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good for you!! i think it's important for kids to have at least an appreciation for it, because with technology today it's so easy to just ignore it and slack off.

non-fiction?? really?? i've never actually been able to get into it!! it just tells the bare facts, no opinions for me to argue with!! i've never heard of Atlas Shrugged, what's it about? sounds pretty interesting.

say hi to the kids for me!!

carolynn

YOu don't know Atlas? Hmmm...I must dement you, I mean, inform you. Do you know Ayn Rand? She was a great influence on this guy named Neil Peart. Anyway, much of his music reflects a similar philosophy to hers. Have you read "dedicated to the genius of AynRand" on the 2112 liner notes? He wrote that cuz 2112 is quite similar to her book, Anthem. Also, his song, Anthem is similar to her book Anthem, in philosophy. anyhow, Atlas Shrugged is about what would happen if the best men and women of the world in various fields just up and left society.

So, I ask all you Rushians here: Just who IS John Galt?

wow, from your description Atlas Shrugged sounds almost like a reverse Closer to the Heart!! I actually have never read the 2112 liner notes, i'll get right to that as soon as i get back to nc!! if her stuff is anything like 'that guy called Neil Peart', i'd be EXTREMELY interested to read it!! i'll check that out also when i get back!! you're just full of great ideas!!

i personally have no clue who that is!!

carolynn

She's a rooski

Actually, Closer is based on the same principles as Atlas. See, the men who held high places did start to mold a new reality closer to the heart in Atlas, they just dropped out of society to do it because the society was not allowing them to do so within society.

Ayn Rand WAS a rooski, but she left and she hated their political system, so she was not a rooski in the way that word commonly connotes.

*Lifesonite wrote:She's a rooski

LOL! There's one I haven't heard in a while.

As for Rand, let's just say "not my cup of tea".

Rand is one I enjoy reading, because I think she writes well, but I do not agree with her worldview or philosophy. Parts of her philosophy, but not most. Still, I can enjoy a book without having to agree with the author on worldview and such.

awip2062 wrote:Rand is one I enjoy reading, because I think she writes well, but I do not agree with her worldview or philosophy. Parts of her philosophy, but not most. Still, I can enjoy a book without having to agree with the author on worldview and such.

Understood. I have enjoyed some of Tom Clancy's books, but we certainly do not share a world view....

Personal Responsibility = Good
Cynicism = Bad

Rand is so dreary and disconnected. I'm an optimist, I actually like other people. I can't help it.

Reminds me of a lyric by the Psychedelic Furs: Knee-jerk negativity just never got me through...

JMHO, as always...

Oh yes, Rand can be quite dreary and pessimistic!

What I appreciate about her work though is her character development and also the fact that she really stresses striving to be one's best being important.

Ayn Rand dreary and pessimistic?!? Maybe a bit in some of her early works, like We The Living, but I'd have to characterize the vast majority of her work as quite the opposite.

Think of Anthem, for example. It exudes the joy and energy of something like, well, a Rush song! And that Francisco guy in Atlas Shrugged, he was far from dreary and pessimistic.

It's a curious thing to me, considering my major beef about most 20th Century art is that it is dreary and pessimistic, and one of my primary attractions to Ayn Rand's writing (and Rush's music as well) is that it is not.

D'Anconia wrote: And that Francisco guy in Atlas Shrugged, he was far from dreary and pessimistic.

What would you know of his character? *wink*

sounds like some good reading material, i'll scope it out when i get home!!

carolynn

I think the dreariness comes from her views of the ruling societies in the books she wrote. They tended to be quite socialistic to the logical extreme and that is dreary. Especially if you have to live in it.

Something I found funny: in Anthem, the protagonist finds what? A light bulb, right? Well, I have a friend who lives in Vladivostok, Russia and what was a prized possesion in that city but a light bulb! It was impossible to keep them in the stairwells of the apartments and other such public places because everyone kept stealing them.

All you have to do is remove the off switches. We'll see how many they're willing to steal when those babies are red hot!!

awip2062 wrote:I think the dreariness comes from her views of the ruling societies in the books she wrote. They tended to be quite socialistic to the logical extreme and that is dreary. Especially if you have to live in it.

Agree on that point. That's why I've only managed to read We the Living once. Too depressing. I'll get around to it again eventually, though. I don't think that's the dominant part of most of her work, however.