Today is the birthday of the author of the classic “Atlas Shrugged” – Ayn Rand. (Not her real name, btw.)
She’s one of those figures that has no middle ground. Either you like her or you loathe her. I’m more of the former than the latter. “Atlas Shrugged” changed a lot of the way I think about things…especially money. “Francisco’s Money Speech” is one of my favorite passages in the book. It is shortened but well played in this clip:
This abbreviated version of the speech plays nicely but doesn’t deliver the full ideas. That can be found here.
Especially apropos of late:
“Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, ‘Account overdrawn.’
Wanting to make sure I was reading things the way she intended, I also read almost everything else she’d ever written..The Virtue of Selfishness, Anthem, We The Living, etc, etc. I even read her collected letters. (But I never could make it through The Fountainhead.) Fallible human? Absolutely. But even people with personal failings can still come up with interesting ideas and philosophies.
Anyway, I read “Atlas Shrugged” about thirty years ago and I still revisit it from time to time. I may not necessarily agree with all of it, but I agree with far more of it than I disagree with. And, no doubt, it has colored much of my attitudes on money, relationships, liberty, and government….for better or worse.
Its odd, but when I think about it, I’d say the two most influential books in my life have been “Atlas Shrugged” and “Starship Troopers”. There’s a pair to draw to, huh?
great book.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was one, Robinson Crusoe and anything by Louis L’Amour, Jack London and Alexandre Dumas. all good reads for young men.
they all have had a profound influence in my life.
i sometimes fail but i have always aspired to live a chivalrous life.
Have read most of Rand’s books plus have read “Atlas Shrugged” five times over the years. Did read “The Fountainhead” but preferred “Atlas”. Have the three DVD collection of “Atlas” and “The Fountainhead” DVD.
One of the things I find interesting is how many people with libertarian (not the party, the ideals) leanings first formed their opinions on the matter by reading Heinlein.
Time enough for love.
And sadly, The Crazy Years
Also well worth reading The Mandibles
Recall at the end, Reardon abandons his factory and leaves his loyal supporters to fend for themselves while he heads for safety in the hills.
Atlas Shrugged was OK but I liked Fountainhead better,
True, but by that time the factory had been mostly staffed with Mouch’s thugs and work-scheme people. And, as Sanders said, his factory wasnt in that building..it was wherever he was.
Central banksters (money changers) are the destroyers of everything good. They only hold gold & silver for the time when their fake money (paper) is rejected.
The court scene is also very well done in both book and movie.
Try her book on the regrowth movement. It explains alot.
Return of the Primitives.
The Anti-Industrial Revolution..
Change of subject but have you notice Ruger is now selling SDF and some of them are not what you would expect.
Sorry that should read SBR I lost my glasses.
Agree with both Atlas Shrugged, and Starship Troopers.
However, the Fountainhead is also an excellent book, and I found that it explained Rand’s philosophies in a much more practical way than Atlas Shrugged. The movie (with Gary Cooper) did not do it justice, of course.
I liked the message and story line in “Atlas Shrugged”, but her writing style isn’t for me. She will use 1,000 words where 100 will do. I end up skimming instead of reading….
I tell people it’s the most important book they will hate reading
And it’s the reason I think The Fountainhead is more approachable for most people
Same pair of books for me.
“I’d say the two most influential books in my life have been “Atlas Shrugged” and “Starship Troopers”. ” Really the latter, primarily, for me. I was a precocious 5 year old burning my way through the Heinlein Juveniles. Some of the junior library staff would scoff and send me back to the stacks for books with pictures in them, so I learned to just take my selections to Mrs. Hendershott for checkout. To this day I don’t know if that wise woman knew there was such a range between “Red Planet” and “Stranger in a Strange Land” but I happily sledded right down that literary hill. And I remember distinctly that “Starship Troopers” helped me make sense of a lot of things that I didn’t want to talk to my folks about, and teachers wouldn’t broach. It was quite a few years before some of the other topics in RAH’s “philosophy” became clear, but those issues of agency and “fairness” brought up in Starship Troopers clicked early and hard.
I bet you’re similarly enthralled as I am with Paul Verhoeven’s abomination.
I am, indeed. Marvel movies have proven that CGI has advanced to the stage that we shouldnt have any trouble getting power-armored cap troopers on the screen.
In a lighter vein, I enjoy all the humor books by Pat McManus, having been hooked by him during the 30+ years he wrote for Field and Stream and anchored the back page of Outdoor Life. When I need to laugh or lighten a sour mood, or just feel like visiting some old friends, I can always turn to the residents of Sand Point, Idaho in Pat’s books. They’re dependable, they’re funny and sometimes they’re even wise.
I advocate that every baby shower should have at least 1 copy of Aesops Fables gifted to the parents- first for them to read then for them to read to the child. A book that has survived 2300+ years is truly a treasure of wisdom. Next I advocate for “Swiss Family Robinson” may truly be the first survivalist/ prepper book and written for youth. Next I recommend Tom Wolf’s lesser known “A Man in Full” to understand psychology of success failure and resilience. Plus the scam on religion make me want to set up a “church”. This subject make me think of the Twilight Zone episode about the librarian who has all the time to read but breaks his glasses.