Posted on 03/03/2009 7:06:39 AM PST by Halfmanhalfamazing
Books do not sell themselves: That is what films are for. "The Reader," the book that inspired the Oscar-winning film, has shot up the best-seller lists. Another recent publishing success, however, has had more help from Washington, D.C., than Hollywood. That book is Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged."
Reviled in some circles and mocked in others, Rand's 1957 novel of embattled capitalism is a favorite of libertarians and college students. Lately, though, its appeal has been growing.
According to data from TitleZ, a firm that tracks best-seller rankings on Amazon, an online retailer, the book's 30-day average Amazon rank was 127 on Feb. 21, well above its average over the past two years of 542. On Jan. 13 the book's ranking was 33, briefly besting President Barack Obama's popular tome, "The Audacity of Hope."
(Excerpt) Read more at seattlepi.nwsource.com ...
- Ayn Rand, ‘Atlas Shrugged’ 1957
L
I kind of thought the same thing. I couldn’t really come up with anyone who was innovative enough to really damage us. Plus half of those who would qualify are libs anyway who would embrace the “each according to his or her need” message.
It's just not a very good novel. But that's entirely by the way.
I've started it a couple of times but get bogged down in the wooden characters and impossible dialogue. I prefer my political philosophy straight up, as in Hayek.
But it's available in comic book form: The Illustrated Road to Serfdom
Better you hit him over the head with it. Repeatedly.
When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins and slaughter.
“Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion—when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing—when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors—when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you—when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice—you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that is does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot.
“Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, ‘Account overdrawn.’
For those that argue that such a book couldn't be made into a movie, all I can say is that's unfortunate. Our "sound-bite society" doesn't allow us to express and comprehend moral concepts if you can't express them in 15 seconds.
I gets a lot better, hang in there
Count me among those boosting the stats on Amazon. I wanted a nice hardcover edition. A book of that importance deserves a hardcover on my shelves, not a softcover.
Then why haven't you read Rand's philosophy books? She wrote a significant amount of non-fiction.
The Voice of Reason
The Virtue of Selfishness
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
Philosophy: Who Needs It?
For the New Intellectual
Introduction to Objectovist Epistomology
The Return of the Primitive
That's just a few to get you started.
“Rand badly needed an editor”
Might I respectfully disagree? Does the creation of a masterpiece call for editing?
Ayn did, however, have a group of friends that regularly met, read, and — incidentally — discussed her manuscript pages. One such friend was Alan Greenspan.
Another in that group was Barbara Brandon, who wrote in her book “The Passion of Ayn Rand,” that Atlas Shrugged “ ... was to be Ayn’s gift to America. A moral sanction.”
Is there any concept in the book that a person with average intelligence couldn’t come up with themselves?
These days that's not such a good name to be associated with.
Another Rand book, covering the philosophical field of esthetics, is
The Romantic Manifesto
Better yet pick up some of the non-fiction she wrote.
"The Virtue of Selfishness" is a classic as is "Philosophy; Who Needs It" and "Capitalism, The Unknown Ideal".
Then you'll be much better prepared to argue about whether or not she started a 'cult'.
L
I haven’t read the book yet, but those excerpts are some of the truest and most powerful words I have ever read. The book may suffer as a novel, as some say, but the truths as stated are dynamite. Reading them in today’s context, I get the shivers.
When people stop thinking for themselves and follow a personality, it's a cult.
You mean like Jesus?
In some cases.
“These days that’s not such a good name to be associated with.”
Reagan went to Alan Greenspan in August 1987, and Reagan cut taxes.
Reaganomics had arrived and the American economy rose from economic ashes created by Jimmy Carter.
Bush I kept Greenspan on and things stayed good except for Bush’s reneging on his “no new taxes” promise.
Clinton kept Greenspan on and Reaganomics continued paying off for Americans.
Bush II kept Greenspan on until Greenspan’s retirement on 31 January 2006.
Later that year, serious CRA problems (non-qualified buyers buyiing homes) were becoming apparent and Democrats took control in the US House of Representatives.
Democrats in Congress refused to rein in CRA loans, and ... here we are.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.