Eating the Dinosaur

By: Chuck Klosterman

Narrated by: Chuck Klosterman, Ira Glass, Errol Morris, Keith Nobbs, Travis Tonn, Emily Tremaine

Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Chuck Klosterman has chronicled rock music, film, and sports for almost 15 years. He's covered extreme metal, extreme nostalgia, disposable art, disposable heroes, life on the road, life through the television, urban uncertainty, and small-town weirdness. Through a variety of mediums and with a multitude of motives, he's written about everything he can think of (and a lot that he's forgotten). The world keeps accelerating, but the pop ideas keep coming.

In Eating the Dinosaur, Klosterman is more entertaining and incisive than ever. Whether he's dissecting the boredom of voyeurism, the reason why music fan's inevitably hate their favorite band's latest album, or why we love watching can't-miss superstars fail spectacularly, Klosterman remains obsessed with the relationship between expectation, reality, and living history. It's amateur anthropology for the present tense, and sometimes it's incredibly funny.

©2009 Chuck Klosterman (P)2009 Simon & Schuster

Another great book by Klosterman

Chuck Klosterman does an amazing job of seemingly speaking about a few particular pop culture references but all the while digging deep into the human condition. Him reading his own books makes it even better.

Awesome

Favorite one so far. One of his best books. I love the chapter intros and it was nice hearing Ira Glass outta nowhere.

Not what I expected...in a good way!

Any additional comments?

I bought the book being relatively unfamiliar with the author and was pleasantly surprised. Hidden among the "hip" and "glib", there are some pretty good observations and life lessons. I must recommend it...even though I didn't think I would! Entertaining read...

Couldn't get into it

I usually like the odd books or movies. However, this book was just too out there for me. The Description of the book is right on, he just talks about everything. He's telling you about it though as if it were a thought happening in your mind. Just thinking about things and saying it. I thought it was way to vague and could never get into the book. You might like it if you like listening to some ones random thought process on the world. I won't say I don't like the book though because it just didn't interest me.

meh. author should not have read his own work

I really wish klosterman would have foregone reading this book and letting someone else do it. His voice was not made for radio. Very grating. The content was just fair. Not as funny as sex drugs and cocoa puffs or IV. Too existential at the end. Didn't connect.

Missing Two Essays

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I enjoyed the book, but two essays seem to be missing completely. "Going Nowhere and Getting There Never" and "All the Kids Are Right" seem to be absent. I have no idea why they are left out. I would like to hear them if they are available.

Would you ever listen to anything by Chuck Klosterman again?

All in all, I enjoyed what I heard, and the use of extra voices made the recording more interesting.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The essays have a light style and a self deprecating quality. They have lots of insights but done with a lack of the ego that a lot of essayists put in.

Any additional comments?

It was reminiscent of Sarah Vowell or David Sedaris.

Ho Hum

I didn't quite grasp most of this book until Klosterman finally hit on a topic or two that I can identify with. And I consider myself pretty well versed and well read. Overall, not bad if you don't mind listening to a bunch of essays..... but I could have (should have) taken a pass on this one.

Boring self-important drivel

Like listening to the diary of Chuck Klosterman… but just the really boring parts. Even, HE knows it’s incredibly boring as he suggests the listener skip ahead three minutes while he rambles on about something he knows no one cares about.

Gas Bag talks to other Gas bags about stuff you could get free on a Podcast app

This book has made me want to figure out a new way to vent books before I buy them. Fifteen minutes in I thought he was going to break to read a ad for blue bonnet. But it is ok maybe the author will be able to afford a rare Herbie Hancock vinyl he can place eye level in a room so people can think he is interesting.

Self-absorbed Twaddle

I patiently waited for Klosterman to get beyond a streak of obsessive navel-gazing about his singularly uninteresting experiences. He never did.