Go check out this Wall Street Journal opinion piece.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123146363567166677.html
And if you've got the guts and determination to do it, go here and buy it. It currently has more than 1,500 reviews and an average rating of 4 stars.
http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Shrugged-Ayn-Rand/dp/0452011876/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231772038&sr=8-1
This book will forever be in my own top five list. The book itself is very good but reading it led me to others which led me to others, the net effect of which was to completely change how I see the world.
2 weeks ago
2 comments:
I'm sure you didn't intend this post to open a discussion of the merits and/or demerits of Atlas Shrugged, so I'll keep my comments brief. There is much that I disagree with in the book, but Rand's treatment of the horrors of government intervention/take-over of industry is spot-on and I'm glad that at least some media are taking note.
I have always hesitated recommending this book out of fear that people will reject the entire book because of her atheism. With all apologies to those who fall into this category, I find some humor at those who have no problem studying the works of Plato or Aristotle, who worshipped (as much as they did, anyway) the gods of ancient Greece, but reject the work of an atheist as irrelevant. Apparently for some, as long as you worship some god, any god, you are okay. :)
I have personally always seen her philosophical work (which inspired the book) as an important link between the secular and the spiritual because they arrive at the same conclusion via two exceedingly different methods.
In a very small nutshell:
Rand, while never using these words, developed a 'Darwinian,' atheistic explanation for the rights of man. Offering a full, comprehensive explanation for the rights of man that does not require them to be an unexplainable gift from God.
Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and others developed a comprehensive understanding of the rights of man as having been endowments given by our Creator.
Thus, whether you are a believer or an atheist the full complement of the rights of man are yours to enjoy without prejudice from your counterpart. In theory at least...
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