Chomsky: Where to begin?

[Shredr]

I've never read any of Noam Chomsky's book. I would love to, but am unsure where to begin. Does he have current/ more relevant books to read now? Are there "classic" Chomsky books which I really should read first to understand him? Any advice is appreciated.

[LincolnMcGrath]

1. Manufacturing Consent

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0679720340.01._PE_PIdp-schmoo2,TopRight,7,-26_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg

[John Q. Citizen]

2. Are you into linguistics, politics, or both?

[Shredr]

5. To begin with, I'm more interested in his political writings...

The linguistics sounds fascinating, too. But I'd rather leave that for later.

Thanks.

[durutti]

7. I don't like Chomsky's linguistics. n/t

[John Q. Citizen]

12. Why not?

He transformed how 1st language developement is understood

[WillyBrandt]

14. Chomsky linguistics are revolutionary: they make linguistics POSSIBLE

You're not one of those anti-math, anti-logical analysis types are you?

Linguistics would be such a joke without Chomsky's work in formalization of grammar.

[enigmatic]

3. I'm playing 2 tapes of Chomsky speaking..

on the "Spoken Word Weekend" show on my station in 2 weeks; I'll give you (and anyone else) a heads-up when it's on..

[Mojambo]

4. Steer away from the linguistics stuff unless you're a scholar.

His other books fall into either
1. Foreign Policy
2. Media criticism

Start with either Deterring Democracy or Manufacturing Consent.

[Indiana_Dem]

6. This website was my first exposure to his writings:

http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/sam/sam-contents.html

Since then I bought Hegemony or Survival but I'm reading through some other things right now so I can't give you a review or anything.

I also have a Chalmers Johnson book, too, that I need to dive into. I spend too much time online though and never get them read!

[TabulaRasa]

10. Hegemony or Survival

I forgot about that in my post. This is a good one, and was written very recently.

[durutti]

8. They have Chomsky for Beginners.

I'd start there. There are lots of leads for further reading in that book.

[TabulaRasa]

9. Good Question

I've had friends who've said they had trouble with his academic prose style. If that would apply to you, I would read some of his concise interview books. There's a trilogy out there that's pretty easy to read. What Uncle Sam Really Wants is one of the three. (In fact, I think the trilogy is available online.) If you're up for more intricate stuff, there's a really good collection of interviews and group discussions with Chomsky called Understanding Power. If you're up for dense academic writing with endnotes stretching into the horizon, I would go with The Chomsky Reader, first, then some of his more topical books ... Manufacturing Consent (w/ Ed Herman), about the media; Fateful Triangle, about the Middle East; The Political Economy of Human Rights, vols 1 and 2(also w/ Ed Herman), about U.S. foreign policy; Towards A New Cold War, about the Cold War. Radical Priorities is a good collection of different things. There's a lot of repetition in his work, and I've tried to avoid suggesting you read things that overlap greatly. As to more modern stuff, the book 9-11 was written after the attacks, but I don't think I've seen any newer books. I might be wrong. Ask if you need more help.

[Baja Margie]

11. So many,

I enjoyed the Real Story Series:

The Prosperous Few And The Restless Many
Secrets, Lies and Democracy
What Uncle Sam Really Wants
and

World Orders Old And New

There is an excellent interview of Chomsky (and many others) by Jerry Brown, in Brown's Dialogues.

[jonnyblitz]

13. "Hegemony or Survival" is his most current. "9-11" is another

His writings can mostly be found on Z magazine's website.

[MrScorpio]

15. My first exposure to Chomsky came from his speeches on Pacifica Radio

http://www.pacifica.org/

I've got so many of his books I would know where to begin.

But I would suggest listening to him first

[Doctor Panacea]

16. Reading Chomsky

I have read a couple of the books, I guess.

I think "What Uncle Sam Really Wants" was one.

The basic message: The U.S. has interfered in foreign countries and kept any kind of independent movement from succeeding.

Definitely worth reading.

I would also recommend Chalmers Johnson's "The Sorrows of Empire," which is brilliant.

[moof]

17. You don't need to read anything, this quote from says it all.

Alex Carey, Australian social scientist, quoted by Noam Chomsky in World Orders Old and New

" ... the 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great
political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power,
and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate
power against democracy."
------------------------

Welcome to the war for poverty, but it's over and we lost.

[kodi]

19. can you believe it? lou dobbs used that quote when interviewed by moyers

on PBS's show NOW friday night

[kodi]

18. the chomsky reader is a good place to start.

it lays out much of his theory in politics and how he looks at specific topics. the chapters on the responsibility of intellectuals and how to view the world are worth the price of the book altogether.

[Radical Activist]

20. My first was Profit over People

That's a good short one and still relevant. I've worked through half of his new one which is pretty good. Chomsky gets repetitive after a while, but probably for good reason. Lately I've dumped reading Chomsky in favor of Howard Zinn. Zinn doesn't have as many books but I find them more engaging.