Chuck Klosterman's Latest Makes Readers Ponder

Josh Conrad
2.7.08

Have you ever wondered if it was possible to live off chicken nuggets, or if the entire rock music genre has evolved from one Led Zeppelin album? No? You haven’t? Well lifetime journalist and current “Esquire” columnist Chuck Klosterman has. His most recent book, “Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade Of Curious People And Dangerous Ideas” provides answers to these questions and more through his collection of articles and columns.

For anyone at all interested in journalism, Klosterman’s stories provide an ultimate example of pop culture reporting. A majority of his stories consist of comprehensive interviews of celebrities like Steve Nash and his socialist approach to basketball, as well as the overwhelming intelligence of the members of Radiohead.        

Klosterman also shows his writing roots by including articles written for a small town newspaper in North Dakota. He openly admits that these stories aren’t of the best quality, but they turn out to be some of the best to read because it is easy to relate them to any small city around here.

Klosterman’s book also offers some deeper meaning. Prefacing each of Klosterman’s “Esquire” columns is a question to the reader that can only be described as thought provoking. These questions are my favorite part of the book. After being asked if I would take a pill to make myself smarter while appearing less intelligent to those around me, I had to stop and think, and I’m sure any reader would do the same.           
         
Whether it’s for the unique look into the lives of Britney Spears and Bono, or for the quirky philosophical questions that will make readers think about their music taste in a new way, anyone who wonders about the crazy culture we live in will enjoy Chuck Klosterman’s fourth collection.

Image from amazon.com