as to why this book is hopeless (and a briefer examination as to why it might not be) -- A quaint and curious volume of (destined-to-be) forgotten lore -- But that's the way I like it, Baby. I don't want to live forever. -- "Merit" -- Burn thy witches -- The world that is not there -- Don't tell me what happens. I'm recording it. -- Sudden death (over time) -- The case against freedom -- But what if we're right? -- Only the penitent man shall pass
http://library.link/vocab/cover_art
https://contentcafe2.btol.com/ContentCafe/Jacket.aspx?Return=1&Type=S&Value=9780399184123&userID=ebsco-test&password=ebsco-test
Dimensions
22 cm
http://library.link/vocab/discovery_link
{'f': 'http://opac.lib.rpi.edu/record=b3801066'}
Extent
272 pages
Isbn
9780399184123
Isbn Type
(hardback)
Lccn
2016023103
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
n
System control number
(OCoLC)921864995

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