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thomasgoddard's review against another edition
4.0
One of the world’s greatest living thinkers. Also, one of the saltiest guys I’ve ever read, academically.
The essays on the middle-east are scathing critiques. The overview of American foreign policy and the wide-reaching fallout of its actions is fascinating. We need more people with an objective viewpoint.
I’ve always appreciated his perspective when I stumble across a video interview with him on Youtube. So, owning to the fact that I’ve been meaning to read On Language, as well. I figured I’d take them both at the same time and see what all the fuss is about.
In short, this book reinforced my endless plea to anyone I meet who professes any love of the hippest new trending movement on twitter.
Don’t just be another typical young person (18-34)!
Don’t just say you support Palestine without learning about the issues. Don’t say you support protest causes without exploring the reasons they came about. If you don’t learn about it, you’re promoting ignorance and nothing will change. Because the people in control will ignore you because ideas are not threats. They want you to think they are, but they are not. People are threats. And a people with no concept of what they actually want and how to get it will fade away. They like that. Don’t be like that.
Look at Occupy, Not In Our Name, BLM... all of them fizzle out. Because protests don’t change things. People change things. If you have a cause, get smart about it, educate people. Sharing posts is not something, it is the bare minimum. And, if you ask me (which I know you didn’t) you sharing that and not really giving a shit is actually adding to the watering down of the power of those movements and leads to their decline.
Chomsky points out that a lot of the key evils in the world are purposefully not covered by the media. East Timor, for example. So, if it is in the newspapers maybe question why and register that it probably has a lot to do with them controlling your outrage and channelling it into causes that make them look like saviours or allow them to leverage funds to ‘help’ those people. In any case, fast-forward 20 years and those people will be in a worse position.
So I would recommend this to anyone who was born since 1985. Because before that date, you probably knew a lot of the content from long-form journalism. Damn, I really miss great journalism. I can’t think of an article I read in the last 10 years that wasn’t just click-bait.
Anyway, read this!
whogivesabook's review against another edition
4.0
One of the world’s greatest living thinkers. Also, one of the saltiest guys I’ve ever read, academically.
The essays on the middle-east are scathing critiques. The overview of American foreign policy and the wide-reaching fallout of its actions is fascinating. We need more people with an objective viewpoint.
I’ve always appreciated his perspective when I stumble across a video interview with him on Youtube. So, owning to the fact that I’ve been meaning to read On Language, as well. I figured I’d take them both at the same time and see what all the fuss is about.
In short, this book reinforced my endless plea to anyone I meet who professes any love of the hippest new trending movement on twitter.
Don’t just be another typical young person (18-34)!
Don’t just say you support Palestine without learning about the issues. Don’t say you support protest causes without exploring the reasons they came about. If you don’t learn about it, you’re promoting ignorance and nothing will change. Because the people in control will ignore you because ideas are not threats. They want you to think they are, but they are not. People are threats. And a people with no concept of what they actually want and how to get it will fade away. They like that. Don’t be like that.
Look at Occupy, Not In Our Name, BLM... all of them fizzle out. Because protests don’t change things. People change things. If you have a cause, get smart about it, educate people. Sharing posts is not something, it is the bare minimum. And, if you ask me (which I know you didn’t) you sharing that and not really giving a shit is actually adding to the watering down of the power of those movements and leads to their decline.
Chomsky points out that a lot of the key evils in the world are purposefully not covered by the media. East Timor, for example. So, if it is in the newspapers maybe question why and register that it probably has a lot to do with them controlling your outrage and channelling it into causes that make them look like saviours or allow them to leverage funds to ‘help’ those people. In any case, fast-forward 20 years and those people will be in a worse position.
So I would recommend this to anyone who was born since 1985. Because before that date, you probably knew a lot of the content from long-form journalism. Damn, I really miss great journalism. I can’t think of an article I read in the last 10 years that wasn’t just click-bait.
Anyway, read this!
radella_hardwick's review against another edition
Chomsky's language is exceedingly dense. And, while I was mildly interested in the article on linguistics that opens the collection, the stuff about the Vietnam War only had a curiosity value of displaying a zeitgeist that I didn't experience.
roshreads's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
An invaluable collection of Chomsky's writings over, roughly, a 50 year period. Through astute assessment of historical conflicts, and a typical wealth of citations, this is a very useful reference for anybody seeking to understand modern day foreign policy.
jennykeery's review
5.0
"And now I can't sleep from years of apathy, all because I read a little Noam Chomsky."
NOFX's blisteringly satirical and insanely catchy song, Franco Un-American, is actually where I first heard Noam Chomsky's name. At 12 (glued to the Kerrang! music channel) the political message went a bit over my head, although I liked the bit about whales. Watching it back now, I'm not sure how it went over my head, as the music video is as subtle as a brick!
Since then, I've seen him referenced everywhere, and my boyfriend describes him as "the don of international politics", so I thought it was about time I read a little Noam Chomsky for myself.
This is an essay collection on topics ranging from behavioural linguistics to 9/11, and it really threw me in at the deep end with the first topic: A Review of B.F. Skinner's book, Verbal Behavior. Ah, good! A discussion of a book I have not read, by an author I do not know, on a topic I do not understand. It's a reflection of Chomsky's clear, concise style that by the end of it I was going: "Yeah that view of verbal behaviour is reductive and flawed!! What was B. F. Skinner thinking?!"
It's a running theme that no matter what the topic is, Chomsky discusses it in a way that's accessible, but no less intellectual for it. You can tell that this man is dazzlingly intelligent; it's refreshing that he doesn't waste time trying to prove it. I'm finding it quite hard to summarise this, because the topics are so wide ranging, but in general Chomsky is critical of American power, and stresses the importance of academics and experts in holding governments and organisations to account. Compassionate and intelligent politics, philosophy and sociology - just wonderful.
NOFX's blisteringly satirical and insanely catchy song, Franco Un-American, is actually where I first heard Noam Chomsky's name. At 12 (glued to the Kerrang! music channel) the political message went a bit over my head, although I liked the bit about whales. Watching it back now, I'm not sure how it went over my head, as the music video is as subtle as a brick!
Since then, I've seen him referenced everywhere, and my boyfriend describes him as "the don of international politics", so I thought it was about time I read a little Noam Chomsky for myself.
This is an essay collection on topics ranging from behavioural linguistics to 9/11, and it really threw me in at the deep end with the first topic: A Review of B.F. Skinner's book, Verbal Behavior. Ah, good! A discussion of a book I have not read, by an author I do not know, on a topic I do not understand. It's a reflection of Chomsky's clear, concise style that by the end of it I was going: "Yeah that view of verbal behaviour is reductive and flawed!! What was B. F. Skinner thinking?!"
It's a running theme that no matter what the topic is, Chomsky discusses it in a way that's accessible, but no less intellectual for it. You can tell that this man is dazzlingly intelligent; it's refreshing that he doesn't waste time trying to prove it. I'm finding it quite hard to summarise this, because the topics are so wide ranging, but in general Chomsky is critical of American power, and stresses the importance of academics and experts in holding governments and organisations to account. Compassionate and intelligent politics, philosophy and sociology - just wonderful.
aliilman's review against another edition
4.0
In the Essential Chomsky, we find some of the best works of Noam Chomsky. Some are politically thought-provoking, some are intellectual.
Politically, a common theme is Chomsky’s writings on ‘Murica’s foreign policy, such as ‘Murica’s relationship with Israel, atrocities ‘Murica had committed in Vietnam and Nicaragua to name a few, ‘Murica’s lust for Middle East’s rich natural resources. The penultimate chapter of the book is fittingly ‘Murica’s involvement in the war of terror.
Apart from politics, there are writings on linguistics, such as how the brain and the mind work when it comes to learning and using a language. One would have to read such topic slowly in order to appreciate the curiosity that can be felt behind the writings.
The philosopher in me thoroughly enjoyed reading this.
Politically, a common theme is Chomsky’s writings on ‘Murica’s foreign policy, such as ‘Murica’s relationship with Israel, atrocities ‘Murica had committed in Vietnam and Nicaragua to name a few, ‘Murica’s lust for Middle East’s rich natural resources. The penultimate chapter of the book is fittingly ‘Murica’s involvement in the war of terror.
Apart from politics, there are writings on linguistics, such as how the brain and the mind work when it comes to learning and using a language. One would have to read such topic slowly in order to appreciate the curiosity that can be felt behind the writings.
The philosopher in me thoroughly enjoyed reading this.
earlapvaldez's review against another edition
4.0
I certainly failed to understand and remember everything in this collected essays, but Chomsky's comments and critical reading of the phenomena around American society in his time awakened the need to think and think again of where we are going. This is important especially now that Philippine society experiences something unique and quite unprecedented.
More interesting for me as a future teacher of epistemology would be his treatment of language and the mind.
More interesting for me as a future teacher of epistemology would be his treatment of language and the mind.