The Bombast Transcripts: Rants and Screeds of Rage Boy

by Christopher Locke

Book Overview

In more ways than one, Chris Locke has raised a godawful racket on the Net. Under his alter-egotistical nom de plume, RageBoy, and through his webzine, Entropy Gradient Reversals, he 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. Now for the first time in browser-free format, The Bombast Transcripts brings together...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738208051
• ISBN13: 9780738208053
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Beyond description

This is the crash course in understanding the fundamentals of the necessity of change as seen through the eyes of the author, Christopher Locke. Everything you previously thought was lore is turned on its head in riotous fashion in The Bombast Transcripts. Each chapter takes apart some standard you thought was a given, an immutable and constant attribute of practically every aspect of life in the western world. The best part is that Chris does it in so many different ways in one book. There's flat out ranting and there's cutting ridicule including interviews with himself, Rupert Murdoch and the famous one with Mr Ed. (Yes, the horse.)Using those cliched critic's terms of rollercoaster ride or rollicking good yarn don't do this volume any justice whatsoever. In fact, this book defies any label you might care to ascribe. In fact, I defy anyone to come up with a label for this book.

Genius at work. Chew on carpet while you wait.

I only have one thing to say about this: "The Solution is Poetry". Excellent reading. Warning, you may not get it if you consider yourself too smart and significant.

"You have GOT to READ this guy!!"

That was my introduction just over a year ago to Entropy Gradient Reversals and the evil genius mind(s) behind it, Christopher Locke/RageBoy. From that first mind-blowing, breathless reading of his newsletter, I was alternately charmed, alarmed and disarmed by the decidedly unpretentious Chris Locke. His new book, the Bombast Transcripts, a collection of essays previously published to the Entropy Gradient Reversals mailing list, contains that first newsletter that caught my imagination, and so many more. As I've read through this book, I have found myself again reacting to it in the visceral way that I had to become accustomed to as one of his faithful Valued Readers at EGR. While some may call him pompous and crass, I find him to be merely open and honest. Then again, I've always had a soft spot for intelligent, over-indulgent, semi-vulgar Don Quixotes. His chosen windmills are big business that don't have a clue (IBM et all, no small potatoes here) and, while a book about business practices would normally make my eyes glaze over while putting me in a semi-catatonic state, I find this book to be human and engaging at every turn. Each essay stands on it's own as either a rant or a screed, yet each could also be expanded into its own little book. Irreverent, engaging, transforming, contemplative, hilarious....and each page is more of the same. While I read Locke's words, I get the feeling that I am a part of something much bigger and more important than anyone can guess, especially those that think the internet is nothing more than a collection of chatrooms and porn sites. No, I get the feeling I'm getting a glimpse of a creation, a rapturous inferno of truth and emotion, two key elements that, when exposed to each other under the heat of RageBoy's passion, cause a brilliant flash of evolution that could change the world as we know it. What a wonderful world that would be. Idealistic? Maybe. Bombastic? Hardly. Evil Genius?? Indeed.

Billy likes this book

I like how the words seathe with celebration. Rageboy's words leap to the eyes, swirl in the brain...and confuse, but amuse and seduce. I have reread a few times, and the closing is my top choice...Ok, so yeah, if you haven't red Chris' books, buy them NOW and do that...Laterz/Billy

A symphony of words

Chris has an incredible way with words, weaving them into material that alternately sooths and savages. You read a passage that you find just doesn't leave you. You have go back and read and re-read it again. As you do, an incredible depth and richness unfolds before you. A symphony of words.At the first read, you hear the violin, softly playing in the background. At the second reading, a trumpet cuts in, with high, harsh notes. Continued reading of the same passage exposes the deep and penetrating rhythm of the drum, the gentle melody of the piano, and finally the flute - playful and teasing. Chris is funny. Sad. Tense. Shrewd. Warm. Antagonistic. Profane. Profound. Friendly. Devilish. Funny. Irreverent. And so's the book. Note, though: This book is not for the faint of heart, and those who are looking for a simple, easy, moderate, and mundane read. It is for those who want to grab life by the neck and shake it for all its worth.