“The world is full of information. What do we do when we get the information, when we have digested the information, what do we do then? Is there a point where ye say, yes, stop, now I shall move on.”

James Kelman here offers something of why a book such of this is in front of the public. The State relies on our suffocation, that we cannot hope to learn “the truth.” But whether we can or not is beside “the point.” Finally, there is no “point.” We must grasp the nettle, we assume control and go forward.

Kelman says, “I wanted to convey some of that sensibility with the idea of being in conversation with Noam Chomsky, of being in his presence, a sort of seminar. It is not influence. I don’t see it as ‘being influenced’ by Chomsky. He belongs to the great tradition of teaching, of learning. We learn from him through what he does.”

At its core, this exhilarating collection of essays, interviews, and correspondence—spanning the years 1988 through 2018, and reaching back a decade or more previous—is about the simple concept that ideas matter. And not only that ideas matter. But that ideas—in this case, through the lens of two engaged intellectuals—mutate, inform, inspire, and ultimately provide more fuel for thought, the actions that follow such thought, and for carrying on, and doing the work.