Reading Atlas Shrugged for the 2nd Time
I first read it 18 years ago. I had just swallowed a massive red pill with my son coming down with autism. When the family would go to bed lay by the fireplace and read most nights. Took me about five months. I did listen to the audio book once on my commutes but that wasn't the same. So, about two weeks ago I started reading it on my Kindle. It's amazing how well I remember much of it. The way Ayn Rand described people like the shlub rail workers who'd just stand there hoping for a light or a switch to decide to start working right...cracks me up. James Taggart demonstrates early on that he just doesn't get it - collectivist to his core.
Always gives me hope knowing that there are at least a few people here in the Gulch that can still think and reason. I just wish it would catch on to a wider audience!
Read it at least 6 times, always learn something new.
It also depresses me.
1950's folks (The Greatest Generation) had more backbone.
They spoke up, for the most part.
Most believed in the Republic.
Most had strong morals.
Most held their faith close to their breast.
They lived through some of the most trying times in 100 years and came through stronger for it.
My generation (The Bugs Bunny Generation) for the most part, grew up in a bubble.
It's only because I grew up incredibly poor that I had a clue as to what true reality was.
The old man had a dog-eared copy of Atlas Shrugged in the attic library. Along with copies of Churchill and Hemingway.
Over these past 35 years, I have been witness to the shared observation that Rand was a writer, philosopher and a prophet. When I think about books to read, I have several shelves full of them ... and yet I am drawn back to having AS sitting on my desk, in sight, and within reach. At times, when I need to hear a dose of plainly simple rationality, I will play a bit from the book -- The Money Speech, or the Story of the Twentieth Century Motor Company ... or the part where all the producers tell Dagny why they are on strike.
I enjoyed the film adaptations, given their limited budgets. I wondered what those films could have been like given the budget and directorial acumen of Peter Jackson (LOTR). Just sitting here, now, I am visualizing that scene where, with his mills under siege, Reardon hears d'Anconia's words and finally makes his decision to go on strike. And yet, the book is filled with scenes both grand in their presentation and intimate with the subtle mental changes in awareness in the characters. We are instructed in the book, and compelled to exercise in real life "Check your premise."
And I made it through about ten minutes on audio, Abaco, and bailed. I could not stand the voice of the narrator.
My boss was much like your "true bastard," as he was one himself, though our relationship was different. I wouldn't say he was a James or a Francisco (my very favorite character, even above John Galt), but just a Galt-wannabe.
As an aside, I was absolutely astonished, knowing him as I did, and his family, and his reputation, to read his obituary. I am not sure where they hired the writer but it was definitely someone with a strong background in fiction writing. If someone had left the name off the obituary, I would not have known who they were talking about.
Losing eye contact. Losing the smile/joy expressions in the face.
Very curious. In most "civil" environments, we are NOT ALLOWED to ask these questions.
Which is wrong. I am sorry this happened to your son. (As an example, I had a cousin who was dying from SIDS when his mom found him and saved his life. He was basically brain dead from loss of oxygen and had to be raised in an institution. She cannot discuss it, which I can understand). (Wyeth vaccine deaths were pushed under the rug, I later discovered)