[fuzzycat]

Say what you will about Ayn Rand but reading "Anthem" was one of the most important moments of my life. That book instilled in me the knowledge at an early age the fallacy of collective thought. I suggest if you haven't, you read it.

[mountaineer]

Is Ayn Rand your god? Please explain.

[r9etb]

Say what you will about Ayn Rand but reading "Anthem" was one of the most important moments of my life. That book instilled in me the knowledge at an early age the fallacy of collective thought. I suggest if you haven't, you read it.

I've read it. I found it wonderful when I was young, and insufferable after I had gotten a bit better at critical thought.

Among other things, it has one of the stupidest last lines in the history of literature. ("And with his finger he traced in the air a single word, 'Ego.'" ROTFLMAO!!!)

It's a superficially useful book, but in the end one has to conclude that Rand's scenario -- which she has to work really, really hard to set up -- isn't at all believable. If she must showcase her philosophy in a fabricated society, it suggests that her beliefs are less a coherent philosophy, and more a just-so story. (That Rand's objectivism is a just-so story becomes painfully clear if ever you decide to show that her premises are truly objective.)