Chomsky for Beginners by David Cogswell

I wrote a paper about Noam Chomsky for my philosophy of history class. I had no idea where to start so I thought back to the friendly introduction to Derrida that I received last fall and decided to look for a comic book. I really love these writers and illustrators for giving the philosophically disinclined an easy entrance into some really deep topics.

How to Talk about Books You Haven't Read by Pierre Bayard

I will be honest; this book confused me. Bayard did encourage me to think about reading in a new way by suggesting that the act of reading is not a seamless process, but rather one that contains contradictions and gradations. He also notes that books are not binary and do not exist for individuals as either read or unread (sounding like Derrida to anyone else?). The idea that not you should not read books but should instead talk about books that you have not read in order to be able to be creative and tell your own story is an interesting concept, but I am not sure that I agree. Basically, I am puzzled at what I should take away from this book or if I should have read it at all given that I contradicted the title.

And no, I have not read any of the books in the picture. To take a suggestion from Bayard, I am not ashamed to admit it.

Side note: I get a kick out of checking the back cover of books to see their classification. Incidentally, this book is classified as Popular Culture/Literary Studies (although I am redesignating it philosophy). For some reason, I find the fact that someone sits down and gives books identifying labels fascinating. I am adding that to my mental list of job possibilities: book classifier. So in that spirit of classification and tidy categories, I have tagged all of my previous entries. Looks like fiction was last year's winner followed closely by history (shocker).

Derrida for Beginners by Jim Powell

"America is deconstruction." --Derrida

Dr. Palmer lent me this one about a month ago when I stopped by his office when I was up at CBU hanging up posters. In the course of our conversation, I mentioned that whenever anyone in my seminar classes mentioned theory, I got hopelessly confused. He lent me this book that he had read when he took philosophy of history when he was in grad school to help me get a handle on deconstruction/textuality. It is certainly the most accessible philosophy book I have read; the cartoons helped. It was also purposely flippant and would drive any serious philosopher crazy. For me, it was all the philosophy I could handle.

Feminist Theory: The Intellectual Traditions by Josephine Donovan

Whew. This book, a read for Women and Gender Historiography, marked my first one for graduate school. *Pause for overly dramatic mental applause.* It took me three weeks to finish it, which is why I read it over the summer instead of waiting for classes to start. Honestly, I do not think I am cut out for intellectual history; it bears too much in common with philosophy. Thanks to Chase, my favorite extreme religion/philosophy, emphasis-on-philosophy major, for explaining the details of existentialism to me.

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels

What kind of self-respecting history major has not read The Communist Manifesto? The answer: me, for a very long time. I almost got through it last semester for my Russian Revolution class, but I stopped halfway through. (Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking.) When it got assigned again this semester, I figured it was time to bow to the curriculum, suck it up, and read it. Turns out, if you read it when you're not in a primary-document haze, it is surprisingly easier to read. Good to have read for historical context,but not so into the historical determinism. The picture is of a poster that has "Welcome to the Party" on top. You really have to see it to get the full effect.