Here is a corollary from Atiyah-Macdonald:
Question 1: The corollary states that finite direct sums of Noetherian modules are Noetherian. But they prove that countably infinite sums are Noetherian, right? (so they prove something stronger)
Question 2: I have come up with the following proof of the statement in the corollary, can you tell me if it's correct? Thank you:
Assume $M_i$ are Noetherian and let $(\bigoplus_i L_i)_n$ be an increasing sequence of submodules in $\bigoplus_i M_i$. Then in particular, $L_{in}$ is an increasing sequence in $M_i$ and hence stabilises, that is, for $n$ greater some $N_i$, $L_{in} = L_{in+1} = \dots $. Now set $N = \max_i N_i$. Then $(\bigoplus_i L_i)_n$ stabilises for $n> N$ and is equal to $\bigoplus_i L_i$, where $L_i = L_{iN_i}$.
This proves that finite direct sums of Noetherian modules are Noetherian so it's a bit weaker. But if it's correct it proves the corollary.