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Guests | June 17, 2013
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More copies of this ISBNEating the Dinosaurby Chuck Klosterman
Staff Pick
Klosterman quotes the late Kurt Cobain as saying, "Give the kids what they want," and this book does just that. Eating the Dinosaur includes entertaining pieces about pop-culture subjects from Ralph Sampson to Weezer. Also, Klosterman gets bonus points for using the word "goofballedness" in an essay. Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:A Book of All-New Pop Culture Pieces by Chuck Klosterman
Chuck Klosterman has chronicled rock music, film, and sports for almost fifteen years. He's covered extreme metal, extreme nostalgia, disposable art, disposable heroes, life on the road, life through the television, urban uncertainty and small-town weirdness. Through a variety of mediums and with a multitude of motives, he's written about everything he can think of (and a lot that he's forgotten). The world keeps accelerating, but the pop ideas keep coming. In Eating the Dinosaur, Klosterman is more entertaining and incisive than ever. Whether he's dissecting the boredom of voyeurism, the reason why music fan's inevitably hate their favorite band's latest album, or why we love watching can't-miss superstars fail spectacularly, Klosterman remains obsessed with the relationship between expectation, reality, and living history. It's amateur anthropology for the present tense, and sometimes it's incredibly funny. Q: What is this book about? A: Well, that's difficult to say. I haven't read it yet — I've just clicked on it and casually glanced at this webpage. There clearly isn't a plot. I've heard there's a lot of stuff about time travel in this book, and quite a bit about violence and Garth Brooks and why Germans don't laugh when they're inside grocery stores. Ralph Nader and Ralph Sampson play significant roles. I think there are several pages about Rear Window and football and Mad Men and why Rivers Cuomo prefers having sex with Asian women. Supposedly there's a chapter outlining all the things the Unabomber was right about, but perhaps I'm misinformed. Q: Is there a larger theme? A: Oh, something about reality. What is reality, maybe? No, that's not it. Not exactly. I get the sense that most of the core questions dwell on the way media perception constructs a fake reality that ends up becoming more meaningful than whatever actually happened. Q: Should I read this book? A: Probably. Do you see a clear relationship between the Branch Davidian disaster and the recording of Nirvana's In Utero? Does Barack Obama make you want to drink Pepsi? Does ABBA remind you of AC/DC? If so, you probably don't need to read this book. You probably wrote this book. But I suspect everybody else will totally love it, except for the ones who absolutely hate it. Review:"In his new essay collection, author and cultural commentator Klosterman (Chuck Klosterman IV) parallels Kurt Cobain with David Koresh, Weezer with Warner Herzog and Ralph Nader, and posits a future in which Unabomber Ted Kaczynski's manifesto is viewed as 'the most prescient work of the 1990s.' In short, there is something to excite and/or enrage any reader engaged with popular culture in the last 20 years. One of few cultural essayists to enjoy a wide readership, Klosterman's Lester Bangs-lite approach is frequently engaging, if scattershot; too often, he engages in fleeting pop-culture references that evoke the laziest kind of critical cred-grubbing (a typical throwaway jab at indie band TV on the Radio leaves readers with no idea what criticism, if any, Klosterman is leveling). Klosterman even neglects to engage some of his subjects on their artistic merits, such as Nirvana's final album, In Utero: after making much of the disc's pre-release hype, he all but refuses to discuss his reaction as a listener. Even with the inclusion of an article on football (which he admits will turn off '40 percent' of his readers), Klosterman never ventures outside of his comfort zone; though he thrives on challenging his readers, he fails to challenge himself." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Synopsis:The bestselling author of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs returns with an all-original nonfiction collection of questions and answers about pop culture, sports, and the meaning of reality.
Synopsis:Chuck Klosterman is the author of Fargo Rock City; Sex, Drugs, And Cocoa Puffs; and Killing Yourself To Live. He is a columnist for Esquire and has written for GQ, Spin, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The Believer, and ESPN.
Synopsis:Q: What is this book about?
A: Well, thats difficult to say. I havent read it yet—Ive just picked it up and casually glanced at the back cover. There clearly isnt a plot. Ive heard theres a lot of stuff about time travel in this book, and quite a bit about violence and Garth Brooks and why Germans dont laugh when theyre inside grocery stores. Ralph Nader and Ralph Sampson play significant roles. I think there are several pages about Rear Window and college football and Mad Men and why Rivers Cuomo prefers having sex with Asian women. Supposedly theres a chapter outlining all the things the Unabomber was right about, but perhaps Im misinformed. Q: Is there a larger theme? A: Oh, something about reality. "What is reality," maybe? No, thats not it. Not exactly. I get the sense that most of the core questions dwell on the way media perception constructs a fake reality that ends up becoming more meaningful than whatever actually happened. Also, Lady Gaga. Q: Should I read this book? A: Probably. Do you see a clear relationship between the Branch Davidian disaster and the recording of Nirvanas In Utero? Does Barack Obama make you want to drink Pepsi? Does ABBA remind you of AC/DC? If so, you probably dont need to read this book. You probably wrote this book. But I suspect everybody else will totally love it, except for the ones who totally hate it.
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