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Introducing Atlas Shrugged to Others

Posted by $ Abaco 2 months, 2 weeks ago to Books
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I have introduced the book to many people. I think only about 10% every finish it. I'm a little surprised by that. A recent introduction, though, is going very well. I was working with an engineering college intern for a while. Very bright, inquisitive kid. Really like this young man. He started asking me life questions after a while. "What would you have done differently?", etc. This, I thought, was a great sign. Having a son with autism...I love the opportunity to help young men who aren't as handicapped. I waited a long time to become a father and, after all I'd been through (with women, work, watching friends crash with vices) I was really ready to raise a young man. Anyway, this young friend is devouring the book this summer. He just saw the first mentions of Project X. I said, "Man, it's about to get really dark..." The thing he loves about the book most is how much of it is visible in current news. Very prophetic.


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  • Posted by citizen1 2 months, 2 weeks ago
    My employer of the last fourteen years actually has Atlas Shrugged on the strongly suggested/ required reading list for management.

    One of the dining rooms in his largest restaurant is named the John Galt room. Sadly, very few of us in the company recognized the significance. But I have spoken with several guests over the years who knew. When someone asks "Who is John Galt, and why does he have a dining room named after him?" It opens the dialogue well.
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    • Posted by tutor-turtle 2 months, 2 weeks ago
      I don't know a lot of people who read deep, long (1,000 page) books.
      With media streaming being as it is, very few people read at all.
      I have the audio book on a FLAC thumb drive that stays in my car(s).
      It plays random selections of music and audio books.
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    • Posted by lrshultis 2 months ago
      Sometimes one who recommends AS, as Paul Ryan did having all his staff read it, and then like he did repudiated it when he found Rand to be an atheist. Others get it wrong like my youngest brother did where he thought the strikers were the evil ones. I first read it in 1965 and over the years thought that was possible depending on ones sense of self.
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      • Posted by freedomforall 2 months ago
        Previous brainwashing and reading mainstream reviews can completely pervert the perception.
        I met a young guy in Australia who claimed to love reading SciFi . I asked if he'd read any Heinlein books and he responded that RH was a fascist.
        No, he'd never read any of Heinlein's writings other than an out of context snippet in a review of Starship Troopers.
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        • Posted by lrshultis 2 months ago
          I liked some of his quotes such as: "Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea." RH seemed to morph from socialist to libertarian and late in life to religious.

          I gave my brother AS as he waited to be released from involuntary service in Nam. It was a bit much for him because of extreme dyslexia.
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  • Posted by $ jbrenner 2 months, 2 weeks ago
    If you want someone to get both the philosophy and the technical background for invention, send them my way please. Teaching students that is my long term "shrug job", and a very enjoyable one at that. My main job is inventor, and I have a true Galt working for me right now.
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    • Posted by $ 2 months, 2 weeks ago
      Yes...I enjoyed speaking with you that one fine day. We are of the same cloth. Engineers are well-suited to take in Atlas Shrugged. One of my favorite quotes (that my friend noticed) about "I studied engineering. When I see something I see it." Also...I see the societal decline in the book within the engineering work I do. The massive brain drain I've seen in America is now showing up in my field. It's a massive problem in the construction side. And...it's creeping into the engineering side with the new generation. Engineering was, as I thought, the last facet to fall IMO. Now, the end will come...
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  • Posted by alunde 2 months, 2 weeks ago
    I was at the bitcoin conference in Nashville last week and spotted a guy wearing a "Who is John Galt" t-shirt. We chatted and he admitted he hadn't read the book. My advice to anyone considering it is explaining that the reason it's so long is because there are several threads that need to play out slowly before they start coming together. Enjoy understanding the characters good and bad and what motivates them. If you stick with it, you'll be rewarded.
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  • Posted by CaptainKirk 2 months, 2 weeks ago
    I recommend the movies.
    I was one of those. It took me 10yrs to read the book. (I do much better with Audio books, I have a version of dyslexia).

    Once I did, though...
    it was on my daughters reading list. She read at when she was 12 (University at 14, so this would have been like a 16 yr old reading it). She got it. She was shocked to see how things were aligning back then (13 years ago).

    But it's a long book. Well worth reading. Obviously.
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  • Posted by mhubb 2 months, 2 weeks ago
    i got the 3 DVD set
    i need to watch them again
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    • Posted by $ gharkness 2 months, 2 weeks ago
      I think any exposure to AS is good. So I am glad you have seen the DVDs. But I have to tell you, if all you have seen is the DVDs, you are missing out on SO much!

      I know that the makers of the videos tried, but the task was far above them.

      Just as one example: anyone who has read the book with any attention at all can discuss in detail "Francisco's money speech." They can tell you what he said, what the circumstances were, how the people around him reacted, and how he came to make that speech. They also know that it was not the main speech presented in the book. It was a prequel, so to speak, but it was absolutely a GREAT speech.

      In the movie, I couldn't WAIT to see how they presented this speech, and they almost skipped it entirely. Zero emphasis, very little presentation of it at all....and it is central to the philosophy of AS.

      OK, so I have gone on too long, but PLEASE if you can. Get a copy of the book and read it cover to cover.....and then read it again at least once more, better twice....please?
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  • Posted by VetteGuy 2 months, 2 weeks ago
    Good job Abaco. I have found that those with an engineering/computer/technical background are more inclined to understand Atlas than other backgrounds. I think it's the natural inclination towards logic and facts.

    I don't know anyone headed for high school graduation right now, but if I did, I would send them a copy of Atlas to read before college or work. Unfortunately, many would not read it, and even fewer would have the capacity to understand it. The public schools have seen to that.

    If you believe the news [most of which you shouldn't, I'll admit] Technical "STEM" inclined students are hard to find. I think this correlates with the inability of students to think logically in general. They were never taught to.
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    • Posted by $ 2 months, 2 weeks ago
      Massive shortage of GOOD engineers now. Massive. That's how I got sucked back in. Made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Now, I'm fixing crap all over the western hemisphere! Haha....(as Biden would say) "no joke".
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      • Posted by alunde 2 months, 2 weeks ago
        I'm a "Helluva, hellua engineer"(Georgia Tech actually computer science) approaching 60 and just got kicked out of corp job(12 yrs). I'm not playing the spray and pray approach to fining a new job. I worked with many young programmers that don't know what quality code is and create a lot of issues. Probably need to shift into mentoring/consulting/firefighting next.
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      • Posted by $ gharkness 2 months, 2 weeks ago
        This is EXACTLY why we are living in Tucson now. We thought we were done moving, but the offer was just too good. And... it's been a very good choice for us.

        Now we have a plan: four more years here in amongst the snakes and scorpions, and then we're going back to where there's grass and greenery, and grandkids. At that point we should not even have to be concerned about money. I'm shoveling it away as fast as I can manage.
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        • Posted by $ 2 months, 1 week ago
          I almost ended up down there. First third of my career was in aerospace. Plenty of it down there. My dad's widow live down there in Oro Valley and I was very interested in relocating there.
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          • Posted by $ gharkness 2 months, 1 week ago
            Ohhh, Oro Valley is the "rich people" section. :-) We never even looked there, though, because we had a hard limit of 30-minute commute from the airport (where the office is). Driving is very stressful for hubs, as we get older, and the night driving (during fall and winter) in these poorly-maintained 2-lane undivided roads is the worst!

            I can't help but wonder what in the heck they are doing with our road taxes. I just sent $600 in to renew our registration for ONE car (and almost that much for the other car which is slightly older). In Texas, the most we ever had to pay was like $90 and our roads were GREAT. Here, I drove around a pothole yesterday that we could have turned into a hot tub.
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    • Posted by $ gharkness 2 months, 2 weeks ago
      My very first exposure to Ayn Rand was when I was 17, the summer before my senior year of high school. She spoke to me in a way that no other author has before or since. Yes, I am a techie, but that was before I even realized it! I gave a wide berth to the IBM 360 installed in my junior college because "all those wires and flashing lights" were scary! That was in 1968. It took a long time, two kids, and a divorce before I began to figure out my place in the world.

      I guess my point is: the techie is there, even if the techie themselves don't know it. Yet.
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  • Posted by $ Radio_Randy 2 months, 2 weeks ago
    I have a spare set of DVDs that I loan out (currently with my brother).

    I told him to at least watch Part 1, and he can decide whether to continue from there.
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  • Posted by NealS 2 months, 2 weeks ago
    I remember reading it a short time BO (Before Obama). I've read it again since. The first time I'd read a few paragraphs or chapters and had to run to find my wife to tell her how it perfectly parallels politically with todays world, especially our here in the USA. I couldn't put it down, staying up late nights until I almost passed out. The reading was like drinking out of a spittoon which I've described in detail before, so I won't do it again. I was always impressed with Ayn's prophetic writings, how could anyone have predicted today back when she did?
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  • Posted by LibertyBelle 2 months, 2 weeks ago
    When I was in 12th grade (senior in high school), I introduced Atlas Shruggedto another girl in school. She seemed quite impressed, especially by that scene in which Galt is tortured, but it is James Taggart who breaks. A few years ago, my younger sister (about 13 years younger than I) expressed an interest, so I gave her a copy. After reading it for some time, she told me she thought it was great. (Knowing her to be a devout Christian, I was surprised.--though it did not con-
    vert her to Objectivism.)
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