Posted on 04/05/2009 6:38:11 AM PDT by nysuperdoodle
All readers of Ayn Rand's masterpiece, Atlas Shrugged, know its central question, "Who is John Galt?"
Written over half a century ago, it is clearly the greatest and most influential novel of the 20th century. Over six million copies have been sold, averaging 77,000 copies per year in the 1980s, 90,000 in the 1990s, 137,000 in the 00s - until recently.
200,000 copies were sold in 2008, and sales so far this year are at triple those of last year. This is because, according to the Ayn Rand Institute, "there are uncanny similarities between the plot-line of the book and the events of our day."
(Excerpt) Read more at evilconservativeonline.com ...
...and TJ died broke.
I am wondering what the Reichstag Fire will be.
Thanks. That was interesting. I can see how the book would be a life-changer for people, since it deals with themes most of us haven't thought much about, and it does it in a concrete way. Man's Search For Meaning is my #1, but it's probably a bit abstract for some.
I guess my only other point is that the Ayn Rand Institute has a product to sell, just like Fox News, a political party, or Major League Baseball. So, of course, they think their hammer is most suited to pound those liberal nails.
God bless 'em (God can still bless you even if you are an atheist), but to sign on is to believe in objectivism and all it entails, including abortion and God as myth, among other things. I'm not putting down the good folks over at the Ayn Rand Institute, they are the torchbearers of a logically coherent philosophical system called Objectivism that Ayn Rand founded. As is almost always the case with these types of organizations, the founder becomes almost like a God. I just find some of it a little creepy.
i can’t be waiting for galt as i am still waiting for godo. will let you know if either of them arrives. in the meantime i will be searching for my self. if i get here before i return make sure i stay put.
It goes without saying.
But right now, at this point in our history, we are being suffocated by the nanny state. We are becoming a nation of wimps and crybabies. We need to stop whining and take a big dose of "suck it up" rugged individualism.
Very well stated, blu !
"...but where is his sense of duty for and fellowship with his fellow countrymen..."
Please, please, please read the novel. You'll find out why that statement sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Thanks!
now that I've demonstrated my Atlas comprehension, can anyone explain how to play Pokemon Platinum from 4000 miles away, to a 5 year old, over the phone, and I don't even know what Pokemon is!!!! I'd rather read Atlas Shrugged again!
Wasn't that Francisco's doing?
I have a “Who is John Galt?” bumper sticker on my vehicle. I have been approached many times by people who are interested in where I got it. It has sparked one person in St. Louis to leave a note in my vehicle (slipped it in a cracked open window) that extolled the virtues of John Galt. He even left me his cell number so I could call and tell him where I got the sticker...lol.
Rand’s book is the most relevant piece of literature for our time now that has ever been written.
and that my dear is precisely happening today.
- and what are you doing to resist?
Thanks for the ping/links FreeKeys and links Publius. BTTT! Good back & forth thread. Thanks to all posters.
Uhhh... not according to the Library of Congress, which rates Atlas Shrugged as the second-most influential book of the 20th century.
The first-place winner? The Bible.
I am no longer being a productive member of society. Instead I have joined the minions that leach from the teats of the socialist pig. This is what will cause the system to crumble quickest. When the time is right, we producers and innovators will take over from the corpse of the failed system we are currently saddled with.
The statement was, "most influential novel". Do you consider The Bible a novel?
That’s what Ragnar said (I read those pages two days ago), but Ayn Rand had her story of Robin Hood wrong. When Robin “stole from the rich” he was re-appropriating tax money from the rich government. More specifically, he was robbing the government looters, much the same as Ragnar was doing against the government and its allied looters in Atlas.
Of the whole book thus far (including the LOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNG soliloquies by all of its main characters), that fundamental misstatement by Rand is the most disappointing thing I have seen.
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