A Livable Future is Possible, a collection of interviews with Noam Chomsky, shows Chomsky analyzing several contemporary issues we are facing.

Like pretty much all of Chomsky's work this is descriptive and not prescriptive. Like Foucault, Chomsky presents historical and analytical information in his works and saves his activism for the places and movements he lends his voice to. He assumes his readers know their immediate environment and have the intelligence to apply the insight he is offering to whatever forms of activism they engage in. If you're looking for a "how-to" perhaps you should check the pop nonfiction titles, there are plenty.

Because these are separate interviews from different points in time, there will be some repetition. Rather than lament that, maybe we should see that the same systemic issues underlie many seemingly separate crises. Additionally, in a collection that covers different topics, it would be foolish to eliminate the explanations, the historical foundations, from the interviews just because they are mentioned in another interview. Some readers will pick and choose which interviews to read based on the area that matters most to them. Leaving the core of the explanation out would make some of the interviews seem incoherent.

Like many interviews there isn't a lot of new ideas here, it is about applying ideas to what has recently happened. If you're more concerned for understanding Chomsky in the abstract, I would suggest some of his work that presents big picture ideas with the events that support them. If you're familiar with Chomsky and want his take on these current situations, this book will reward you.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

“A Livable Future is Possible: Confronting the Threats to Our Survival” is a collection of interviews with Noam Chomsky infused with urgency. He discussed the climate crisis, ongoing war in Ukraine, rising nuclear risk, fascist threat in the United States (something we have since seen plenty of in only a few days), and Biden’s foreign policy.

Chomsky at 95 years has the same vigor, intellect, and passion that you’ll find in older clips and writings. As noted in the preface, he maintains optimism over despair. This collection explains what we have to be worried about and some solutions we should consider.

Fossil fuels and climate change have been kept in the arena of up-for-debate thanks to lobbying and deep pockets. The current solution: hope that a technological breakthrough will ride to the rescue. It won’t. The second solution is for industries driving this crisis to help, which they will so long as solutions are tax-payer funded and de-risked.

Tied to the climate crisis is the American need to ensure China doesn’t develop and innovate. They would become an even bigger threat to the American Empire. America could step aside and see if they’ll be able to produce advanced technology that could help. Simple solution tied to the false dream above, but unlikely.

Chomsky reflects on AI and language models. If you’re into that kind of thing. His ideas on Trump as the biggest threat have not only been realized recently but have changed the way I viewed that topic. I was always of the mind that figureheads are figureheads, but the truth is a lot more scary than such a naive or safe approach. I fear we’ll see more and more evidence of Chomsky’s observations and concerns as we continue.

We haven’t even touched on Russia, Ukraine, Israel, nuclear weapons, and the doomsday clock. But those are all in the collection and I recommend folks pick it up. Especially for the parts about NATO which Chomsky gets criticized for even though he’s right.

I don’t know how optimistic I am, but his optimism is inspiring. If you don’t think a livable future is possible you’ll never step up and do something to make it better.

A Livable Future is Possible by Noam Chomsky and C.J. Polychroniou is a thought-provoking and urgent exploration of the global crises facing humanity, including climate change, inequality, and political instability. Through a series of interviews and discussions, Chomsky offers sharp insights into the root causes of these challenges and emphasizes the need for transformative action to secure a sustainable future. The book is both a critique of current systems and a call to action, urging readers to rethink economic models and political priorities. With its clear and accessible prose, A Livable Future is Possible is an essential read for anyone concerned about the future of the planet and society.

I received the copy of A Livable Future is Possible for free and I leave this review voluntarily. I do not generally read nonfiction but since I am interested in climate change I decided to read this one. I am happy that I decided to do so. Of course, name of Noam Chomsky lured me into reading.

In this interview structured book, Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin answer a series of questions that are related to climate change, artificial intelligence, current wars and rise of right extremism. Although I am not sharing their views on various subjects, reading about their decisions led me to see current situations from a different view. I mostly liked the parts on climate change, especially on how to conduct a just transition and how advanced countries are missing the points on just transition. Also, the book gives introductory level information on climate change so if you have no information on the subject, it allows for easy learning with the interview structure.

All in all, I thank the authors, the publisher and NetGalley for offering me a chance to read this title. It is thought provoking and gives insights of how a livable future could be ruined by the ones who promises for a livable future.

Such an informative book much like his others. I loved the question/answer style of writing which makes it very readable in small doses so you can mull over the information.

This book will work for the usual fans of Chomsky. The interviews cover varied topics, so it's obviously not Chomsky's strongest standalone piece. But it is his newest, and it's good for folks interested in: Ukraine, NATO, and climate change inaction. I enjoyed the interview/chapter about ChatGPT and AI, and I would have loved a whole book from Chomsky on this subject. I appreciate that he references so many other thinkers, like Arundhati Roy. I will critique the title, which suggests advice or a majority of essays about possible actions that individuals can take. This is not his usual vibe, and it isn't for this book either.

This book is a collection of interviews exploring Noam Chomsky's thoughts on current issues, which is interesting, but not enough to really carry this book to the end. I was looking for something similar to Jane Fonda's Firedrill Fridays book, where I got to hear her thoughts, see research on the issues and be given steps for how I can active my community citizenship. It was, perhaps, my fault for thinking that this book would be the same, but it definitely was informative, and comforting in some ways, although, since it was a set of interviews, many of the answers overlapped, turning this into a repetitive tomb. If I wanted to hear the same song on repeat. Since these interviews were conducted as the events happened, it was insightful to understand Noam Chomsky's thinking in real-time, but it still felt like I was in a time capsule because there was not much reflection on his predictions for the future, and I understand that he can't provide clear-cut answers because he is not a fortune teller of the future, so this felt like a good book club discussion book because each topic requires open dialogue and ongoing analysis to place his insights into our current situation.

This book is a compilation of interviews Noam Chomsky has had, and I am rating it a three because it was not as striking as I expected it to be. Given the title of the book, I expected this book to be more about disclosing how this livable future can be achieved in the context of our modern reality. Going in with that expectation, this book did not deliver on it.
The book contains valuable insights into Noam Chomsky's thoughts on current issues, which are always interesting to read. It is a good introduction to the author, and it covers various topics, but it is not as in-depth as other works by the author.
I want to thank the author, Haymarket Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in exchange for a review.

3.5 stars

While this collection of interviews with Noam Chomsky deftly maneuvers between differing topics and dives into each, I found this collection to be a bit repetitive. Since it is a collection of questions and answers from different interviews, some of the answers overlap and discuss the same points as a former passage. This was still incredibly educational and full of the personal touch and style that Noam Chomsky brings to discussions.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This title is set to publish December 10, 2024.

Ah optimism in a way only Chomsky can deliver. When every thing seems bleak, Chomsky not only corroborates that, but he also provides a tiny light at the end of the tunnel for those of us brave enough to see it.

I alway appreciate Noam Chomsky and his ability to discuss that issues are complex, and maybe don't have a clear cut solution. Hearing his thoughts always opens my eyes to the world more. And to have his thoughts together in one place is nice. That said, this collection made the choice to go in reverse chronological order and it feels bizarre to get more and more distant from some of the events being discussed. Conversations like these should be building rather than feeling like you're going back in time and this was an issue then too.

Chomsky is an incredible intellectual, and his ideas and opinions are always supported by a deep understanding of history. This collection of interviews proves no different, as he shares his thoughts on various contemporary issues. What is most compelling is that his strong opinions have a basis in a broad knowledge, and all of his positions feel grounded in a context much bigger than what we are usually given by the media. In that regard I enjoyed all of these interviews and think there is value in them.

With that said, other than as maintaining an archive of his work and thought, I do question who exactly this is for. This is the fourth such collection of interviews that Haymarket Books have published, so I suppose there is an audience for them. As much as I really appreciate Chomsky’s thought, I don’t think I may be that audience. These interviews range from July 2022 through June 2023, and they all cover contemporary events. They are all relatively short and aren’t presenting any larger or cohesive thesis or argument; they are responses to specific events as they happen. As such the collection feels like a time capsule, but not, more than a year after the final interview took place, while the history and deep understanding that birthed Chomsky’s position hasn’t changed, the circumstances certainly have. Everything feels so topical that it is hard to grasp onto to one thing as a core idea or take away, other than the refrains Chomsky has been singing for decades (which boil down to how neoliberalism is a “savage class warfare,” and greed and wealth inequality, from which grow militarism and so forth, will basically doom us all). It is not that his responses aren’t still relevant, but, given how fast the world is moving they sometimes feel like they are out of step with the scale of issues happening at the moment.

Plus, there is the curious decision to structure the interviews in reverse chronological order, so the newest is first in the collection, and the oldest is last. Especially with the number of essays on the war in Ukraine this just feels odd, because instead of seeing the growth and development and commitment to his position we see almost a regression. Maybe there is a useful reason for reverse chronological order, but it didn’t feel useful to me, it felt like it stripped away context even more. Additionally, the format led to a lot of overlap, not just in ideas but in turns of phrase, and that level of repetition didn’t reinforce his thought as much as made it expected, by the end. In a similar vein, it is hard to feel like the interviews live up to the title. In the introduction we are reminded that Chomsky always insists on “optimism over despair,” that he believes in humanity. But to suggest that he offers viable solutions to any of the issues would be wildly avoiding reality. Does he propose what would be, if they were ever implemented, actually effective at combatting the issues he addresses? Yes, certainly. But none of those solutions are pragmatic, insofar as they would require billionaires and oppressive governments and those most empowered and strengthened by their greed and lack of human decency to entirely reverse course and choose to work for humanity instead of for themselves. It is almost the opposite of hope, because it shows that things don’t have to be the way they are but the mechanisms for actually changing things seem to lie far outside of the hands of ordinary people. Basically, if those with all the power chose to give up their power than we could fix things, but otherwise… ?

In short, Chomsky’s thought is always engaging, and even at 95 he is a deep well of expansive insight. This book serves as a great archive of his engagement with contemporary issues, to which he brings an incredibly detailed understanding of the history of power. It that it succeeds and can be a valuable resource in that way.

I want to thank the author, the publisher Haymarket Books, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Seeing the world through Chomsky's eyes is truly enriching, but it is also dramatic and frightening.

Vedere il mondo con gli occhi di Chomsky é veramente un'arricchimento, ma é anche drammatico e spaventoso.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

A collection of conversations Chomsky has had over the years, compiled in this easy to read volume on a variety of subjects. This might be a good introduction to someone unfamiliar with Chomsky's writing but treads well covered ground for those more versed in his speeches and writing.

A well-organized transcripts of Noam Chomsky’s interviews discussing AI, sustainability, and human rights with Chomsky's trademark of clarity and open-to-discussion approach. His diplomatic approach underscores the complexity of these issues, highlighting that most do not have clear-cut answers but instead require open dialogue and ongoing analysis.

It is a fine book in the stle of late Chomsky books. He is arguably a more compelling speaker than writer so these books that are well edited transcripts in some ways are more digestible than some of his written books.