novemberparadise23 Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 With the years of talk about the unreleased GNR track atlas shrugged I figure I would check out the book this week. I have heard its a great book but anybody who has read it here have an opinion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magisme Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 No. Just no to everything Ayn Rand. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NGOG Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 The title is grandiose and interesting, but it's just a manifesto for the supposed beauty of capitalism. The hilarious thing is, she chose the wrong thing to be paranoid about (i.e. communism).It's actually monopoly capitalism that has ravaged her 'beloved' US of A in the way she described. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bromle Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Haven't read that book, but seen a few movies based of it, and some documentary and synopsis on it. How good of a book it is depends I guess. Thematically I don't agree with her vision of the future and the state, but it can be a good start to some other political philosophy. The premise of the story is a oil crisis and the government is trying to block the industry leaders from building new profitable railways. So it's about the government hand trying to stop innovation and prosperity. The main character is the good business woman, and her brother is the guy trying to please the government. Needless to say who "wins".The problem with Ayn Rands thinking is that she believed that the marked in it self is good, and that the rich has good intentions for the poor and the well-being of mankind. But personally I don't believe that to be true. The idea that wealth trickles down is not very well empirically founded, since the wealth gap is ever widening, meaning that wealthy people are getting wealthier compared to the rest of the population. So I don't believe that Ayn Rands free marked is the best, is the right way to go, since most of the wealthy states in the world today are wealthy partially because trade regulations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetness Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I kinda want to read it just to see why some people claim Ayn Rand is such an evil lunatic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bromle Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Read this one.http://www.amazon.com/The-Prince-Niccolo-Machiavelli/dp/0981224415/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395074853&sr=8-1&keywords=the+princeIt will pull back the curtain on how the world works. Probably some of the best 100 pages you can read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redhead74 Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I actually enjoyed Atlas Shrugged, except towards the end where the ranting began and kept going......and going.....and going. The Fountainhead is a much better read and probably my favourite book of all time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facekicker Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Got halfway through the Fountainhead before throwing the book across the room. She badly needed an editor. And that's just the start. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GivenToFly Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I think her childhood in the Soviet Union severely traumatized her.The book almost works as an allegory at times but she's trying to be too literal too often. It's shocking sometimes to read a scene and realize that this is not intentional exaggeration, she actually believes this stuff.As a novel it's not bad for the first two parts, it's got a cool end of the world vibe to it, and even the philosophizing is not all bad, but the last part is atrocious.I'm sure there are plenty of books equally jarring on the other end of the spectrum, going at ramming speed against capitalism, they're just not as well known.On a related note: when I was at UCL last year the Conservative Society invited the president of the Ayn Rand Institute to give a speech. I saw it advertised on a billboard and it was free entry (I was NOT part of the Conservative Society!) and went there out of curiosity. I would never have imagined I could hear so much facepalm worthy bullshit in the space of two hours!... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novemberparadise23 Posted March 17, 2014 Author Share Posted March 17, 2014 Thanks for the replies everybody. I have been on a big reading kick lately. Tryna read a few books a month. Mostly fiction, fantasy or the occasional biography. Had heard a lot of mixed reactions about this Figured it might be an interesting read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H. Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I kinda want to read it just to see why some people claim Ayn Rand is such an evil lunatic.It's not a very good book.The Fountainhead was really enjoyable though, if I remember correctly. It's been a while since I've read either book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Nova Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 It's actually monopoly capitalism that has ravaged her 'beloved' US of A in the way she described.No offense....but if the USA has been "ravaged"....I must have missed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NGOG Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 It's actually monopoly capitalism that has ravaged her 'beloved' US of A in the way she described.No offense....but if the USA has been "ravaged"....I must have missed it.When I say ravaged, don't think "apocalypse", think disastrous financial system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Nova Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 When I say ravaged, don't think "apocalypse", think disastrous financial system. It's had it's hiccups....but I wouldn't even call that "ravaged". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facekicker Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orsys Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I liked the Fountainhead much better. I just found Atlas Shrigged a tougher read, though I did like the story quite a lot. Both give you the idea of objectivism that Rand is trying to portray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasted Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Never offer, if forced, obey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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