No one was more surprised than me to see that Justin Timberlake came out with an insight-laden coffee table book. There are certain side projects you expect to see a star take on — custom Levi’s, sure; lip balms and marionettes, why not? (the pop music landscape in the early 2000s was a weird place, okay?) — but an Oprah-esque rumination on life? Not so much. At least not from the former boy bander who’d just come off a Super Bowl half-time performance and was mid-tour.

But, here it was, Hindsight & All The Things I Can’t See In Front Of Me, on a Target bookshelf, so I had to take a look. I mean, I owned all of that *NSYNC side-project swag from back in the day, so what would this be like?! Amid the reflections on a childhood in Memphis and teenage fame was an interesting excerpt on the entertainment industry, and more specifically, what entertains us — and why we gravitate toward it.

Art, he argues, shows us who we are and who we want to be. The music we listen to and the shows we binge-watch aren’t just balms to numb us and help us escape from the world. Maybe occasionally that’s why you tune in, but really, he says, it’s to feel more connected — to yourself and the world around you.

“These experiences touch something within us, sending us back, validating who we are, and showing us something true about ourselves.”

—Justin Timberlake, Hindsight

We can’t help but find relatable moments and gems in whatever we take in; it’s part of the human experience and how our minds are wired to make sense of the world around us. The connections will be made, even when we’re trying to tune out.

“When we watch, when we listen, we’re not getting away from the world. We’re actually digging in,” he writes.

It’s a perspective that may have you rethink the next thing you click “play” on in your Netflix queue.

You can find a copy of Timberlake’s book on Amazon. (And if you buy it, we’ll get a little affiliate $$$. The lead photo is also from Amazon.)