Posted on 03/11/2005 6:17:42 PM PST by Hank Kerchief
Nice work! I didnt know that it was just another damned Freeper who wrote it. I almost linked to it from an HPO post, but I see its already there:
http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?q=%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freerepublic.com%2Fforum%2Fa38bdcc213b5d.htm%22&hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2003-41,GGLD:en&sa=N&tab=wg
And at least one other place on the web:
http://www.google.com/search?tab=gw&q=%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freerepublic.com%2Fforum%2Fa38bdcc213b5d.htm%22&hl=en&lr=&
That's cool! Thanks for sharing those links. Atlas Dined lives!
Thanks for the ping!
There is usually more than one side to a story...
>>On the other hand, its nice that somebody is presenting another view, even if I'm never able to get at the truth.<<
Truth is an interesting word. I have found that understanding the depth of it has many variations, all of which depend upon a persons education, employment fields in life, intellectual capabilities, social experiences and their ability to analyze. The desire to continually learn also has this nasty habit of changing what we believed last year versus this year.
Numerous times I have seen my own beliefs do a complete 180 degree turn in just a few short years as my comprehension matured and my friends tolerated the discussions I would start. Some of these would last many hours or even continue for months as I searched for a solid anchor to fasten my beliefs to on any particular subject.
Ann Ryans writings teach the same concepts. Unless we comprehend the full aspect of self resposibility we will always be sheeple, willing to be led on a leash by others who understand the weaknesses of the human mind better than we do.
Continue your search for the truth. The journey will ensure you a wild and exciting life. Never will you be at a loss for new unknowns to discover or fantastic ideas to discuss.
I love the book. I have read it three times, and am now listening to the electronic version and...you are right. The John Galt Speech bores me to death. Some good points, but TOO DANG LONG!!!!!!!
Kudos to you. Thanks for writing it!
Pretty good so far.
Not only does it get better with each page................
It improves with each reading.
I try to schedule enough time each year to re-read this classic.
I had imagined that a good, modern retelling of Atlas Shrugged would use the airline industry in place of the railroad industry in the book.
I was introduced to Ayn Rand's writing via Anthem, which is a good, science-fiction novella. When I told a friend that I liked it, he dropped Atlas Shrugged in my lap and I couldn't get through it. Then I saw a video of her last speech in New Orleans(?) and found her compelling and a bit repulsive all at once.
I figured that there had to be something about her and her works that I was missing or not understanding. Since people described her as "extremely selfish," I pulled down her book The Virtue of Selfishness. And that unlocked the mystery for me. To me, it is the best and most easily understood thing she ever wrote regarding her philosphy of Objectivism. Everything I'd ever read, heard, or seen about her began to make perfect sense. THIS is the book that I would give to someone before asking them to tackle Atlas Shrugged, no matter how old or keen a reader they are.
I think her best novel was the one set in Leninist Russia, We the Living. The Italians made a movie adaptation of the novel in 1942 called Noi Vivi, which was then banned from public viewing by Mussolini's government. I think the mvie stands as one of the best adaptations of a book ever made. It's faithful to the story, her philosophy, and is entertaining to boot.
It's definitely still good for a laugh!
Trust all is well, Huck.
Precisely.
I thought that I was the only one to do that.
;^)
5.56mm
Heheh, I do the same, I usually give two books out at the same time one of Rand's and The Richest Man in Babylon ! It is my attempt at emulating Johnny Appleseed.
I am happy to report currently out of the 20 some attempts I have three very prosperous Capitalist trees growing and bearing fruit and 4 more seem to have taken root.
If I had a nickel for every time I have been told this in the past 35 years or so, I'd be a very rich man. First off, I do not read fictions (I doubt I've read 25 of them in my lifetime).
The Fountainhead was the longest fiction I've ever read. But that book captured me right up front with a kind of unimaginable mystery, its description of a new kind of architecture. I do not think I would have gotten past page 20, had I had reason to adequately believe that it was Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture she used as her model in writing it. I still chose to close my mind to such thoughts, and visualize it as so much much more unimaginably greater.
Back to Atlas Shrugged. Not all the reviews I have heard are good. On criticism, in particular that sticks out with me, has to do with the quantity of repetition in the book. Repetition in a book is quite tiring to me.
If my not reading the book leaves me disabled in understanding objectivism, then so be it. I'm not an objectivist anyway, at least not in any pure Randian sense of it. But I do however view Rand as the Greatest woman of the Twentieth Century, even if all her reported faults are true.
So do I for the same reasons.
I also may have misleadingly implied a particular interest in Rand's life, where as I actually have none. I've only read commentaries and reviews of the Branden books without actually reading them. I have no desire to read this new book either. But I'm interested in what is generally in it.
So be it...but let it be known that I don't read fiction either usually. I loved Fountainhead and love Atlas Shrugged. There are huge parts in Atlas Shrugged that are so insightful. They shouldn't be missed.
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