Post by jgaffney on Sept 9, 2011 0:15:32 GMT -5
I finally tackled Ayn Rand's book, Atlas Shrugged. I was always intimidated by its 1,000+ page length - in a harcover, it's qhite a doorstop to lug around. However, the breakthrough came when I found it at Costco in trade paperback format. That's the larger sized paperback that's the same size - and typeface - as the hardcover, except in paperback. The book is written in three volumes, which divide neatly into three equal sections. I took a razor knife and sliced through the spine to break it up into the three volumes and found that it was very manageable that way.
If you haven't seen the movie yet, it is Volume One of the book. It introduces the main characters, Dagney Taggart and Hank Reardon, and sets the stage for their struggle against a growing and all-powerful government. Rand's premise is that government intrusion into free enterprise will only lead to the eventual collapse of the economy. She uses the allegory of a transcontinental railroad, owned by the Taggart family and supplied by Reardon Steel, to show how government intrusion will lead to collapse. I won't give away the ending, but you can probably guess that big government is the loser.
Ayn Rand often goes on for many pages, presenting her philosophy through a long-winded monologue by one of the characters. I saw more than one instance where a single paragraph spanned more than one page. Rapid skimming is the best way to get through those sections.
Many people find the book particularly appropo for today's situation, with the Democrats looking for every opportunity to expand government's reach and control of the economy, and the resultant slow growth and high unemployment that we have all witnessed. Rand goes quite a bit further, however, and draws the conclusion that an all-powerful government would ride the economy into the ground rather than concede that changes must be made. We have elections every two years to prevent just such an outcome.
Still, the book is worth the read, if nothing else but to say that you have read one of the 20th Century classics.
If you haven't seen the movie yet, it is Volume One of the book. It introduces the main characters, Dagney Taggart and Hank Reardon, and sets the stage for their struggle against a growing and all-powerful government. Rand's premise is that government intrusion into free enterprise will only lead to the eventual collapse of the economy. She uses the allegory of a transcontinental railroad, owned by the Taggart family and supplied by Reardon Steel, to show how government intrusion will lead to collapse. I won't give away the ending, but you can probably guess that big government is the loser.
Ayn Rand often goes on for many pages, presenting her philosophy through a long-winded monologue by one of the characters. I saw more than one instance where a single paragraph spanned more than one page. Rapid skimming is the best way to get through those sections.
Many people find the book particularly appropo for today's situation, with the Democrats looking for every opportunity to expand government's reach and control of the economy, and the resultant slow growth and high unemployment that we have all witnessed. Rand goes quite a bit further, however, and draws the conclusion that an all-powerful government would ride the economy into the ground rather than concede that changes must be made. We have elections every two years to prevent just such an outcome.
Still, the book is worth the read, if nothing else but to say that you have read one of the 20th Century classics.