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The Future of Truth
- Author
- Werner Herzog
- Narrator
- Werner Herzog
- Publisher
- Random House
- Publish Date
- 16 October 2025
- Run Time
- 3 hours 40 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
In this short sequel to his acclaimed memoir, the legendary filmmaker and global cultural icon explores one of his favourite topics: the nature of truth.
What if a lie is told to reveal some underlying truth? Are feelings that seem inappropriate, such as the hysteria following the death of a celebrity, any less real or true than the grief we feel over the death of a loved one? Even if the plot of an opera seems preposterous, can’t it still express strong human emotions that ring true with the audience?
At the heart of the book lies Werner Herzog’s concept of ‘ecstatic truth’ – a truth that is often hidden behind the facts and our conceptions of reality but can be gleaned through the poetic imagination, in art, literature and cinema, when we open ourselves up to an aesthetic experience.
Written in Herzog’s inimitable tyle, the stories, anecdotes and reflections take us from present-day deep fakes and the opportunities and perils of AI to Ancient Egyptian and Rome, where rulers resorted to lies and propaganda in the same way as governments do today; from Scott’s and Amundson’s race to the South Pole to alien abduction stories and the making of Herzog’s own films.
With its singular vision and unique voice, The Future of Truth is a compelling meditation on the relationship between fact and fiction, evidence and the imagination, by one of the most fascinating and idiosyncratic thinkers in the world today.
© Werner Herzog 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
Critics Review
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Like the strange, enchanting films for which he is best known, Herzog’s seventh book defies the usual conventions of structure, narrative arc and the delineation of fact from fiction, even as it addresses the very subject of truth … It’s like listening to a fireside monologue from an entertaining uncle … Compelling … A collection of uniquely Herzogian mindfarts … Absurd, profound or an ecstatically truthful mix of the two
Guardian
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As we gingerly pick our way through the newly troubling realm of what we see and read, and wonder what artificial intelligence might have in store for us, the German filmmaker Werner Herzog might be the perfect guide … In The Future of Truth he shares field notes of his encounters with truth and its increasingly convincing simulacra, from deep fakes to wholly fabricated personalities, living full if fictive lives in cyber space
Financial Times
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[A] typically eccentric meditation on truth: what it is, what it means, and how it relates to art. ... It's all poetic and thoughtful
Empire
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** PRAISE FOR WERNER HERZOG AND HIS PREVIOUS BOOKS **
Herzog is in a category of one. You can't believe that a person like this stalks the earth. A complete original
Marina Hyde
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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Visionary
New Statesman
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Herzog really is a kind of genius
Spectator
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A singular poet
Big Issue
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Werner Herzog has always seemed to be something more than human
Irish Times
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Michael Hofmann’s sparkling and inventive translation from the original German…somehow makes Herzog more Herzog in tone
Guardian
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Werner Herzog
- Narrator
- Werner Herzog
- Duration
- 3 hours 40 minutes
- Release Date
- 16 October 2025
- ISBN
- 9781529942422
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Random House
- Genre
- Social and political philosophy, Popular philosophy, Philosophy: aesthetics, Disinformation and misinformation, Media studies: internet, digital media and society, Essays
Synopsis
Brought to you by Penguin. In this short sequel to his acclaimed memoir, the legendary filmmaker and global cultural icon explores one of his favourite topics: the nature of truth.What if a lie is told to reveal some underlying truth? Are feelings that seem inappropriate, such as the hysteria following the death of a celebrity, any less real or true than the grief we feel over the death of a loved one? Even if the plot of an opera seems preposterous, can’t it still express strong human emotions that ring true with the audience?At the heart of the book lies Werner Herzog’s concept of ‘ecstatic truth’ – a truth that is often hidden behind the facts and our conceptions of reality but can be gleaned through the poetic imagination, in art, literature and cinema, when we open ourselves up to an aesthetic experience.Written in Herzog’s inimitable tyle, the stories, anecdotes and reflections take us from present-day deep fakes and the opportunities and perils of AI to Ancient Egyptian and Rome, where rulers resorted to lies and propaganda in the same way as governments do today; from Scott’s and Amundson’s race to the South Pole to alien abduction stories and the making of Herzog’s own films.With its singular vision and unique voice, The Future of Truth is a compelling meditation on the relationship between fact and fiction, evidence and the imagination, by one of the most fascinating and idiosyncratic thinkers in the world today.© Werner Herzog 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
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