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Ayn Rand

Dcdrac

Philosopher
Dcdrac
Joined
Jan 27, 2006
Messages
5,141
This is jsut an opinion.

I have just finished reading Atlas Shrugged and it has to be the worst, most poorly written idealogically driven book i have read since reading the communist manifesto.

Was Rand some kind of nazi idealogist or something?

because that is the impression I have formed of them after reading this book.
 
I was forced (in my teens I girl I thought was hot insisted I read it) to read Atlas Shrugged. Besides being way too long and preachy, it was a waste of my time and good paper ....

Charlie (never did get the girl either) Monoxide
 
Charlie, was that you? I used to love to get guys to read Rand & then not "put out". T'was the highlight of my high school career.

:p

MHB
 
As is the case with many philosophers, Ayn Rand had some good ideas, but mixed them up with a lot of personal attitudes, and called the resulting mixture 'Moral Law'.

That said, I enjoy her books. She certainly wrote better than 80% of modern writers do, IMO. Part of the problem seems to be that she wrote in Archetypes, and most people now expect fully fleshed characters.

I happen to like both forms, but I think if someone's not familiar with the Archetypal form, they'll have difficulty assimilating it.
 
Archetypes are just stereotypes dressed up for dinner, and that kind of writing is only good for allegory or parody. Unfortunately for Rand, everything important you need to know about her philosophy she outlined in Anthem, making Juggernaughts such as Fountainhead (which I did read) and Atlas Shrugged (which I gave up on) pretty pointless, IMO. The stories were not were not even that engaging.
 
I like her books and agree with most of her philosophy.

The world of Atlas Shrugged has become increasingly realized since she wrote it - at least the bad parts and the bad people. The good guys are few and far between.

I reread Atlas Shrugged every year or so - I have for about 30 years. It recharges my anger batteries. Think I start rereading it tonight.

Now, I know that some of you think I'm quite angry enough, but I can feel it lagging even now.
 
Relevant quote

"Yes, at first I was happy to be learning how to read. It seemed exciting and magical, but then I read this: Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. I read every last word of this garbage, and because of this piece of ◊◊◊◊, I am never reading again."
- Officer Barbrady, South Park
 
Piscivore said:
Archetypes are just stereotypes dressed up for dinner, and that kind of writing is only good for allegory or parody.
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I'll go with that. George Orwell had a similar weakness, which makes Animal Farm excellent, and 1984 a let down IMO.

Edit: Although, he didn't write hideous 1,000 page unfinishable monsters.
 
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Complexity said:
I reread Atlas Shrugged every year or so - I have for about 30 years. It recharges my anger batteries.
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Are you sure that it's not recharging your "arrogant, inflated sense of self worth" batteries instead? 'Cause that's what it did for me back when I read it. When I looked at it "objectively" (heh), I noticed that most of Ayn's writings used a lot of the same tricks that horoscope writers do- making lots of general positive statements that people would like to believe apply to them, assigning general negative qualities to people she disagrees with, and painting the world in broad strokes that defy specificity. IIRC, it's been awhile.
 
Piscivore said:
Are you sure that it's not recharging your "arrogant, inflated sense of self worth" batteries instead? 'Cause that's what it did for me back when I read it. When I looked at it "objectively" (heh), I noticed that most of Ayn's writings used a lot of the same tricks that horoscope writers do- making lots of general positive statements that people would like to believe apply to them, assigning general negative qualities to people she disagrees with, and painting the world in broad strokes that defy specificity. IIRC, it's been awhile.
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Yeah, I'm sure.

'Tis a pity that you and Atlas Shrugged didn't have a good encounter.

Perhaps its the reader rather than the book.

Perhaps you should bring more to the encounter with the book than you have.
 
Complexity said:
Yeah, I'm sure.

'Tis a pity that you and Atlas Shrugged didn't have a good encounter.

Perhaps its the reader rather than the book.

Perhaps you should bring more to the encounter with the book than you have.
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Well, back when I tried to read it I was in "lifegazer" mode, so I didn't bring much to the reading, certainly.

"Fountainhead," though, I clearly remember as requiring her protagonists to have no meaningful faults whatsoever. The very definition of a "Mary Sue," if you will. That's all well and good for her ubermensch Saints of Capitalism, but no one I've met outside fiction fits that mould. And her doctrine of "you didn't fail, it's the little petty jealous people that dragged you under" just rubbed me as pandering.
 
Segnosaur said:
"Yes, at first I was happy to be learning how to read. It seemed exciting and magical, but then I read this: Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. I read every last word of this garbage, and because of this piece of ◊◊◊◊, I am never reading again."
- Officer Barbrady, South Park
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I laughed so hard at this line when that episode first aired, because I've frequently thought that "Atlas Shrugged" is the most horrible book I've ever read. Not just for the writing style, but because it left an aftertaste as if someone had been sh***ting in my mind. I find Rand so utterly repellent that I consider her a good candidate for The Most Diseased Mind Ever. Sick, twisted, very nearly a complete anathema to all that is good and decent. Frankly, I think the world would be a better place if she had never existed, and once her perverted notions have been forgotten in the dustbin of history, things will be nicer.
 
Michael Shermer took Rand to task in the book Why People Believe Weird Things. The book is a must read anyway. Might as well check it out!
 
TragicMonkey said:
I laughed so hard at this line when that episode first aired, because I've frequently thought that "Atlas Shrugged" is the most horrible book I've ever read. Not just for the writing style, but because it left an aftertaste as if someone had been sh***ting in my mind. I find Rand so utterly repellent that I consider her a good candidate for The Most Diseased Mind Ever. Sick, twisted, very nearly a complete anathema to all that is good and decent. Frankly, I think the world would be a better place if she had never existed, and once her perverted notions have been forgotten in the dustbin of history, things will be nicer.
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Come on TM, tells us what you really think about this book.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I laughed so hard at this line when that episode first aired, because I've frequently thought that "Atlas Shrugged" is the most horrible book I've ever read. Not just for the writing style, but because it left an aftertaste as if someone had been sh***ting in my mind. I find Rand so utterly repellent that I consider her a good candidate for The Most Diseased Mind Ever. Sick, twisted, very nearly a complete anathema to all that is good and decent. Frankly, I think the world would be a better place if she had never existed, and once her perverted notions have been forgotten in the dustbin of history, things will be nicer.
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Oh come on, Rand has some redeeming qualities. If there had been no Ayn Rand, there would never have been the "Ayn Rand School for Tots" in The Simpsons, and then where would we be? Hmmmm?
 
Jon. said:
Oh come on, Rand has some redeeming qualities. If there had been no Ayn Rand, there would never have been the "Ayn Rand School for Tots" in The Simpsons, and then where would we be? Hmmmm?
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True. "A is A" was particularly helpful for learning!
 
I've read "Fountainhead", but not "Atlas Shrugged" I managed to make it all the way through the book, finishing it with a "what the heck did I just read?" sort of feeling. I think the biggest problem was that I considered all the main characters arrogant, unlikeable people. Especially Roark. It's hard to read a book when one develops a deep hatred for the hero. And his philosophy.

In the Simpsons "Ayn Rand School for Tots", I also liked the "Helping is futile" sign.
 
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