Chuck Klosterman

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.… (més)

Overall, a good read. I'm not sure I comprehend his point re: Saved By The Bell, largely because I missed this 'phenomenon' somehow. Other essays I just kinda feel 'meh' about. But there are a few gems, e.g. "All I Know is What I Read in the Papers."

Clearly, from some reviews here, some people really did not like this book. Fair enough; this is a bit of pop culture, aspiring to be (and I think somewhat successful at being) a bit more, but still basically passing commentary on the here and now. Or, what was here and now 5 to 10 years ago, at the time of my reading.

What I don't get is the tone of some of the comments; apparently some folks came looking for Hume or Kant or Jesus and left pretty disappointed and/or pissed off that they found some random, snarky, Midwesterner instead.… (més)