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| |  | Shoppe G-20 TVmemorabilia.com | Home » » Eating the Dinosaur | | | | | | | Description: | |
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. | | | Features: | |
• ISBN13: 9781416544203
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Chuck Klosterman | | Hardcover:
| 256 pages | | Publisher:
| Scribner | | Publication Date:
| October 20, 2009 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1416544208 | | Package Length:
| 8.58 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.75 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.1 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.75 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 37 reviews |
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 Hard to DescribeMar 11, 2010
This was the first book I have read from this author, and I didn't know anything about him before that. The book itself is hard to describe, because Klosterman's essays are all "about" something like ABBA, but what they're about is not what the actual subject is. For instance, the essay about ABBA is not about ABBA's music, it's about the way ABBA has transcended the way people normally think about popular music. Each section of the book has a kind of twist like that, which made it interesting enough for me to read the book all the way through, but I have to admit that I had zero interest in any of the subjects that he chose. Time travel? Really?
Also, I did not agree with at least half of Klosterman's statements, and many of them can be easily refuted. With just a little bit of thought, I could come up with arguments to a lot of his claims. He makes broad generalizations throughout the book about what people want or what people like, that simply didn't ring true for me. Maybe that's what *he* thinks people want or like, but it's not necessarily the truth.
I also found the little bits between sections, where questions are proposed and answered, to be pretentious to the point of being silly. What are they there for? It didn't make sense to me. He comes across as a condescending nerd at times.
That being said, I think Klosterman has an engaging style of writing, and some of his ideas were new to me. He got me to read an entire book about subjects I have no interest in, so he must be pretty good, right? I think I will read something else of his to see how he holds up.
 Dinosaur Yumm SecondsMar 10, 2010
Klosterman is insightful..entertaining..writes in a style that connects to the reader as if he is talking to you directly...Essays are varying and although you might not be able to relate to everyone theres something worth reading inside of it. Some parts are funny, some make you think, and some are part genius. 1st Klosterman book and eager to see what else he has written I have become a fan and would recommend to all.
Thirteen new pop culture essaysFeb 19, 2010
Chuck Klosterman's new collection of pop culture essays resembles his previous books "Fargo Rock City", "Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs", "Killing Yourself to Live" and "IV". Though Klosterman's usual topic is music, my favorite two essays were the two about sports: "What We Talk About When We Talk About Ralph Sampson" and "Football". I am not a Garth Brooks fan but I enjoyed reading "The Passion of the Garth" about Brooks' unusual Chris Gaines project. "Oh, the Guilt" explored the pre-release hype surrounding Nirvana's "In Utero" but little of the actual album, and the comparisons between Kurt Cobain and David Koresh seemed awkward. The thirteen essays span only 230 pages. This page count is padded by self-interview Q&A pages between essays and large obtuse section labels within each essay ("1", "2A", etc.). Klosterman offers some interesting ideas and entertaining prose, but the sum is underwhelming considering the $25 hardcover list price. I'd recommend any of his earlier non-fiction compilations ahead of this mediocre new volume.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
It took foreeverFeb 11, 2010
the book came in great shape, but it seemed like it look forever to make it to my home.
Buurrrppp!!!Feb 09, 2010
Was quite disappointed in this outing by Mr. Klosterman. I have read pretty much all of Chuck's other books and I have develop a somewhat love / hate relationship with Chuck. His latest novel has me weighing more towards the hater side of the relationship.
The opening chapter was excruciating to read to say the least. I almost gave up on the book right there. Is it just me or does Chuck just give you that impression of a pseudo intellectual with way too much time on his hands? Thus, Chuck gets bored and thinks of some sort or idea / theme / trend (other than what he know best - music) that might be outside of what people think he is knowledgeable about, and then spews his wikkepedia / google data about that subject. Listen Chuck, just because you NetFlix'ed some obscure movie or read a "smarty-pants" book that you came across, that doesn't make you have the right to express you wit and views on those matters. Some of the Chapters that epitomize my little rant are: "Something Instead of Nothing", "Tomorrow Rarely Knows", "Through a Glass, Blindly", It Will Shock You..."
With that being said (and as always), Chuck does come through with some interesting and entertaining views/opinions. I liked his insight on Laugh Tracks used in sitcoms ("Ha, ha" he said "Ha, ha"). Very interesting and thought provoking - pretty funny too. The chapter `T is for True' was also good. In other words, Chuck should stay with the following topics: Music, Television from the 80's to present, Current (non-foreign) Movies, "Remember When" reflections - but only from the past three decades, Modern trends, Pop Culture, Facebook, etc.
Half the chapters are good the other half are horribly not. In other words, quite enjoyable at times and then those certain chapters just makes you want to skip the book all together and then tell Chuck to just keep his Tina Fey glasses, pseudo-intellectual beard, "I'm so hipper than you" thoughts to his damn self. I shudder to recommend this book to anyone but I guess I might? But let me warn you, if i do recommend; don't blame me if you find yourself asking why did I just waste "half" my time with this search-engine, chronicle book.
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