Noam Chomsky

I wouldn't wish to speculate how many emails Noam Chomsky receives each day, but I imagine the number to be in the triple digits.

On December 18, 2001, I sent Professor Chomsky an email with the subject: "Advice On Reading." I was not a student of Chomsky's nor had I ever met him or communicated with him previously. In other words, my email came to him out of the blue.

I told him that I was interested in doing some reading on Anarchism "as a political philosophy and/or community practice," and added, "when you have a moment, would you be so kind as to suggest some good sources for reading?"

Late that same evening, Chomsky replied with a list of books: "A good general book, to get one into the topic, is Peter Marshall, 'Demanding the Impossible.' A shorter one, with discussion of practice (Europe-oriented), is Daniel Guerin, 'Anarchism.' Nothing beats the classics: Kropotkin, Bakunin (Dolgoff's 'Bakunin on Anarchy' is good), Goldman, Rocker, etc. Quite rich pickings."

With overwhelming modesty, he did not bother to mention any of his own writings. Needless to say, I'm a big fan.