The Boomer Bible | 
 enlarge | Author: R. F. Laird
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $0.64
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Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 289476
Media: Paperback
Edition: First Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 880
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.8
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.5 x 2
ISBN: 1563050757
Dewey Decimal Number: 818.5407
UPC: 019628030757
EAN: 9781563050756
ASIN: 1563050757
Publication Date: January 10, 1991
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Cover wear and may contain some marks or writing. Keen Northwest ships in 2 business days or less. Refunds for any reason if item returned within 30 days of shipment.
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Product Description
In the beginning there was the Holy Bible
2 Which was a very good book indeed, but so many things happened since the beginning,
3 That Maybe it was time for another bible,
4 So a punk from Philadelphia wrote a new one,
5 And so it is called The Boomer Bible,
6 So there.
7 And Its Past Testament tells the history of the world, including the Book of Greeks, Book of Brits, Book of Yanks, Book of Russkies, and all the other self-proclaimed Chosen Nations,
8 And people sticking each other with pointed sticks, and acting up, which is called civilization,
9 And also about religion and art and movies and literature, and TV, and so forth, which is why there are also the Books of Pnowlege,
10 Including Psongs, Psayings, and Psomethings,
11 Written just like the other Bible but without any big unpronounceable words,
12 So that you and I might truly understand it,
13 For a change.
14 And Its Present Testament tells about the coming of Harry, and The Way of Harry,
15 Who may be the messiah everybody has been waiting for,
16 Unless he really isn't,
17 Which is hard to say,
18 So there.
19 And there is also The Book of Harrier Brayer together with the Harrier Hymnal,
20 And another Testament too,
21 And Concordance, and a lenticular hand on the cover.
22 And It is not for the faint of heart,
23 Or the easily offended,
24 Or the priggish or the prudish,
25 But who cares,
26 Because neither was Candide, or Swift's A Modest Proposal, or Rabelais, or Lenny Bruce
28 Or all the other satires and satirists who felt the need to warn us when we have gone astray,
29 Which we have,
29 Which you'll know all about,
31 If you read your Boomer Bible,
32 Or there.
Over 87,000 copies in print.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 28 more reviews...
brilliantly funny July 5, 2007
Anyone aspiring to rule the world should be forced to read this book at the end of a "pointed stick".
It's also one the funniest books I have ever read. The first part of the book exploring world history through the lens that each great culture has had the absurd notion that they were (are) "the most chosen nation" is priceless.
I first read this book in the mid '90s. It's still funny and important. It's required reading for my teenage children.
SG
Second funniest book ever November 9, 2006
The amount of work that went into this brilliant piece boggles my mind. Long, drawn out, stunningly comedic, the passages are cleverly cross-referenced to other verses, something akin to a thousand page inside joke. I have read exactly one book that I consider funnier than this one, that being Christopher Moore's "Lamb: The Gospel of Biff, Christ's childhood friend".
Boomers: Hate, Despise, Surpass? June 17, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Boomer Bible begins with bad history: the kind of history that Boomers learned, but didn't pay attention to. It goes further into the invention of the Boomer culture: do what you want to, blame everyone else for what goes wrong. Finally, it ends with an invitation to surpass this most pathetic generation, knowing that while most of what they do is a mistake and misguided, they'll only blame someone else for it.
Read for enlightenment.
 The Funniest Sad Book I've Ever Read January 16, 2004
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Laird has something to say about the human condition - and he says it with a striking amount of style and humor. Copying the format of an actual bible (books divided into chapters and verses, complete with cross-references) the Boomer Bible gives an irreverent and scorching account of every nation's history. The prose favors brevity and hilarity. Very quickly the reader gains the impression that we humans have botched it. From the very beginning we've been nothing but bad news, killing each other with pointed sticks and spending all our time inventing new ways of murdering one another. It's been the same all through the centuries; we're bad, bad, and worse. There's no reason to expect the future will be different, there's no point in changing, so why try? Or so says Harry, the Christ-like effigy that pops up in the "New Testament" portion. The Boomer Bible was poignant, touching, and so funny there were times I had to stop reading just to appreciate it. Praise is cheap, but this truly was an amazing book.Why only 4 stars? The books meant to parallel the prophets of the Old Testament were just plain dry, and I suspect the author might have intended them to be skipped. I slogged my way through much of them hoping for something, but surrounded by the humor and significance of the rest of the book, they were a barren desert. I ended up skipping very many pages, though I hated doing so for fear of missing something. I unconditionally recommend this book.
Meet a brand-new day. December 30, 2003
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I imagine many people have lifted "The Boomer Bible" off a bookstore shelf, given it a cursory flip-through, thought "weird", and put it right back. That's what I did -- but fortunately, a couple months later my mom saw it in the store while Christmas shopping and decided it would be a good gift for a weird kid. That was over a decade ago, and I still return to it regularly... sometimes for entertainment, sometimes for inspiration, and sometimes to dig for hidden treasure.TBB can be read linearly, from front to back, just like any other book, and that alone is worth the price of admission for its immense variety of jokes, memorable turns of phrase, and observations about the often-unacknowledged dogma that permeates the modern mind. The "Past Testament" takes us through the history of the world and the bases of the "Baby Boomer" worldview; the "Present Testament" relates the story of Harry, a man of wealth and taste who inspires the Boomers to do all kinds of fun things; the "Book of Harrier Brayer" codifies the Boomer Way into a secular religion; and finally, a "Punk Testament" tells the story of some nobodies who react to the Boomer Way with crazy ideas. When you've finished reading "The Boomer Bible", though, you've only finished reading it one way. There's a lot more to it, and if you enjoy puzzles, "The Boomer Bible" has countless hours of brain-teasers in store. (I should emphasize, though, that the book stands just fine on the merits of linear reading alone -- in my case, I had hardly any idea of the iceberg under the surface until I found discussions of TBB on the Internet, long after it had become my favorite book.) The only reservation I have about recommending "The Boomer Bible" is that it might give some readers dangerous ideas. If you apply the Boomer Way properly this shouldn't be a problem, but if you fail to do so, don't blame me.
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