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, cant it still express strong human emotions that ring true with the audience?
At the heart of the book lies Werner Herzogs 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 Herzogs 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 Scotts and Amundsons race to the South Pole to alien abduction stories and the making of Herzogs own films.
With its singular vision and unique voice, The Future of Truth is an iconoclastic 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 has produced, written and directed more than seventy features and documentary films, including the multi-award-winning Grizzly Man, Aguirre, The Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, My Best Fiend, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Nosferatu, Lessons of Darkness, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Into the Inferno, Meeting Gorbachev and Encounters at the End of the World.
He has also directed many operas and published more than a dozen books of prose, including Conquest of the Useless, Of Walking on Ice, The Twilight World and, most recently, his acclaimed memoir, Every Man for Himself and God against All.
In 2025 he was awarded a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice International Film Festival.
