But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present as If It Were the Past -- Chuck Klosterman ------------------- 4 Stars

I don't think I've ever read a Chuck Klosterman book before, though I am very familiar with him and his writings. An asitute and creative cultural critic, I've read a number of his articles in various magazines and heard his musings on a few podcasts. Then, one of his books, But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present as If It Were the Past popped up as an easy borrow on Libby so I thought I'd give it a try. What a fun, thought provoking and entertaining book!

While the book is 7 years old, it feels recent and the premise, timeless. As the title states, Klosterman does his best to think about much our modern world and what will actually be remembered hundreds of years in the future. Spoiler alert - he believes it's many things that we are currently not considering. Covering art, literature, media, movies, sports, tv, and science, the book also offers commentary from many notable scientists, theorists and futurists. 

What makes this book so interesting are two things. First, is the premise on it's own - we're really bad at actually determining what matters and predicting the future so maybe we should question some of our beliefs. Many of these posits are really "hot takes" and curious. One for example, is that democracy is overrated and not that great. While he makes some strong arguments, hard to believe the alternatives might be any better (this was part of a chapter predicting how/why America may eventually fail). The second reason this book is interesting is classic Klosterman - he's super funny and has irreverent viewpoints. In a sentence explaining theoretical physics, he might offer a joke about a modern pop star. Relatedly, there were nearly 100 footnotes and many of them served as another place that he shares jokes and thoughts.

The biggest downside of the book is that parts are complicated and hard to follow. Besides making the reader really have to think through highly difficult topics, a lot of tightrope walking of thoughts (if that is a thing) is necessary. There are multiple times where it's really hard to imagine what is being considered - though this is an actual theme of the book. However, that may be also what I most enjoyed; working to understand his arguments and thinking about them later. It's one of those few books that really make you consider his writings when not reading it.  Also, I suppose if you don't appreciate his jokes and incessant footnoting, you might also not like.  

This book may be a bit of a specialized taste and recommend reading some other Klosterman before diving in. Between the complicated subject matter and unique author's style, it may be off putting to some. However, if you are open to giving it a try, or want to read a uniquely funny and highly entertaining and thought provoking book, this would be a good one to try!

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder Hardcover – David Grann ------------------- 3.5 Stars

While not planning to read The Wager, this new release was recently available and well regarded, so I thought I'd give it a shot. And, although it wasn't a book that I simply couldn't put down, it was engaging and did a great job holding my attention.

As this is a new book, quick synopsis - an 18th century British boat was sent passed South American looking for Spanish treasure. Unfortunately, the nasty Cape Horn caused a sea wreck and marooned the many sailors in a tough section of Patagonia. While there, the men struggled to live successfully and peacefully and a mutiny occurred leading to surprising and fascinating consequences.

I hate to write more and spoil some of the surprise of the book, but know that the "true" story told has some exciting twists and turns. I also include "true" in quotation marks as the author makes it quite clear that he did his best to review hundreds of centuries old sources to determine what really happened. But, many of those writing the history had strong motivations for their version of what took place to be the "truth." Nonetheless, I believe the author does a stellar job at ensuring as an objective retelling as possible.

For the most part, the book is a good read. While very heavy about life as a sailor and the work of living on a mid 1700s sea vessel, the author does a good job of explaining less relevant aspects and even connecting many modern phrases which originated as parts of sailing culture. Conversely, the first third of the book is the most difficult read. Rounding out characters and sharing the monotony of many seaman's daily lives, is not as exciting as the rest of the book's retelling of fighting off challenging storms, violence between crewmates, and the incredible stories of perseverance put forth by many when left in nearly impossible situations.

On a whole, I think this book is a worthwhile read. Fairly short and, for the most part, accessible, if you can push through the first few chapters, the payoff is worth it once the author gets to the more exciting parts. Great story and I'm really happy I wasn't a sailor in the 18th century too!

Where Men Where Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman - Jon Krakauer ------------- 4 Stars

I've been reading a lot of books lately and really enjoying many of them. Like always, however, the search to find a (hopefully) great book is a challenge. So, when I paused after my last book and thought about what might be a good read, I looked back at my favorite authors and landed on Jon Krakauer. 

CRAZY UPDATE - so, I just took a moment and reviewed my blog to see how many other Krakauer books I've read and had a stunning realizing... I actually read and reviewed this book in September 2010!  

I am not sure if it's sad or wonderful that I didn't remember reading this book (and reviewing) and enjoying it as much as I did this second time around. I seemed to enjoy it more this time as it moved from a 3.5 stars to 4.

One other result of this is that I don't think there are any other Krakauer books that I haven't read worth reading and, I believe, he is no longer writing any books. Which is very sad.

Well, here was my original review -https://bookmarkthatbook.blogspot.com/2010/09/where-men-win-glory-odyssey-of-pat.html

Still a great book!