Average Rating: 
Rating:  - No better demonstration of how editing can make or break you
Required reading.It is pretty much a given that Chomsky's ideas are compelling, whether you agee or not. The extraordinary value-add in this book is the editing job. It is obvious and gigantic. The authors have organized Chomsky's talks into logically flowing, highly documented, and parallel-structured snippets of one to three pages each - and there are a couple of hundred of them. Most of them open with an audience question, and a quick retort by Chomsky. This is followed by a key word: Look, Actually, or See, after which Chomsky goes into huge depth and detail, never straying from the focus. Again, the editing is what makes it all compelling, useful, and evenly paced. The amount of work that went into tearing apart years of talks, conversations and lectures, and then organizing them in complementary sections, making them fit a format that allows the reader to breeze through (well relatively breeze through) the densely packed insights of Noam Chomsky deserves some sort of award. The footnotes are the most useful and detailed I have ever seen. They are a monumental standalone work in and of themselves. I only wish THEY were indexed like the book is - after all, there are 449 pages of them, compared to 401 pages in the book. While Chomsky comes off as extraordinarily insightful, there are weaknesses - holes you could really exploit if you ever had the privilege of arguing with him. His knowledge of financial markets and foreign currency exchange, hedge funds and such is not only superficial, but sometimes just plain wrong. Sometimes he generalizes immense conclusions from a few superficial and specifically chosen facts that ignore the complexity of the situation. This kind of inductive reasoning befits the ranting fundamentalists (of all stripes) he belittles, and is surprising from someone as "fair" as Noam Chomsky. He also completely misunderstands the power of celebrity and familiarity, missing and even denying his own leverage. In other words, he is human after all! Perhaps then, there is actually less here than meets the eye? I don't think so. I think this book is so well edited, it actually allows the reader to surgically inspect the workings of this fine mind, to put things in frames of reference and perspective, and even to claim the occasional victory over Noam Chomsky in the safety of one's own home and without a half hour rebuttal. If you're up for the wild ride to places in your own back yard, Undertanding Power is very highly recommended.
Rating: - One of Chomsky's best books
It's better to read Noam Chomsky than to read what other people think of him.Some of his earliest political books take some effort to get through. But not this one. Ever since (roughly) the 1980s, Chomsky has made his political research more accessible --- shorter books, books full of interviews, etc. This approach reaches its climax with Understanding Power. It's all here, presented in a way that anyone can read. If you want footnotes, they are easy to find online. (And there's a *lot* of them. They constitute a whole other book unto themselves.) I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a view of US foreign policy and political history that is accurate and respectful of basic human rights
Rating: - A befitting title: this book is indispensable.
The ten chapters of this book compile question and response material taken from talks Chomsky delivered throughout the 1990s. The chapters are conveniently marked where the topic shifts, so that if you want to look up Chomsky's views on a particular issue, you easily can. Everything in this book is still extremely relavent. Even if you think you've heard it all before and have read a lot of other Chomsky books, it is still inspiring to read Chomsky and this book is perfect to have around as a refresher. It is also the perfect introduction for those who are beginning to have an interest in progressive politics. All of the classic wit, wisdom, logic, (incredible memory skills) and integrity of Noam Chomsky come shining through in this collection. (For those who have only heard the name of Chomsky slandered and ridiculed, I encourage you to read through some of this book and ask yourself, why is it that nobody ever really addresses Chomsky's arguments, but will profusely attack him with ad hominem denunciations?) Of all the Chomsky books I have read, this one is the most definitive.
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