The Bombast Transcripts: Rants and Screeds of RageBoy® - Softcover

Locke, Christopher

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0738208051 ISBN 13: 9780738208053

Publisher: Basic Books, 2003

Synopsis

From one of today's most original, outspoken, and outrageous writers comes an extraordinary collection of essays, anecdotes, and observations on our life and times. Under his alter-egotistical nom de plume, RageBoy®, Chris Locke has entertained and enlightened thousands of readers from some of the world's largest companies, governments, and institutions-including those from which he's managed to escape.The Bombast Transcripts brings together the best of his worst. And his worst is very good indeed. Part scathing send-up of commercial techno- fetishism, part hysterical standup on the theme of spiritual bankruptcy, part intimate memoir, The Bombast Transcripts will rock you, shock you, and leave you deeply pondering what The Economist once called "the wisdom of RageBoy."

About this title

Review

With The Bombast Transcripts, Christopher Locke (a.k.a. RageBoy, that iconoclastic cybervoice of dissonance, disdain, and all things provocative) is leaping from your screen to your bookshelf. Look out. The scathing rants from the creator of Entropy Gradient Reversals--probably the most wittily outrageous, cryptically observant, and eagerly puzzled-over Web zine ever to pollute the airwaves--are explosive.

As a tag, screed is only partly accurate for the contents of this volatile collection; they're long harangues, all right, but by no means monotonous. Listen in as Locke lets his alter ego loose in friendly chat with IBM's Lou Gerstner (well, actually an exit interview with Lew Firstner, pompous and clueless chairman of the 666 Corporation). As he not-so-clearly illustrates what "getting it" means (by pondering T.S. Kuhn, voodoo ceremonies, and a sacred space you can't enter with your mind on, let alone your shoes). And as he gleefully admits that most of his readers "seem to enjoy abstruse and obfuscatory exegeses on themes that utterly elude them" but apparently "alleviates their anxiety about not knowing anything that wasn't covered by Geraldo." Don't be insulted; be alleviated. Locke may indeed be the Web's most acerbic gonzo journalist and techno-semiotic social critic, but he's also written for Forbes; worked for MCI, Ricoh, and the Japanese government's AI project; and been named one of the top 50 business thinkers in the world. If you missed out on this cyberpundit's irreverent rants the first time around, catch him now (if you can). As Locke himself reminds us, "Being totally insane is hard work. People don't realize that." They should now. --S. Ketchum

About the Author

Chris Locke is author of The Bombast Transcripts, co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, and editor/publisher of the Webzine Entropy Gradient Reversals. He has worked for Fujitsu, Ricoh, the Japanese government's "Fifth Generation" artificial-intelligence project, Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, CMP Publications, Mecklermedia, MCI, and IBM. Named in a 2001 Financial Times Group survey as one of the "top 50 business thinkers in the world," he has written for a wide variety of publications, including Forbes, The Industry Standard, Information Week, Harvard Business Review, and Release 1.0. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0738208051
• ISBN 13: 9780738208053
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288