But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present as If It Were the Past

Best-selling author Klosterman (Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs; I Wear the Black Hat) provides a spin class for the brain in his latest work. Each of these connected essays examines an idea that seems unassailable, such as how gravity works, which musical artist or group most accurately defines rock and roll, the surprisingly ephemeral position of television within the history of artistic expression, and how we think of freedom and the U.S. constitution. Each proves to be a thigh-grinding uphill ride, pushing against the problem asserted by the title: that our foundational knowledge, in many cases, will inevitably change. Well researched and supported by interviews with scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson; authors Kathryn Schulz, Jonathan Lethem, and Malcolm Gladwell; singer-songwriter Ryan Adams; filmmaker Richard Linklater; and basketball star Kobe Bryant, among others, Klosterman challenges readers to reexamine the stability of basic concepts, and in doing so broadens our perspectives.