It needs to be 98.1%.
“Who is John Galt?”
I read it, but i felt it hurt the minimal government movement more than helped it. a little too heavy handed on the ‘rhetorical flourishes’
Should be mandatory reading in high school at the minimum.
It should be required reading in high schools across the country...............
This country has a strong libertarian streak. Just look at Perot’s margins during the 90’s. Many western and southern republicans are pretty much libertarians in practice if not in name (Ron Paul for example).
I’m skeptical of that figure. People like to present themselves as educated and well-read. Ayn Rand’s writing can be tough to get through, and Americans in general would rather watch TV or surf the interweb tubes than read a book. 8.1% have read parts of it, have heard of it, have seen something about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie making a movie about it? I can believe that. But 8.1% have read the whole thing and retained enough to summarize the plot? No way.
I prefer “The Fountainhead” but any by Ayn Rand make you think (of course you need a brain), but since when does our leadership care about what we think?
Atlas Shrugged is one of those meaty tomes that might intimidate the casual novel reader by its shear bulk, but turns out to be a highly pleasurable read due to Ayn Rand’s extraordinary writing skill and insight. Once you pick it up, it’s hard to put down.
I made my kids read it - with both carrot and stick. They learned from it also - actually my kids are more conservative than I am. Anyway, an abridged version would not be amiss, my short-attention span son complained of that some.
Issued 2:14 PM - Eastern
Fantastic News! The brand new Fox News/Rasmussen battleground poll shows Sen. John McCain has surged ahead to tie or lead in key battleground states where Sen. Obama had held a lead just a few days ago.
The undecided voters are breaking for McCain and the McCain/Palin campaign clearly has the momentum to win this race!!
McCain now leads Florida (50%-49%) and North Carolina (50%-49%) is tied with Obama in Missouri (49%-49%( and Ohio (49%-49%). And in two other states McCain is within the statistical margin of error to be tied with Obama: Colorado (51%-47%) and Virginia (51%-47%).
D'Anconia's speech is the brillant heart of the book and should be read by everyone, but the other 900+ pages are rendered superfluous by it.
There are a whole lot of John Galts out here.
My favorite book of all time. It’s been a few years since I’ve read it, lately I’ve been having a nagging feeling like I need to read it again. Wonder why?
Did you all know that Alan Greenspan and Ayn Rand were good friends, back in both their early NYC days. I just find that fact interested, thought I would throw it out there.
I listened to “Atlas Shrugged” on Audible Books; 57 hours and worth every minute and every word. “Fountain Head” was shorter but still worthy of the listening time.
Both should be mandatory, but the NEA would riot and go out on strike.
What is bothersome is just how prophetic Ayn Rand was, and how the Marxists just eliminated her ideas being taught.
Gunner
I have some libertarian attitudes and sympathies, but atlas shrugged is terribly written and painful to read.
The author was an ardent atheist who in the end went totally insane