By Ayn Rand

Here’s where the live blogging gets a bit messy: by recapping as we go through it, we often decide to either not mention or put off mentioning something until it proves itself important. But the whole John Galt thing is sort of gradually gaining in importance, so there hasn’t been a good time to really address it head-on (yet) and we probably should have mentioned it beforehand. So, to catch up, here’s a quick run-down of John Galt: Continue reading →

The following has been making the rounds on Facebook, though it was quoted in the Rolling Stone interview from October 2012:

Can’t say that I disagree, though I am a bit disappointed at the graphic for the cheap shot of using a particularly unattractive photo of Rand.

—Anna

Once again Atlas Shrugged has made the news – this has seriously been a very timely reading! An Idaho lawmaker has proposed a bill requiring every high school student in the state to read and pass a test on Atlas Shrugged before graduation.* I had a series of reactions:

• Ugh, those poor students! Oh, man, those poor teachers!

• You know what, this is totally going to bite him in the ass. I have never heard of a single person who’s favorite book turned out to be one they read as a requirement. There’s something about the simple fact of the requirement that takes away a lot of the inspiration from reading.

• Considering the somewhat explicit and very uncomfortable sex scenes, the PTA would be howling! Actually, this specific lawmaker would probably be howling just as loudly about any other book that contained similar passages. (Although given the Republican Party’s recent comments on rape, perhaps they wouldn’t be all that bothered.)

*I linked to Fox Nation because I thought we should have a supporting view of it (though they actually seem pretty noncommittal), but you should also check out the “Pic of the Day” on the right  column, because it is super cute!

—Anna

By Ayn Rand

Sigh.

Rebecca read my previous post, where I complained at the end that there were too many characters to keep up with, and commented that I had neglected to mention Dr. Robert Stadler. I said that was because I didn’t care about him. She simply smirked, so of course this chapter opens on Dr. Robert Stadler, renowned theoretical physicist and head of the State Science Institute. Continue reading →

By Ayn Rand

I’m feeling a bit broken down by this book at this point, and I’m only a quarter of the way through it (which, I would like to add, is the length of a normal-sized book). I feel like maybe I’m being brainwashed? I don’t even have the strength for resistance anymore.  Send help! What’s the anti-Ayn-Rand?

Anyway, the plot is getting pretty dense at this point, so while I was initially trying to confine my summaries to two or three paragraphs a chapter, I’m not sure that is going to be possible, and I refuse to let you escape hearing about some of the most uncomfortable sex scenes I’ve had to read.

Continue reading →

By Ayn Rand

Oh, Rand, you almost had me there, you tricksy Objectivist! (I’m breaking into Rebecca’s week of blogging because I can’t quite contain myself on Chapter 7.)

At the beginning of the chapter, when Dagny has run away from a rigged debate and found herself in a seedy diner, she discusses the state of the world with the lower-income diners. Like all good liberals, it was only from their mouths that I began to see what Rand has been trying to get at, and to perhaps even find some common ground between liberal and conservative viewpoints.

I think we can all agree that the state of the production in our country is in trouble, and, additionally, that one of the main sources of the trouble is that people have become disenfranchised from the act of production, that people are too afraid to buck the status quo to come up with original and ground-breaking ideas. From my liberal standpoint, the voices of the “little people” are too far away from the “big people” and if the “little people” try to make their voices heard, they have a very real fear of losing their jobs. Thus, people in the production line might notice incompetence, but are actively discouraged from acting on it. Of course, the two political sides break down when it comes to finding a solution, but I think even agreeing on the problem is a step in the right direction.

So, I was beginning to buy into Atlas Shrugged, right? I was even starting to think that this whole endeavor wouldn’t be as unpleasant as I had originally thought. Continue reading →