Coming off the breakthrough success of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs and Killing Yourself to Live, bestselling pop culture guru Chuck Klosterman assembles his best work previously unavailable in book form—including the groundbreaking 1996 piece about his chicken McNuggets experiment, his uncensored profile of Britney Spears, and a previously unpublished short story—all recontextualized in Chuck’s unique voice with new intros, outros, segues, and masterful footnotes.
Chuck Klosterman IV consists of three parts:
Things That Are True—Profiles and trend stories: Britney Spears, Radiohead, Billy Joel, Metallica, Val Kilmer, Bono, Wilco, the White Stripes, Steve Nash, Morrissey, Robert Plant—all with new introductions and footnotes.
Things That Might Be True—Opinions and theories on everything from monogamy to pirates to robots to super people to guilt, and (of course) Advancement—all with new hypothetical questions and footnotes.
Something That Isn’t True At All—This is old fiction. There’s a new introduction, but no footnotes. Well, there’s a footnote in the introduction, but none in the story.
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"A+ hilarity. Chuck Klosterman is my favorite man in the whole world at this moment.The book almost glowed with all my highlighting (which I minimized towards the end, because all the highlighting would have made the book virtually unreadable) because it was funny and also sometimes true. "
— Vicky (4 out of 5 stars)
“All the various factions of Klosterman-followers—thoughtful admirers, rabid idolators, thoughtful detractors, rabid player-haters—will find something in his fourth book to satisfy their wants.”
— New York Times“Klosterman…churns out intelligent pieces on fame’s absurdity.”
— Entertainment Weekly“This collection of previously published essays…definitely has kick.”
— Publishers Weekly“Entertaining…Contradictions and silliness best exemplify this collection. Klosterman’s writing is funny and smart.”
— BooklistOne of America's top cultural critics.
— Entertainment WeeklyMr. Klosterman makes good, smart company.
— The New York TimesHe's perfect junk food for the soul.
— The Los Angeles Times Book Review" First 2 parts are awesome, of course; last section just meanders... "
— Courtney, 2/4/2014" Okay, so I would just like to say that Chuck Klosterman isn't really the next literary messiah, and that the post-modern/post-internet (misguided) impulse to deify certain forms of popular culture might conflate him to canonical status. But, as a self-proclaimed "smart-kid" thriving among media saturation, I do admire his staunch disaffection in the face of celebrity degradation, as well as his willingness to declare that U2 never actually sold-out, they just learned how to turn the ability to make money into the ability to determine your own destiny. Lucky for us Bono feels his destiny is to make the world better. Regardless of how you feel about the importance of Culture (be it high, low, popular, or vulgar), Chuck Klosterman reminds us that it is simply there, it will always be there, and that it is up to us to choose how to co-exist with it. "
— Brian, 1/31/2014" This is a pretty male-oriented book. I'm not a huge fan, but the writing is good and Klosterman presents interesting ideas. "
— Kim, 1/27/2014" The extended versions of articles the author has written over the years for various magazines. Any book that can include commentary on Britney Spears, Radiohead, and Chicken McNuggets is my kind of read. "
— Holly, 1/25/2014" Frankie loaned me this book while I was in Chile. It was weird reading about N. American pop culture in South America. I wrote Chuck Klosterman a post card from Valparaiso. He has yet to write back. "
— Dawn, 1/25/2014" thinks he cooler than he actually is. i think his insights on pop culture are not as provocative as he believes they are. I want my 20 bucks back. "
— Tony, 1/20/2014" While sex drugs and cocoa puffs (that was The One With The Kid A 9/11 Essay right? Maybe I'm thinking of the one about dead rock stars) was more engaging to me and I liked that it was a bit more focused I still laughed out loud and read passages to my wife. Run on sentences make the best reviews. "
— Erin, 1/19/2014" Klosterman's writing for Spin, Esquire, and a variety of other publications amuses and often inspires. I adore his self-deprecating style and his non-pretentious way of addressing music---the interviews here are the best material, and sometimes in surprising places (the interview of Radiohead, one of my all-time favorite bands, wasn't quite as interesting as the depressing & revealing piece on Billy Joel). Klosterman is not especially skilled at fiction writing (at least in the piece displayed here), but the special brand of pop-culture, nostalgia-infused memoir he excels at is addictive and lovely. "
— Sharon, 1/15/2014" Not as good as "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs," but still good. "
— Dan, 1/12/2014" I loved the first section, which were all interviews with famous musicians. Very interesting; he's a great interviewer. The rest of it? Not so much. "
— Valerie, 12/4/2013" Perfect bedside book, short articles that the Chuckster has written for Spin, Esquire, etc. Better in small doses though. "
— Shananana, 11/9/2013" bono is a fraud. "
— micah, 8/21/2013" Klosterman is a really interesting cultural critic. This book also includes a short story by him. "
— Liz, 10/24/2012" a mix of his columns throughout the years. perfect for t rides cuz of their shortness and general unconnectedness. extra star for the short story at the end. "
— Steph, 9/4/2012" The only reason I didn't award this more stars is this bastard Klosterman is having my wish-career. Let some other talented eighties-born slackers in at the trough, eh, dude? "
— Moira, 8/28/2012" I will read everything Chuck K. writes until the day he drops (or I do, whichever comes first.) So should you. They are even at the library, for chrissakes, it's FREE! "
— Paul, 7/7/2012" Another Klosterman hit! He takes some of his deep philosophical questions from "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" and provides his perceptual answers. "
— Amy, 6/8/2012" Fantastic BOOK! I love everything about how Klosterman writes! Funny guy, awesome pieces! "
— Cheryl, 2/1/2012" This is the book that Michael Libby would have written had he not got a job at BOA "
— Tina, 1/19/2012" My favorite interview is with Val Kilmer when he said that he's such a good actor that he's more real as a policeman than an actual policeman. Think about that for a second. "
— Mike, 11/18/2011" Each of the three sections brings you a new way to get more out of this book. "
— Caleb, 6/29/2011" Geniales entrevistas. La de Britney Spears es otro pedo. "
— Ixxa, 5/25/2011" Very entertaining look at journalism and various musical artists, actors, actresses and athletes. Quick read. "
— Christina, 5/4/2011" It's entirely necessary to take this guy with a large grain of salt, but he is very very funny and knows an inordinate amount about useless things. I laughed out loud many times while reading this, which I don't often do. "
— Joel, 4/18/2011" Solid effort by Klosterman. It does, however, drag a bit at times, and as is the case with this genre, is dependent on a level of interest in each of the topics that Klosterman tackles. "
— Mark, 4/18/2011" ?Super funny, but then again his books always are. "
— Melissa, 3/26/2011" this is a great read by klosterman. it contains quite a few essays. the tag on this book is that some of the stories are true, some of them may be true, and some of them are fiction. they are all very good stories. if you like klosterman, you're gonna like this one as well. "
— aaron, 3/19/2011" Chuck Klosterman is my favorite essayist. He manages to blend pop culture and philosophy masterfully. Seriously. Pop culture and philosophy! Add a healthy dose of cynicism and angst, and it's like these were tailor made for my consumption. "
— Cat, 2/24/2011" Another solid read, which should surprise absolutely nobody. "
— Matt, 1/30/2011Chuck Klosterman is the bestselling author of eight nonfiction books, two novels, and a short story collection. He has written for the New York Times, The Washington Post, London Guardian, Billboard, GQ, and more. He served as the ethicist for the New York Times Magazine for three years, appeared as himself in the LCD Soundsystem documentary Shut Up and Play the Hits, and was an original founder of the website Grantland with Bill Simmons.