Play Audiobook Sample
Hooking Up (Abridged) Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(3.01) - 1,120 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
Only yesterday boys and girls spoke of embracing and kissing (necking) as getting to first base. Second base was deep kissing, plus groping and fondling this and that. Third base was oral sex. Home plate was going all the way. That was yesterday. Here in the year 2000 we can forget about necking. Today's girls and boys have never heard of anything that dainty. Today's first base is deep kissing, now known as tonsil hockey, plus groping and fondling this and that. Second base is oral sex. Third base is going all the way. Home plate is learning each other's names. And how rarely our hooked-up boys and girls learn each other's names!
Tom Wolfe ranges from coast to coast, chronicling everything from the sexual manners and mores of teenagers...to fundamental changes in the way human beings now regard themselves, thanks to the hot new fields of genetics and neuroscience...to the reasons why, at the dawn of a new millennium, no one is celebrating the second American Century.
Hooking Up is a chronicle of the here and now.
Download and start listening now!
"This is cobbled together creation, rather a literary Frankenstein's monster, a pastiche of various essays with some fiction thrown in, but it's actually a very rewarding read. You don't have to like the man or share his values to appreciate his ability to understand history's machinations, to trace trends and cultural tendencies with a rarely rivaled acumen. I don't share many of his values, and do find him to be an unremittent elitist (which is always an embarrassment for readers) but I still found this book very interesting for the way it traced the genesis of the internet and subsquent shifts globally in mores and values. He's been such a diligent reader in so many disciplines that he has much really worthwhile information to share. Yes, much of this is delivered in his trademark smarmy tone, and in a self-congratulatory gesture he includes some early essays that earned him notoriety in the literary world ("Tiny Mummies" is one of these) which really don't fit the tenor of the book at all. You might be surprised how dated and irrelevant these essays are now, and Wolfe admits as much even as he can't help including them. The man probably realizes the Elysian fields where literary snobs presumably graze on leatherbound D.W.E.M. lit for eternity cannot be that far off, and this sense of mortality has sharpened his vision somewhat. He sneers overmuch (and feel free to sneer back) but I guarantee you will come away with some very interesting backstory on our little god, the internet, and proabably a few other tangential subjects to boot. I know I did, and am grateful for having endured his pallid, often bloodless sense of life."
— W.B. (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
-
“I love Tom Wolfe. Whenever some big bizarro thing happens I want the man in the white suit to do his usual exhausting reporting, turn the labels inside out and the hypocrites upside down…and tell me what’s what in one of those jittering, dazzling riffs of his.”
— New York Times -
“The book’s title is a sexual metaphor, but in Wolfe’s hands, it means making connections among the culture’s disparate corners. And nobody hooks up better than he does.”
— Newsweek -
“The rich retrospective of one of America’s finest writers.”
— Baltimore Sun -
“His fans will find plenty of evidence that Wolfe remains willing to plunge into ‘the raw, raucous, lust-soaked rout that throbs with amped-up octophonic typanum all around him’ and that—especially in his nonfiction—he can still grab the brass ring.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“Wolfe takes potentially boring subjects and turns them into a verbose tour de force…his style of writing is awe inspiring.”
— Library Journal
Awards
-
A USA Today bestseller
Hooking Up Listener Reviews
-
" I love everything about Tom Wolfe's writing. It's brash, energetic, insightful, interesting, and always keeps you hungry for more. Hooking Up is a collection of essays on a variety of topics, from the sexual anthropology of today's campuses, jealously in literary criticism, to how a small midwestern college became the model for Silicon Valley. Wonderful stuff. "
— Loyd, 2/17/2014 -
" I had my reservations when my father started pushing this book on me, and I'm still not sure he should go around recommending this to every niece and nephew of his, but it was definitely worth the read. The short stoy is questionable, but the essays were exceedingly well researched and well written. They were a pleasure to read and rather thought provoking, if somewhat dated. I'll be keeping an eye out for his older work. "
— Lil, 2/13/2014 -
" Collection of mostly non-fiction essays. Fascinating stuff about the 1st guys (one went west from MIT) getting the microchip industry going in California. Other sound essays about American culture changing over the years. There is one great novella within "Ambush at Ft. Bragg" "
— Leslie, 2/6/2014 -
" Hit and miss. "Two young men who went west", "in the land of the rococo Marxists", and the "the great relearning" are worth the price of admission but the others include writing that is at times pedantic (even for Wolfe) and prurient with no utility. "
— Lance, 1/21/2014 -
" I have been a Tom Wolfe fan since the late 60's, and I was SO DISAPPOINTED in his HORRIBLE "Charlotte Simmons". You can see parallels between it and the essay that titles this collection. But thank goodness this collection of several essays and one novella restores my admiration and faith in Tom. In fact, some of the essays are almost luminous, and they certainly are illuminating!!!! THANK YOU TOM WOLFE! "
— Fran, 1/6/2014 -
" Now that I'm a grumpy old fogey it's especially enjoyable reading Mr Wolfe's sneering essays on yoof culture and other modern superficialities. Possibly his best collection, or perhaps it's just that I've come to see things more the way he does as the years go by. "
— Derek, 1/2/2014 -
" A little dated.... but interesting. "
— Leigh, 12/18/2013 -
" The essay on Frederick Hart is great. So is the essay "In the Land of the Rococo Marxists." "
— Jeff, 11/30/2013 -
" I have no idea what the point of this book was. I couldn't get into it. I put it down without finishing. "
— Kendra, 8/24/2013 -
" The birth of Silicon Valley is particularly entertaining. "
— Greg, 7/20/2013 -
" Tom Wolfe is one of American's literary nonfiction greats, but he fails here trying to explore contemporary youth culture. However, his writing is superb as always. "
— Kathleen, 7/3/2013 -
" OK maybe only 3.5 stars but I love this author. Met the man in full white-suited presence when he was inspiring young journalists at UF in 2000 and researching this book. "
— Cindy, 6/22/2013 -
" I like Tom Wolfe as an essayist. I am not quite as keen on him as a novelist nor did I like him taking to task the people who denigrated his writing ability. I would recommend this book to those who like his essay style. "
— Bruce, 11/2/2012 -
" Thanks Mr. Wolfe. I belive never unknow what meaning first base, second and others. But, understand where are gone in my life. "
— Roberto, 8/17/2012 -
" Anyone who is a fan of Tom Wolfe's style of prose will enjoy this book. It wasn't my favorite of his, but definitely worth reading. "
— Melissa, 7/7/2012 -
" Fascinating group of essays and short stories that range over numerous topics and ideas, somehow are interrelated. Commentary on truth, existence, limits of science, nature of art, etc. "
— Griff, 5/18/2012 -
" Tom Wolfe's first book of shorts... really interesting mix. I like some better than others- there is a journalism flair to this and he discusses his own work, including the 11 year wait between his first two novels, The Bonfire of the Vanities and A Man in Full. "
— Lauren, 12/13/2011 -
" This book was not worth reading past the first chapter...just couldn't get into it, and failed to see how the first chapter was anywhere remotely related to what was described on the book jacket. And if he uses the word "insouciant" one more time, I think I will cringe. "
— Vanessa, 3/15/2011 -
" i think Tom Wolfe is one of those modern geniuses in writing. So fun to read, and deeply insightful. I would recommend this book to anyone. "
— david, 3/3/2011 -
" I actually think Wolfe's non-fiction writing is much more compelling than his recent novels. This tome solidifies his standing as an avid and intelligent commentator on contemporary American culture. "
— Hubert, 3/2/2011 -
" Sorry, but your soul just died.<br/><br/>Earn one's worsteds! "
— Kate, 12/23/2010 -
" This particular book b Tom Wolfe was to me ok, or in other words fair. It did not capture me or get me going with it. Sorry. <br/> <br/>J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'" "
— J., 7/31/2010 -
" Tom Wolfe's first book of shorts... really interesting mix. I like some better than others- there is a journalism flair to this and he discusses his own work, including the 11 year wait between his first two novels, The Bonfire of the Vanities and A Man in Full. "
— Lauren, 7/9/2010 -
" I thought this book sucked. It seemed to me that Wolfe, previously an acute observer of the American Social Scene, has lost touch with the common realities of American life. Give this one a pass. "
— Thomas, 6/2/2010 -
" I have no idea what the point of this book was. I couldn't get into it. I put it down without finishing. "
— Kendra, 3/8/2010 -
" I originally got the book because Grinnell College and legendary professor Grant Gale were featured. "
— Jeff, 1/21/2010 -
" Fantastic! Some essays are for mature readers only (the content is adult-level, and Wolfe is a realist), but his survey of modern culture is penetrating ... and fun to read! He even made the history of computers a page-turner. "
— Gregory, 12/26/2009 -
" Fascinating group of essays and short stories that range over numerous topics and ideas, somehow are interrelated. Commentary on truth, existence, limits of science, nature of art, etc. "
— Griff, 11/3/2009
About Tom Wolfe
Tom Wolfe (1931–2018) was the author of numerous books considered contemporary classics, including The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, and The Bonfire of the Vanities, among others, and several of his books have been made into major motion pictures. He was also a journalist and founder of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He is credited with introducing such terms as “the right stuff,” “radical chic,” “the Me Decade,” and “good ol’ boy” into the English lexicon. A native of Richmond, he earned his BA degree at Washington and Lee University and a PhD in American studies at Yale.
About Tom Wolfe
Ron Rifkin was born on October 31, 1939 in New York City as Saul M. Rifkin. He is an actor, known for his roles in Alias, L.A. Confidential, and The Negotiator. He has been married to Iva Rifkin since 1966.