Ayn Rand
 

I played Bioshock on the XBox over the summer and read the Greenspan book. Ayn Rand throughout.

My dad got me The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged for Christmas. Said to read The Fountainhead first.

Seems like a lot of reading. Thoughts/opinions on Rand that haven't been posted on previous threads? Be nice to me, this is my first foray into "literature" (or atleast the way it seems this board views it).

I've owned Atlas Shrugged for many years, but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I've read a couple of her other books, and she's a decent writer. She seems pretty overrated to me. Her philosophy is basically: Communism bad, capitalism good, life is worth living, and each individual should put his or her own welfare above that of the group. That last one has been parodied quite a bit, but "rational self-interest" doesn't seem a terrible idea the way she explains it.

Atlas shrugged is my favorite novel. I've read most of Ayn rand's books (even the nonfiction) and really enjoyed them. I especially liked "We the living" the fountainhead is also good but I would read Atlas shrugged first as that is her pinnacle novel.

Atlas Shrugged is my least favorite novel that I have ever read. To me it was overwrought, hyperbolic, paranoid and devoid of reason. But I have mad respect for MRD nonetheless.

Is this DD or IVV? Just so I know which one has good taste in novels.

i have only read "atlas shrugged." aside from the wild and almost violent sex (i am being serious) between two of the main characters in ths book, i found her book to be underwhelming and a bit over the top (just like the wild and almost violent sex scenes).

Atlas Shrugged is laborious and taxing to read.

My brother told me it's his favorite book ever and so I read it.

Felt like going through stereo instructions. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......

I won't read it again.

It's like The Matrix. Something some people get passionate about at a certain age but if they mature they tend to get over by the time they turn, say, maybe 30 at the latest. I know MRD disagrees. I respect his opinion.

Read the book then give me a review. You might actually like it

I liked Atlas Shrugged but it should have been about 4,000,000 pages shorter. We the Living was better (because it was shorter, IMO). If you read Atlas Shrugged, don't bother with The Fountainhead; they're 82% the same story. I'm not passionate about Rand but I don't regret having read her novels.

Rand's philosophy "Objectivism" is clearly a product of the Soviet revolution in the early 20th century, and has some serious holes, IMO. But, it's an interesting historiographical source for seeing one intellectual response to communism. In the end, Rand's extremism is as tiring to me as communism's. Same bird, different ends of the spectrum (and yes, I mixed that metaphor on purpose).

I generally like Rand but I have serious issues with her extrapolations of her philosophy. It is one thing to say that someone should not be forced to contribute to the well being of another. It is another to say that it is wrong to voluntarily contribute to others well being. Also, she is too atheist for me to really embrace.

Can we agree that overtly didactic literature invariably sucks whatever the viewpoint? I read a comment about Dostoevsky in a recent book review of Coetzee's latest book (comparing Coetzee favorably to Dostoevsky) that I liked. Doestoevky, whose novels, like Rand's, contain long monologues and philosophical discussions and digressions, mastered the technique of never allowing the reader to know for sure the author's own actual beliefs. (Adam does the same thing with his posts, which is one reason I like him.)

Doestoevsky's chapters in the Brothers Karamazov, Pro and Contra, and The Grand Inquisitor, represent perhaps the most powerful philosophical argument ever against Christianity and organized religion. Even more, we feel Ivan the atheist's agony in delivering the argument. For generations Christians have wept in empathy, and we know from Doestoevsky's biography that he was in fact a Christian. It seems Rand (though I've never read her as I have Dostoevsky) clubs you over the head with her one-sided personal perspective. Not good literature or storytelling.

The wild and violent sex scenes sound intriguing, however.

Just read it and tell us what you think. Its a unique story that is really good literature. There is a reason it was voted in the top books by readers in the modern library and random house critics voted it 92 (in the twentieth century) I suspect that you will like it and respect it for being good literature.

She does tend to beat you to death with her viewpoint and therefore is weaker in her presentation of her viewpoint. I agree that the Brothers Karamazov is an excellent piece of literature and makes the arguments against Christianity very well. I've never thought to contrast them.

In short, I like much of Rand's philosophy but was also frustrated by her delivery and extremism. She is also quite the anti-feminist in the classic sense, hating womanly things and believing that a woman must be manly to be successful.

By the way, Ayn's delivery is very reminiscent of yours. I'm surprised you don't like it.

My fiction is more Dostoevsky than Rand.

I don't mind Rand's fiction, but I find her philosophy lightweight.

Here is a good summary why to reject her "objectivism."

http://home.sprynet.com/~owl1/rand.htm

An interesting and helpful piece, but the black (metal) background and the yellow lettering were challenging to the eyes.

I'm about halfway through the Fountainhead, and it has finally really pulled me in. It took a while for Rand to set the stage, lay out all the players and their motives, but now the story is really gripping me. Howard Roark is awesome.

So I just finished The Fountainhead. Pretty powerful book, I feel like it's reinforced alot of my core values by making me think about them a bit differently. Great book. Loved Howard Roark's courtroom speech at the end.

Now on to Atlas Shrugged!

I took me six months, but I finally finished Atlas Shrugged. I got sucked into a kind-of last minute opportunity to enroll in a part-time MBA program, so my alot of my free time in the spring and summer was spent prepping my application. Things have been busy with work and school, but I got it done.

I liked the Fountainhead a bit better. It "moved" me more. Atlas Shrugged was good, and I'm glad I read it, but I won't read it again. The ending was a bit anti-climactic.

I picked up a copy of The Brothers Karamazov at Barnes and Noble tonight for $9.99. It'll be slow going, but I'm looking forward to it.

Atlas Shrugged was like reading Stereo instructions and was overly repetitive.

Bros. K. put me right to sleep. Dostoevsky just isn't my thing.