The Authenticity Hoax: How We Get Lost Finding Ourselves (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
I stumbled across this book while picking some other stuff up from the library. I’m always up for some sociology/anthropology etc, and this seemed interesting. It poses quite a fascinating question: in our demand for authenticity have we actually attracted the opposite? Moreover, what really is authenticity, particularly in our selfie, image conscious world? It’s a reasonable question in the world of pop culture and social media, where Kim Kardahian flashes her whole naked body to the world but no one knows how much photoshop and plastic surgery has been involved. This book works through how the idea of and demand for authenticity came about and how Potter feels that we’ve compromised ourselves. It also looks out the ongoing movement of ideas and concepts and things from ‘underground’ where it is deemed authentic to ‘mainstream’ where it isn’t, and how this is a fallacy in of itself. It’s not exactly the most engrossing book but nonetheless it’s a fascinating question to think about. One of the more disappointing books I have ready in a while. I enjoyed Rebel Sell, and this sounded like an interesting thesis. Unfortunately, I found it poorly executed. The book was more like a series of loosely connected essays on the vaguely defined (but apparently very dangerous) concept of "authenticity", which apparently includes a wide range of evils including local food, facebook and cultural tourism. It ended up reading like a slightly more intellectually sophisticated version of an old man rant about "what the kids are into these days". Ultimately, his ideas weren't particularly well supported either. It was long on pop culture references and philosophy, short on actual facts. Too bad, because the idea had promise.
What do You think about The Authenticity Hoax: How We Get Lost Finding Ourselves (2010)?
Maybe a bit too academic for the topic. A lot better at anecdotes and facts than at theorizing.
—Ellen
Think of this book as explaining why white people like "stuff that White people like".
—nat1031
A great, great book. Excellent mix of philosophy, sociology, and pop culture.
—tin
