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Theory toolkit

As I have said... a lot, theory is just a tool to help you analyse rather than describe. That fine body of French thinkers Barthes, Althusser and Gramsci (well alright he was  Italian but...) are often difficult to read. There's nothing wrong with starting with the commentaries and guides. If you find that their thinking is useful you can then go and read the men (or women themselves).

So, start reading around theory. here are some starting points I have found useful and continually refer to:

... and heh, you can check out the Shop
  • What Philosophers Think: Compact Edition by Julian Baggini and Jeremy Stangroom
  • Deconstruction: Theory and Practice (New Accents) by Christopher Norris
  • Philosophy: The Basics (Basics (Routledge Paperback)) by Nigel Warburton
  • The Philosopher's Toolkit: A Compendium of Philosophical Concepts and Methods by Julian Baggini and Peter Fosl
  • Feminist Practice and Poststructuralist Theory by WEEDON
  • Literary Theory: An Introduction by Terry Eagleton
  • Ideology: An Introduction by Terry Eagleton
  • Marxism and Literary Criticism (Routledge Classics) by Terry Eagleton
  • Great Thinkers A-Z by Julian Baggini and Jeremy Stangroom 
  • Michel Foucault: The Will to Truth by Alan Sheridan
  • An Introductory Guide to Post-structuralism and Post-modernism by Madan Sarup
  • Key Themes in Media Theory by Dan Laughey 
Some texts that are not strictly theory but certainly offer perspectives:
  • Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger (2001) The Cluetrain Manifesto 
  • Robert Scoble and Shel Israel (2006) Naked Conversations. 
  • Don Tapscott and Anthony . Williams (2007) Wikinomics. 
  • Clay Shirky (2008) Here Comes Everybody. 
  • Charles Leadbeater (2008) We think: The Power of Mass Creativity. 
  • Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff (2008) Groundswell. 
  • David Weinberger (2007) Everything is Miscellaneous. 
  • Christopher Locke (2001) Gonzo Marketing. 
  • Chris Anderson (2007) The Long Tail. 
  • Joe Trippi (2004) The Revolution will not be Televised 
  • Howe, J. (2008) Crowdsourcing: How the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business. Random House. 
  • Jenkins, H. (2006) Convergence Culture. New York University Press 
  • Hawk, B and Rieder, D.M. eds. (2008) Small Tech. Univ. Minnesota Press 
  • Miller, P.D. ed. (2008) SoundUnbound. MIT Press.
  • Jeff Jarvis (2009) What Would Google do?