people overestimate how much they like Atlas Shrugged because they are (rightfully) impressed with themselves they finished a book so long Sometimes I wonder if that old bag ever met a real life human being, just from reading her other stuff.
Go read Nietzsche instead. At least his philosophy is brutally honest. Ayn Rand and her ilk don't have a clue about what's "rational" except through a one-dimensional view.
Jesus. Maybe I'll just wait for the movie to come out. Doesn't sound like this is worth 1000 pages of my time. Well, there is a new Vince Flynn novel out. Yeah, maybe I'll try that.
Ayn say's nothing about "Trading" or even the Stock Market. She talks of Private Industry, Producers, Oil, Rail, Buildings, Wealth etc. She addreasses the issue of a Obama Nation of Free Loaders and Govermental Regulations in the name of the "PEOPLE". Everyone who is a capitalist should read Ayn. She will open your eyes to the bullshit that goes on in America and the threat of all Socailist, from the simple poster on this site, to the "Warren Buffts and George Soros types, to the Goverment who thinks they "Know" best. Her writtings are far woth more than your time to read 1000 pages.
I read it 40 years ago and it has had a lasting impact on my entire life. A friend of mine read it about the same time as I, and he worked his way up to bocame CEO of Atlantic Richfield (ARCO which sold to BP). Mike and I used to discuss it at length and I know it had a big influence on him....the last time I talked to him he was encouraging his son to read it before the son left for Marine boot camp. Stosh
JNBadger, it is worth much more than 1000 pages. Most who read it - and get it - read it serveral times over their lives. This book is not literature, it is philosophy. After reading it, you realize that you are now about to begin living it in this country. As for her fear of communism: Realize that at the time this was being written, virtually ALL intellectuals believed that collectivism was the way for the future. Hayak was barely making his impact, and except for a small group of economist around him, the whole intellectual class was pro communism. So it is helpful to read this book knowing the intellectual history up to this time.
Captialism: An Unknown Ideal is a great read, gives some interesting perspective on what people like Greenspan were thinking 30 years ago. Atlas Shrugged made me want to stab my eyes out. I might try to read it again, but I don't understand how people can be so patient trying to read it.
Reading Ayn Rand is like reading an entire one sided review of a movie before ever seeing it. People ought to get a background in some classical modern philosophy before falling head over heals with this stuff. The same goes with Nietzsche. He's fun to read before coming to understand the background and precedent of his "philosophy". After reading the predecessors he opposed, it's easier to sense his insanity while reading his works. The same goes with every philosopher. You have to read back, and never believe what a philosopher says about another philosopher, they're opinions are usually extremely unfair and biased. I wouldn't be saying this if Ayn Rand didn't have such a cult following. How philosophy (or anything other than experience) could help trading, I don't know.
I would call the book a "game changer" for me. I had finished college at UT Austin.....had taken gov't courses, eco courses, law, history, etc. and can remember how refreshing it was to read Ayn Rand after having been exposed to all those socialist professors. I hadn't even heard of her, and don't remember who recommended Atlas Shrugged to me but I absorbed her philosophy like a sponge as compared to the drudgery of being spoon fed socialism before that. Her book "Fountainhead" is shorter and easier reading for those who might want to try it before deciding to start on Atlas Shrugged. By the way, it seems we are getting closer and closer in the U. S., to the unfortunate likelihood that the event predicted by the title occurs. Stosh