Saussure for Beginners (Writers and Readers Beginners Documentary Comic Book)

Rating:
Summary: A great way to come quickly up to speed on Saussure
Review: If you have not read Saussure before, this is a great advance organizer on his thinking. If you have read him, it is a fine review. You finish the book with a good practical knowledge of Saussure's language and concepts, grounded in the confidence to leap into Structuralism and Deconstruction.

Rating:
Summary: Here Begins the Father of Modern Linguistics
Review: Saussure for Beginners is an excellent intro to the man whom is credited with as the the creator of modern linguistics. Well written and somewhat easy. This book will surely be taken in stride if you intend to understand exactly what Saussure was saying. As a beginner myself, I found some of the theories confusing. Yet, as I found out later, it was not the writing, it was the theory itself because linguistics is a tricky subject if not approached with some caution. I dont know of any other book that would be a good introduction to the subject, not only of Saussure, but of linguistics itself. Saussure has influenced so many others from Chomsky, Lacan, Derrida, Barthes and so many others. Overall not as fun as many other For Beginners books, however there is certainly more information displayed here. I definately reccomend this book before any other books on linguistics (yes, even before Saussures own posthumous book 'Course on General Linguistics').

Rating:
Summary: Comic Book Format Flops
Review: Thinking this would help me better understand Saussure and the roots of modern linguistics, I bought and read this book.

It is not helpful at all, and definitely not a Cliff's Notes to Saussure.

I got this book because I was having so much trouble getting behind Saussure's Course in General Linguistics (available here in amazon), a required text for my college course in Linguistics.

The illustrations usually do not illuminate the text, and seldom offer concrete examples of Saussure's theories. A few times, there is a huge hunk of text, illustrated only with a line drawing of Saussure! Saussure's work is a lot to digest, and the sort of reader (like me) who is attracted to a book like this is in need of some simple explanations and illustrations that really make the text come alive. The book actually makes matters more complex. There is little attempt to meaningfully place Saussure in history, and no mention of how differing modern liguistic theories evolved from either illumination of or dissent from Saussure. This sort of historical context, which I now understand, would be a really helpful feature in an illustrated guide to Saussure. This book is actually a great little example of how NOT to write an idiot's guide.

The Gordon/Lubell book only made my confusion worse, and I ended up slogging on through Course in General Linguistics, pestering my professors after every lecture, and so on. My final "A" owes nothing to Saussure For Beginners.

I would be most grateful to any scholar of Linguistics who can visit this review site and post a comparison of the Gordon book to a more simple writing on Saussure. Future first-year Linguistics students will appreciate it.