Organization

Boyle introduces his book with the ironically rhetorical question “What happens when we ask a rhetorical question?” (p. 3) before explaining a few sentences later “…the rhetorical question can be understood as a chemical solution in wherein a solute and solvent resolve one another” (p. 3). Throughout the beginning of his introduction, Boyle is explaining to his audience that, despite the fact that rhetoric and rhetorical questions often do not seek any true answers, they do get a response that in turn seeks an answer (p. 3). This first paragraph is foreshadowing of the rest of the text to come— Boyle is not trying to necessarily give a solution or resolution to digital technology and rhetorical practice and how they should, if they should, interact, but rather he is posing a question and exploring said question himself and invites his readers to seek out their own responses. The rest of the introduction is then dedicated to connecting Rhetoric as a Posthuman Practice to traditional and current rhetorical theorists and philosophers (such as Gilbert Simondon) to posthumanism and digital technology. The final part of the introduction then discusses how the book is set up, giving a brief summary of each chapter.

Following the introduction, the rest of Rhetoric as a Posthuman Practice is split into two parts. The introduction formed Part One of the book, "A Preface to Practice," and was the only chapter within that part. Part Two is called "Theorizing Rhetorical Practice" and Part Three is called "Practicing Rhetorical Theory." As suggested by the titles, Part Two focuses more on the theoretical side of the book while Part Three focuses more on practicing the theory that is discussed in Part Two. Each chapter continues to build from the previous chapter, easily synthesizing information and concepts from each part of the book together. Part Two focuses primarily on defining information while Part Three puts the ideas and theories from Part Two into actual practice, implementing Boyle’s ideas into a realistic and understandable exercise.