Atlas Shrugged

[Vigilante]

I just picked up The Fountainhead. I have a week in front of me full of rum punch and Cuervo, the churn of white propeller wash as the land yields to the Atlantic ocean, a beach chair waiting for my standing breakfast appointment with Ayn Rand, and a stiff tuxedo shirt rented for formal dinners with the love of my life. A beach cabana in Haiti, the sweet smoky air of Jamaica, and a Cuervo tour in Cozumel. We'll see how much of the book I can get through. The rum and Jamaican rhythm might get in the way.

 

[GlobalWealth]

Got the book! Will read it within the week. Thanks!

Hahaha

Good luck finishing Atlas Shrugged in one week....


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[GlobalWealth]

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is one of the all time great books every entrepreneur should read. It is a fictional novel, but with philosophical and economic principles. I rate it as one of my top 5. Has anyone else read it?

 

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[Kingmaker]

Just finished it. Most powerful book I've ever read. Feels like it added another layer of fortitude to my mind in the name of virtuous progress. $

​

"In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man’s proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.

“But to win it requires your total dedication and a total break with the world of your past, with the doctrine that man is a sacrificial animal who exists for the pleasure of others. Fight for the value of your person. Fight for the virtue of your pride. Fight for the essence of that which is man: for his sovereign rational mind. Fight with the radiant certainty and the absolute rectitude of knowing that yours is the Morality of Life and that yours is the battle for any achievement, any value, any grandeur, any goodness, any joy that has ever existed on this earth.

“You will win when you are ready to pronounce the oath I have taken at the start of my battle—and for those who wish to know the day of my return, I shall now repeat it to the hearing of the world:

“I swear—by my life and my love of it—that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”

 

[Ubermensch]

I thought you were making a deeper, larger point.

Like the fact that Atlas Shrugged predicts modern-day America, with unfortunate parallels.

Leonard Piekoff, Ayn Rand's protege, wrote a book called The Ominous Parallels, the similarities between Nazi Germany and modern-day America.

Gun control.

Erosion of freedoms.

The mind-numbing repetition of the propagandist use of the term "freedom."

Who wants to be free and dumb??

I thought you were making that point, the over-arching point, the point that Ayn Rand truly made in Atlas Shrugged, the point that we are living in that moment right now, which is why the timing of the movie really intrigues serious students of Objectivism.

Thought you were making that point.

 

[MitchC]

Just finished atlas shrugged, I couldn't believe the negative thoughts on it when I googled it, I started thinking is there something wrong with me for loving and agreeing with this? But I didn't care and here I am back where I belong and all is well, there are still some responsible people in this world. Maybe we on this forum can buy an island and create Galts Gulch one day

 

[JAJT]

Oh yeah, I'm not saying it's "correct", I'm just interpreting the book.

IMHO Atlas Shrugged is:

- Poorly Written
- Incredibly ham-fisted with the concepts
- Blunt as a stump
- Almost more essay than novel

Rand takes an "all or nothing" approach to her character design and how she introduces concepts. Every character has the contrast turned up to 11 so you know without doubt what she's trying to say. There is no subtly or layers to these characters. They are basically caricatures used to portray her ideals.

Everyone I know who loves Atlas Shrugged (myself included) does so with a huge footnote that says "some mental assembly required". Her world is impossible and would be harsh and not very fun to live in. Her world is black and white - the real world is full color and every shade of grey.

That being said, the book is also genius. I took a TON away from the book regarding self-worth, intelligence, confidence, oppression, needs vs merit, etc... The concepts are thought provoking, the situations interesting, the theory deep, and frankly it has to be one of the most polarizing books on the market. Listen to two different people of opposing views describe the book and you'll wonder if they even read the same thing.

 

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[DeletedUser394]

I enjoyed the movies, but the completely different cast every single time is a bit offputting haha.

 

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[LibertyForMe]

The Fountainhead is one of my favorite books. I feel like the characters aren't quite so black or white like they are in Atlas Shrugged. Roark faces a lot of setbacks that are more relatable. Also, I really loved the fact that he just does what he wants, irrespective of the money. Lots of people try to say Rand is all about money and greed, but really I feel like the Fountainhead was more about being greedy with your own life and not spending it how other people think you should.

 

[JAJT]

This was a tough read for me too....couldn't get past maybe 30 pages or so. I never understood the hype

Atlas Shrugged is roughly 645,000 words and clocks in at over 1,000 pages. The book is longer than the entirety of all 3 Lord of the Rings books put together. How could you honestly expect to understand the hype after reading only 3% of it?

That's like saying you don't understand the hype behind swimming when all you've done is put a finger in the shallow end and said you think the water is cold.

 

[GlobalWealth]

Atlas Shrugged is roughly 645,000 words and clocks in at over 1,000 pages. The book is longer than the entirety of all 3 Lord of the Rings books put together. How could you honestly expect to understand the hype after reading only 3% of it?

That's like saying you don't understand the hype behind swimming when all you've done is put a finger in the shallow end and said you think the water is cold.

When I first tried to read Atlas Shrugged I put it down after about 50 pages. It was just not going anywhere with the plot line.

After many highly respected people kept recommending it I finally powered thru the early parts.

Once I got about 25% thru the book I couldn't put it down. I was enthralled.

It is one of the greatest and most influential books I've ever read.

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[MJ DeMarco]

A long time ago ... should be required reading for all students.

 

[brewster]

Liked Atlas Shrugged... but The Fountainhead is still my favorite. One of the first books I read on my self-development journey. I was of course, blown away and learned so many valuable things from it. Howard Roark was such an appealing character to me.

Damn. Reading this makes we want to go read both of these books again right now.

 

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[BostonHusky]

I meant start within the week.

Not the first time I've been recommended this book... I believe it will be worth the 1100 something pages.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I just picked up The Fountainhead.

Holy shit so did I last week. I'm about 100 pages in. While I read it years ago, I doubt back then I truly understood the themes.

Thus far after only 2 hours of reading I find myself nodding my head going "Yes! Yes!"

 

[Delmania]

Just finished atlas shrugged, I couldn't believe the negative thoughts on it when I googled it, I started thinking is there something wrong with me for loving and agreeing with this? But I didn't care and here I am back where I belong and all is well, there are still some responsible people in this world. Maybe we on this forum can buy an island and create Galts Gulch one day

There's nothing wrong with you. It's just that objectivism and her views on capitalism are hard for most people to swallow. Also, Rand wasn't what I'd call a positive role model. She justified cheating on her spouse and believed smoking cigarettes was some kind of noble action. She also criticized people who didn't accept her beliefs verbatim. Luckily, you don't need to like someone to like his thoughts on the world.

To your last point, I think it's very healthy for people round out their world views. I'd recommend Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. It helps to take the edge off Rand's personality that shines through her books, and helps to remind you that you can pursue your own happiness without having to be an a**hole to other people.

 

[splok]

The thing to realize before jumping into Atlas Shrugged is that it's super heavy-handed. It may be a novel, but it's not supposed to be entertainment. It's a tool to communicate a message. It's basically 1200 pages of propaganda. If the message it's hitting you over the head with doesn't really, really resonate with you, then you're going to hate it. As literature, I think it's pretty terrible. As a as a teaching tool, it's fantastic for a certain set of people (pretty much everyone here), but it's like modern politics... it's intentionally divisive, and instantly turns off a ton of people.

On the other hand, I think the Fountainhead makes its point more subtly, making it a better read for a much wider audience.

Having said all that, I enjoyed both and think they helped solidify a lot of mental changes that had been percolating for a while. (Propaganda is great at that!) I legitimately think they should both be required reading in high school.

 

[Delmania]

Isn't that kind of the point?

All the "good" main characters focus purely on being effective, valuable, logical, being creators, demanding their worth, etc...

All the "bad" main characters focus purely on being likable, sympathetic, demanding what they need and want, choosing feelings over logic, etc...

Pretty much every problem in the book stems from sympathy. Those without value choose to force what feels good on those with value. Sympathy is a portrayed as a weakness at best and evil at worst in this book so obviously there's not a lot of that going around when it comes to the main "good" characters.

This, by the way, is a common fallacy among technical and logical people; the belief that logic and rationality trump emotions. I speak from personal experience when I say this most definitely is not true. Dale Carnegie makes the bold claim that 85% of our success comes from our ability to relate with people, and only 15% comes from our technical skill. Most of the time, all you need to do is to simply listen to a person and reflect back the emotion at them. The most successful people are the ones that are not only technically oriented in their given field, but are also capable of relating to people no matter who they are.

 

[GlobalWealth]

A long time ago ... should be required reading for all students.

I agree, but big kids really need it too. There is an enormous amount of wisdom to be had from this book as it relates to free markets and economics.

 

[hellolin]

I thought you were making a deeper, larger point.

Like the fact that Atlas Shrugged predicts modern-day America, with unfortunate parallels.

Leonard Piekoff, Ayn Rand's protege, wrote a book called The Ominous Parallels, the similarities between Nazi Germany and modern-day America.

Gun control.

Erosion of freedoms.

The mind-numbing repetition of the propagandist use of the term "freedom."

Who wants to be free and dumb??

I thought you were making that point, the over-arching point, the point that Ayn Rand truly made in Atlas Shrugged, the point that we are living in that moment right now, which is why the timing of the movie really intrigues serious students of Objectivism.

Thought you were making that point.

If this is where your thoughts are going, the next book in the series is from erich fromm, the book is escape from freedom. Read at your own discretion because you might look at the world in a completely different way.

Can't believe The Ominous Parallels were written in 1983, and it is even more true nowadays. Freedom is not a thing for the light weight, in order for everyone to enjoy the fruit of freedom, everyone need to have a capabilities to handle it. With health care coming next as a right in this country, people are steadily giving up their own ability to decide their own future. We will eventually be on the way of Greece right now, happens to every single pinnacle nation in the past, why wouldn't America be excluded? We are witnessing that change right now. But I didn't know it was happening way back even in early 80's!

 

[GlobalWealth]

I just picked up The Fountainhead. I have a week in front of me full of rum punch and Cuervo, the churn of white propeller wash as the land yields to the Atlantic ocean, a beach chair waiting for my standing breakfast appointment with Ayn Rand, and a stiff tuxedo shirt rented for formal dinners with the love of my life. A beach cabana in Haiti, the sweet smoky air of Jamaica, and a Cuervo tour in Cozumel. We'll see how much of the book I can get through. The rum might get in the way.

It's a good read. Much easier than Atlas Shrugged. It has similar ideals but not so philosophy heavy. Rum induced reading ahould be acceptable.

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[OldFaithful]

Meditations

I started this one, but found it prohibitive to finish. I'm glad you did.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Bought Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead (audiobooks) last week after hearing Mark Cuban highly praise both. Started The Fountainhead today.

 

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[Ubermensch]

Just finished atlas shrugged, I couldn't believe the negative thoughts on it when I googled it, I started thinking is there something wrong with me for loving and agreeing with this? But I didn't care and here I am back where I belong and all is well, there are still some responsible people in this world. Maybe we on this forum can buy an island and create Galts Gulch one day

If you live in the West, particularly the United States, all you have to do is look around and see the grim picture she painted in Atlas Shrugged.

Do Fortune 500 "USA" companies - Hewlett Packard, Nike, Apple, etc - not "shrug" as they incorporate elsewhere, thereby legally avoiding being taxes? Do the largest, most successful companies on the planet not already shrug by refusing to "repatriate" their money to a once great economy?

You could argue that @GlobalWealth 's business only exists because of the "Shrug Effect."

Forgive me, it's been a couple years since. If I remember correctly, the author switched subjects frequently, which caused me pain. I suppose I have a 1 track mind. There were also frequent references to historical people/events that were not on the tip of my tongue. I was stopping frequently to use google/wikipedia to better understand the thought being conveyed. It just became laborious and I moved on.

Ayn Rand wrote the book well before the Internet, long before search engines and online encyclopedias.

Ayn Rand was a true erudite, a goddess of the mind. She is arguably the wisest woman to ever live (think fast: can YOU name any female philosophers whose ideas have shaken the earth so vehemently?). She pontificated on every subject: from art to politics, from sex to Beethoven, from capitalism to epistemology and metaphysics.

My point is that you shouldn't let the author's superior education intimidate you or put you off.

What good is a book if you don't learn from it?

 

[hellolin]

The thing to realize before jumping into Atlas Shrugged is that it's super heavy-handed. It may be a novel, but it's not supposed to be entertainment. It's a tool to communicate a message. It's basically 1200 pages of propaganda. If the message it's hitting you over the head with doesn't really, really resonate with you, then you're going to hate it. As literature, I think it's pretty terrible. As a as a teaching tool, it's fantastic for a certain set of people (pretty much everyone here), but it's like modern politics... it's intentionally divisive, and instantly turns off a ton of people.

On the other hand, I think the Fountainhead makes its point more subtly, making it a better read for a much wider audience.

Having said all that, I enjoyed both and think they helped solidify a lot of mental changes that had been percolating for a while. (Propaganda is great at that!) I legitimately think they should both be required reading in high school.

Then I think we wouldn't have any of that student loan crisis and the generational crisis any more if this was the case.

 

[Rudynate]

Oh yeah, I'm not saying it's "correct", I'm just interpreting the book.

IMHO Atlas Shrugged is:

- Poorly Written
- Incredibly ham-fisted with the concepts
- Blunt as a stump
- Almost more essay than novel

Rand takes an "all or nothing" approach to her character design and how she introduces concepts. Every character has the contrast turned up to 11 so you know without doubt what she's trying to say. There is no subtly or layers to these characters. They are basically caricatures used to portray her ideals.

Everyone I know who loves Atlas Shrugged (myself included) does so with a huge footnote that says "some mental assembly required". Her world is impossible and would be harsh and not very fun to live in. Her world is black and white - the real world is full color and every shade of grey.

That being said, the book is also genius. I took a TON away from the book regarding self-worth, intelligence, confidence, oppression, needs vs merit, etc... The concepts are thought provoking, the situations interesting, the theory deep, and frankly it has to be one of the most polarizing books on the market. Listen to two different people of opposing views describe the book and you'll wonder if they even read the same thing.

I think yours is one of the most intelligent critiques of the book I have ever read.

 

[Rain]

Atlas Shrugged is quite possibly the greatest fiction book ever written. This 1,000-page monster could easily be renamed to the Bible of Capitalism.

 

[Bouncing Soul]

April 15th is the deadline for tax filing in the US

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I tend to go looking for my Guy Fawkes mask that day.

 

[jameslague]

I read Atlas Shrugged a few years ago and it made a huge impact on my life. Its definitely one of the best, if not the best, book I've ever read. Its lessons and philosophy are absolutely incredible and make perfect sense in my mind. Its one of the few books that I recommend for everyone to read when they ask me for recommendations. Its long, but I never wanted it to end. The time investment input in reading it was worth the output several times over. It may be one I read over and over throughout my life.

 

[Rick Harrison]

Amazing books (all of them) and amazing author! Way ahead of her time, and unfortunate that many of her predictions and satire have rang true in our current economic state.