Chomsky for Beginners (Writers and Readers Beginners Documentary Comic Book, 80)

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Summary: A Stepping Stone Into the World of Chomsky
Review: Chomsky for beginners is great for anyone that has picked up one of his books then tilted their head sideways in a confused state of not understanding. It breaks Chomskys work into two parts: The Linguistic Era; and the Politics and Media Era. Both are equally fascinating and well written. Profound in its clarity, this is surely a book that will make you appreciate Chomsky's thought, whether you agree with him or not. Chomsky always believed in freedom of thought, and a disgareement is just as valid and important as someone who agrees. Both should be heard. A good springboard to reading his works and not overwhelming in comparison to Chomsky's own writings (who is one of the most prolific writers today). I highly reccommend this book who wants to learn in a nutshell what Noam Chomsky is about.

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Summary: A helpful beginning place for the Chomsky reader
Review: CHOMSKY FOR BEGINNERS will be of help to anyone interested in the works of Noam Chomsky. It is true that the focus of the book is mainly on his work in political science, but I think that is logical since that is what he is most famous for, outside of scientific circles at least. And while the description of his work in linguistics is certainly brief and relatively superficial, I have to humbly admit that even at that rate it was over my head - I've had to re-read that section several times, and I still don't think I quite get it.

I know that as a "serious" student of his works, I am supposed to be somewhat offended by the depiction of Chomsky as a superhero cartoon character with an "N" on his shirt. But to be honest, I kind of liked the cartoons. Chomsky's work and intellect are often so astonishing that it can be a bit intimidating. I mean, this man has been referred to as "arguably the most important living intellectual," "maybe the smartest man in the world," and ranks just behind Plato and Freud on the list of the most-quoted authors; Chomsky is the most-quoted living author. It's hard to imagine, to "image," this remarkable man and his remarkable career. Within the course of the answer to a three-sentence question, Chomsky will often reference history - off of the top of his head - going back five centuries. This can be overwhelming, and it can seem a bit intangible. Also, as CHOMSKY FOR BEGINNERS details, his double career and path to it is very unconventional. Somehow, seeing somewhat crudely drawn cartoons of Chomsky throughout his career gives me something tangible to interpret, to relate to. I've heard that it is an aspect of human cognitive abilities to need symbols in the quest to understand a given topic. For me, that's what the cartoons are - symbols that help me understand.

The only concern I have with CHOMSKY FOR BEGINNERS is that it occasionally refers to Noam Chomsky as a "radical." As Chomsky himself has pointed out many times, there is nothing radical about his political work. His interviews, lectures, and books, often reference the mainstream papers like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, etc. What Chomsky doesn't indulge in is "the doctrine of change of course." This doctrine holds that the mistakes and atrocities of the governing power of the moment, the United States for example, are automatically erased from history. For example, the fact that the United States government once aided Saddam and considered him an allay, or that the United States government at one time supported Hitler and Mussolini, or that under the Reagan administration tens of thousands were slaughtered in Central American, are no longer admissible into any mainstream political debate. If you bring up such things you are labeled a "radical." But I don't see much radical in simply being honest about history.

Andrew Michael Parodi

Rating:
Summary: I recommend this book to Chomsky fans
Review: I never knew who Chomsky was until I saw him on TV. I noticed he was very sharp and punctual when he spoke. It intrigued to get a book by him, but it was too heavy. Luckily, I found this book. This book allowed me to understand Chomsky in a another form of intelligence through pictures and vocabulary I could comprehend.
It covers many actual quotes and text which really makes Chomsky truly be a genius people should read and understand.

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Summary: I'm ambivalent about this one
Review: I'm torn between two sets of reactions to Cogswell's book. On the one hand, I find it simplistic in places--especially the section on Chomsky's linguistics. On the other hand, Chomsky's "deep grammar" model is notoriously difficult, and this book doesn't claim to be anything more than a "beginner's" guide. So perhaps this is an excusable flaw.

Besides, it's probably the case that curiosity about generative/transformative linguistics isn't what draws most readers to this book. My guess is that they're primarily interested in Chomsky the political/cultural commentator and activist. To that end, the book does a much better (although still bare-bones) job of presenting the basics of Chomsky's criticism of the media and his concern that politics is just an extension of corporate interests. Along the way, it discusses Chomsky's 1966 article "The Responsibility of Intellectuals" and his 1980s book "Manufacturing Consent." The former, in my opinion one of the best pieces Chomsky's ever written, ought to be required annual reading for every academic in the country. It might go a long way toward infusing some life into the moribund Ivory Tower (and I speak as one of the Tower's inhabitants). The second, an expose of media bias, has never been topped as the authoritative analysis of how the media is structurally untrustworthy. Information is just another commodity in our commodity-driven culture, and is fashioned and sold in order to fit the tastes of the consumer and bring in profits to the manufacturer. To read *Manufacturing Consent* is to begin the process of seeing the world through one's own eyes, rather than through the eyes of the media.

Cogswell's comic book occasionally uses gratingly dated leftist dysphemisms such as "goons" to describe the powers-that-be, and overdoes the Noam-as-superman cartoon that illustrates the cover. But if going through this book encourages readers to check out Chomsky's writings themselves, it's well worth reading.

One final word: anyone wanting a timely introduction to Chomsky in his own words might want to consider reading *9/11*, a collection of interviews with Chomsky conducted shortly after last year's terrorist attacks. The book is vintage Chomsky. His reflections are penetrating, rational, extremely fair-minded. One of the most refreshing qualities to them--and to most of his other writings--is Chomsky's refusal to fall into leftist stereotypes, slogans, or jargon. He's a guy who thinks for himself. He's also an extremely good-hearted human.

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Summary: Soft Headed Exploitation
Review: If you are looking for a beginner's guide to his ideas in linguistics, this book is useless. It spends only about 20 pages on his linguistics. Very shallow, scratch the surface kind of description, stuff that anybody who would bother to read a beginner's guide would know already.

Instead, this book focuses on Chomsky as a social commentator. But the explanation on his Political ideas is poor. You will learn that Chomsky says that, the world is controlled and dominated by big companies and people are manipulated by media illusion, and that the government doesn't serve the people but only protects the interest of these companies. OK. I would say they contain some amount of truth. But this all sound like very familiar leftist political statement. What was Chomsky's contribution in all this? The book never gives you any idea. Or are we to admire the fact that he dares to say these things at all? (I suspect that this is what the authors are getting at...)

I would imagine that this is the fault of the authors, and not Chomsky himself. The interview at the end of the book is kind of telling. The interviewer keeps asking stupid touchy-feely Qs like "Do you feel positive about the future?" and you can clearly observe that Chomsky is really annoyed by this. To summarize, this a sort of an exploitation book, an attempt by a soft-headed liberal to create a cult of personality out of Chomsky. The depiction of Chomsky as a Superman on the cover clearly indicates this, I think. Now, does Chomsky deserve this? This sort of blind worship is the last thing that the man would want.

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Summary: An easy to understand overview of Noam Chomsky's work.
Review: Noam Chomsky is renowned for his work in both linguistics and sociogeopolitics (for want of a better term). Although Chomsky's own writings often deal with profound and difficult to master ideas, 'Chomsky for Begginers' offers a superb introduction to this leading intellectual.

The book is light hearted and witty, but not patronizing, and the reader will at the very least come away with a critical view of world events and an admiration for Chomsky's breadth of knowledge.

One of Chomsky's ideas, that most international conflicts can be shown to have at their root a major corporation using government to effect a country's stability for their own ends, had a profound impact on how I now view current events. One might not agree with what Chomsky has to say about the nature of linguistics, society, the media or world events; but, at the very least this book forces one to think about things with a far more critical, if not quite synical, eye.

Rating:
Summary: Very likely to ENRAGE you
Review: This book introduces Noam Chomsky's ideas in a compact, very readable way. The cartoon format isn't up to Gonick's standards, but it doesn't really detract. This title is worlds more sophisticated than the Dummys or Idiots guides you might relate it to initially. Don't be fooled.

It does a fair job of covering Chomsky as a person, and his linguistic background. But the meat is the media and political criticism. Chomsky's basic ideas that there is a small ruling class in the US that control the media and just about everything else are laid out with enough support to be quite believable.

The book is necessarily short, and often leaves me wanting more. Sometimes it even reads like propoganda, making seemingly outrageous claims with little support. But it references Chomsky's own works extensively, inviting you to explore more if you're sceptical.

Rating:
Summary: Very likely to ENRAGE you
Review: This book introduces Noam Chomsky's ideas in a compact, very readable way. The cartoon format isn't up to Gonick's standards, but it doesn't really detract. This title is worlds more sophisticated than the Dummys or Idiots guides you might relate it to initially. Don't be fooled.

It does a fair job of covering Chomsky as a person, and his linguistic background. But the meat is the media and political criticism. Chomsky's basic ideas that there is a small ruling class in the US that control the media and just about everything else are laid out with enough support to be quite believable.

The book is necessarily short, and often leaves me wanting more. Sometimes it even reads like propoganda, making seemingly outrageous claims with little support. But it references Chomsky's own works extensively, inviting you to explore more if you're sceptical.

Rating:
Summary: Great introduction to the man behind the truth!
Review: This is definitely an interesting bathroom book. Take Noam Chomsky, social irritant and world-renowned Linguistics expert, and tell his story in a documentary comic book. Add some background information about the science of Linguistics as well as plenty of info about the American Capitalist machine, and you got quite an interesting read that you can pick up and put down whenever you're up for a quick paragraph or two.
Noam Chomsky isn't that well known. And that's because the powers that be want it that way. Chomsky's goal in life is to open the eyes and ears of the American public so that they'll take a better look around once in a while and see what's really going on. He takes on capitalism and the American government all the time. And because the American media machine is owned by some big corporations, don't expect to be hearing anything soon from the man, unless you crawl out from under the big money umbrella and dig around a bit.
I think that most people will ignore him, not because they don't believe what he has to say, but because they are afraid of the truth. They like to go along making their money, spending it the same thinking that all is fine in the world and that good ol' USA will carry the burdens of freedom and Democracy as it's fights the evils of the world. But that's just not the way it is. The truth is a lot darker than that. Yes, America once stood for democracy and greatness. But it lost it's direction along the way when the dollar signs floated in front of it's eyes.