The future of truth

Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

The fine line between truth and fiction is further blurred in this scattershot rumination from film director Herzog (Conquest of the Useless). According to the author, beyond mere factual accuracy lies the deeper "ecstatic truth" of art and culture. Michelangelo's Pieta sculpture, for example, departs from reality by depicting a mature, mid-30s Jesus and a teenage Mary, but resonantly conveys the idea of a Man of Sorrows mourned by a virgin mother. Herzog also explains how his own documentaries employ nonfactual inventions to give them added weight (Lessons of Darkness, which captures the apocalyptic aftermath of the first Gulf War in Kuwait, attributes Herzog's own epigram to French thinker Blaise Pascal to lend it gravitas). On the other hand, Herzog is perturbed by AI's growing capacity to concoct convincing disinformation and urges readers to remain vigilant by taking such steps as critically consulting a wide variety of online sources, especially during moments of political unrest. Herzog's musings on these points amount to a familiar and somewhat fuzzy defense of poetic license, though fans will relish his evocative prose and riffs on instances of confusion between reality and fantasy (including UFO abduction stories, Potemkin villages, and a Japanese company that supplies clients with actors who impersonate their friends and family members). It's a mixed bag. (Sept.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

---

Review by Library Journal Review

Filmmaker Herzog (Every Man for Himself and God Against All) begins this exploration of the nature of truth through art, philosophy, and history with a quote from Roman grammarian Aulus Gellius: "Truth is the daughter of time." It sets the stage for all that follows. Herzog asserts that fake news has always existed; it has simply morphed from era to era. For instance, Roald Amundsen's victorious race to the South Pole in 1912 was diminished by the heroic ineptitude and death of rival Robert Falcon Scott. It took decades for a different truth to arise, showing how hubris clouded Scott's vision and revealing his effort for what it was: misbegotten from the start. Herzog is an erudite and elegant writer seeking to understand what he considers the simulacrum of truth: that is, in his most cynical reflection, truth becomes a construct of one's prejudices, modern life is merely a series of Potemkin villages (i.e., external facades that make people believe the world is better than it is). And yet, Herzog concludes, on a more positive note, that the hard work of discovering the truth is what gives life dignity and meaning. VERDICT An intelligent and thoughtful reflection on the truth and how we got here.--Sandra Collins

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

---

Review by Kirkus Book Review

A film director addresses the assault on truth. "All my life, my work has been involved with the central issue of truth," Herzog writes in this brief collection of essays. Like many others, he is worried about the ease with which people can be deceived into accepting falsehoods as reality, such as the seemingly real online chat between him and a Slovenian philosopher "in which our voices are mocked up very accurately, but our conversation is meaningless twaddle." That some of these threats have their positive side, Herzog writes, makes the problem even more vexing. AI, he notes, can help with "improvements in the design of vaccines," but it also presents "the possibility of comprehensive, mass supervision, of disinformation, of manipulation on a vast scale." In these impassioned pieces, he offers his insights into the threats to the concept of truth. Fake news, he points out, is nothing new. One can trace the phenomenon back as far as 1275 B.C.E. and the falsehood that, at the battle of Kadesh, Ramses II was a great conqueror, when in fact "Ramses was not triumphant, [and] the battle was inconclusive at best." Herzog presents many examples of delusion, including the flat earth theory, the "technical possibilities of producing fictive 'truths'" with Photoshop and TikTok, deepfake porn on the internet, and more. He is especially animated over "the foolish belief that equates truth with facts," reserving particular scorn forcinema verité, "an antiquated form of cinema that offers no profound insights." Little is original here, but Herzog is an engaging ally, and he isn't above cheekily harmless deceptions of his own. When he was in Panama and dressed in missionary garb for his role in Harmony Korine's filmMr. Lonely, a local approached him and wanted to confess. Herzog listened to the man's confession and "granted him absolution in Latin." An erudite plea to not give up on truth. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

---