I Can't Get Through "Atlas Shrugged"

America loves it because it promotes capitalism.

The rest of the world hates Rand because they are a bunch socialists.

Someday, maybe someday they will make a movie of it...

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/articles/news/?id=030517atlas1.htm

[quote]capitalistic pig wrote:

Someday, maybe someday they will make a movie of it...

If they do, I hope they do a better job than was done with "the Fountainhead" in which Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal (as Howard Roark and Dominique Francon) were terribly miscast. One of the worst movies ever, cinematically ruining one of my favorite books ever.

As to those who are decrying Rand's work in this thread and continue to characterize it as "boring," I read Atlas Shrugged for the first time in my early 20's and could not put it down. I have re-read at least 5 more times since and still find the breadth of the story line fascinating. Who is John Galt?

Well I'm glad I posted this on Letsrun; as a HS sophomore, it seems like I'm a bit too young for this. It looks to be an 18+ book. That's fine with me, I got George Orwell and Daneil Quinn to keep me company til then.

Swofford11 wrote:

Once again the idea behind the book was not bad. Her philosophy was not bad. She has very interesting ideas.

if your view the idea of her philosophy as being independent, of a free people pursuing each ones own goals with minimal constraint from others and the government, that is one thing.

but i think her philosophy goes deeper than that. according to rand, the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness or "rational self-interest" and that the only social system consistent with this morality is embodied in pure, consensual laissez-faire capitalism.

i have trouble with a philosophy where the proper moral purpose is the pursuit of "happiness."

ethics ought to be OUTWARDLY focused. it ought to deal with how we treat others and our DUTY to others.

to rand, ethics seems to become INWARDLY focused and deals with how we act for our own individual benefit.

happiness is not, and ought not be the goal of ethical behavior.

Atlas Shrugged is a good book, but not great.

The ideas are great, the plot is interesting, but my God, it is long. If a good editor got a hold of the book and cut it down to 75% of its original size, then I would call it a great book.

With that being said, I highly recommend this book.

"Hopefully most make it past that point, but some never do and their life is forever about themselves."

and who exactly should our lives be about?

the problem with her major works is that they are usually read by 18-22 year olds who are naive and idealistic and have never set foot in the real world. i'm not totally discounting her philosophy of objectivism, the power of the individual, etc.... i'm just saying that she HUGELY overrates the integrity of the human race. her philosophies work under the paradigm that humans are, by nature, good, and that it's society that makes us bad. in reality, i think most of us can agree that humans are, by nature, greedy, petty, and driven by basic, primal desires. so her works are quite challenging when read by young folks who have not realized this yet. basically... they become instant assholes upon completion. but time has a way of setting us all straight and when that time comes, perhaps we can read her works and say that they are not bad from a structural or thematic standpoint. but if we are to discuss philosophy, she's rubbish.....

Chester wrote:

Atlas Shrugged is a good book, but not great.

The ideas are great, the plot is interesting, but my God, it is long. If a good editor got a hold of the book and cut it down to 75% of its original size, then I would call it a great book.

With that being said, I highly recommend this book.

I disagree...I reread it recently and can't think of a single scene I would cut. If you cut out all the speeches -- and this would horribly gut the book -- you'd take out maybe a hundred pages (of the 1168 of the hardcover edition.)

In fact, if I have any complaint with it, it's that the Atlantis chapters aren't long enough. I could reread them again and again and again.

Enjoy ---

that's what they told me as well, i'm 32 now, do you think it's time to try to upgrade from OuiOui(that's how the French call Nodddy) yet?

bw wrote:

But Atlas Shrugged is more point-blank with Rand's philosophy, and it's the second-most-influential book of all time, a distant second to the Bible, according to a survey of 5,000 Book-of-the-Month Club members taken a decade ago for the Library of Congress. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, a friend of Ayn (pronounced EYE-n) Rand's before her death in 1982, is among its best-known proponents.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2002-09-23-ayn-rand_x.htm

Book of the month club members, huh. Well, that explains a lot.

I read it as a school boy when the book was newly printed and skipped all the philosophy and then picked it up again in middle age and got thoroughly in tune with the philosophy and then picked it up again as a retiree and read only the philosophic speeches. The radio address is the nuts of Objectivism, but it is a bit dense.

There is a movie in the works and Angelie Jolie is supposed to play Dagney Taggart, but I think it is on hold for the time being.

Ayn Rand spent her life trying to show why state sponsored collectivism, altruism and mysticism are the three evils confronting civilized mankind. Obviously she has failed to enlighten very many. Collectivism = Socialist State

Altruism = Welfare State Mysticism = Theocratic State

thats really all you need to know about the book.

[quote]old fart wrote:

There is a movie in the works and Angelie Jolie is supposed to play Dagney Taggart, but I think it is on hold for the time being.

If the producers of the proposed movie think that Angelina Jolie (a very marginal talent at best) is right to play Dagny Taggart, who is a pivotal character in the story, this will be an even worse film than "the Fountainhead," which absolutely stunk. Jolie as Taggart would be a terrible miscasting.

my sentiments exactly - Dagney is hard as steel babe not a pouty lipped tart

A great book. Not for everyone; just like greatness.

Dan Onymous wrote:

Chester wrote:

Atlas Shrugged is a good book, but not great.

The ideas are great, the plot is interesting, but my God, it is long. If a good editor got a hold of the book and cut it down to 75% of its original size, then I would call it a great book.

With that being said, I highly recommend this book.

I disagree...I reread it recently and can't think of a single scene I would cut. If you cut out all the speeches -- and this would horribly gut the book -- you'd take out maybe a hundred pages (of the 1168 of the hardcover edition.)

In fact, if I have any complaint with it, it's that the Atlantis chapters aren't long enough. I could reread them again and again and again.

You wouldn't necessarily have to cut out any speeches or any scenes, just shorten them up a bit.

I think Rand could have strengthened her thoughts and ideas by getting more to the point. Sometimes shorter is better.