Do you agree with abridging Karl Marx/any books?

[RedMarxist]

I recently ordered The Portable Karl Marx by Penguin books. What I like about the book is how it takes the most important and relevant sections of books such as The German Ideology and Das Kapital and condenses them down to size, and so it gives you a taste of what to expect without diving into the 1000 page Das Kapital itself(Which honestly I will never do, contemplated buying Das Kapital though once).

Do you agree with abridging books, particularly Karl Marx's [very long] works?
It has full copies of some of this most important smaller works though, such as The Critique of the Gotha Program and the Manifesto of the Communist Party as well as smaller full articles and whole letters. In all its about 560 pages long.

[o well this is ok I guess]

I mostly say that one should try the original works before reading abridged works or summaries, but it's something that one can only advocate to a certain extent.

I mean, I can't think of anything more intimidating than the three volumes of capital.

[Astarte]

The only problem I have with any kind of abridged works is that you are letting someone else, essentially, decide for you what is the most pertinent and important information of the text.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

The only problem I have with any kind of abridged works is that you are letting someone else, essentially, decide for you what is the most pertinent and important information of the text.

Exactly.

Every part of capital is important,one cannot say "this,that,and this" are important while leaving out the several hundred pages which actually detail the process on his theory.If down right abridging can help,but most of the time it usually is used to brainwash or mislead.

[black_tar_heroin]

Exactly.

Every part of capital is important,one cannot say "this,that,and this" are important while leaving out the several hundred pages which actually detail the process on his theory.If down right abridging can help,but most of the time it usually is used to brainwash or mislead.That's odd.

Since Engels in 1868 wrote Synopsis of Capital which did indeed leave out several hundred pages (ignoring the fact that he didn't finish it) of history/details.