RSS Feed
Atlas Shrugged and Moved On
For my own amusement I decided to make a list of the books I’ve read lately, and If I recall correctly it looks something like this:
Jingo - Terry Pratchett
Human Prehistory and the First Civilizations - The Teaching Company
Thud! - Terry Pratchett
The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Memories, Dreams, Reflections – Carl Jung
Snow Crash – Neil Stephenson
Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand
So, what does this say about me? First of all, I’m a sucker for Terry Pratchett and his Discworld books. In fact, the next book I read will be Wintersmith: the third book in the Tiffany Aching series (the others are The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky.) Technically, I think these books are for young people, but I adore the little pictsies so I ignore that.
Secondly, it shows that I’m (as always) a pretentious bastard. I mean…who voluntarily delves into history books and a book where a famous psychologist reflects on his own life? The first one was a bit of a disappointment; the reader was a pompous prick, and the book wasn’t really structured all that interestingly. The second one was better and in fact quite interesting.
Thirdly, this list proves that I’m a generic nerd-geek; Pratchett, Stephenson, Gaiman and Rand are probably well-read among the geeks who read books. (It always comes as a surprise to me, but some geeky people actually don’t read all that much!) The last author is what I decided to make a special comment about, however.
Ayn Rand was a Russian-born writer who turned philosopher. Or vice versa, depending on how you view it. She started by writing novels in which she presented and perfected her idea about the theory of Objectivism; Atlas Shrugged is the most famous of her novels, and also the last fictional one she wrote before she went hardcore philosopher. When I was younger I frequented various message boards and often got tempted into discussions about ethics and morals and economics and politics and whatnot. Rand was one author that many pro-capitalist people referred to as a source for their ideas, but I never took the time to check out exactly what she had written. Now I have read one book at least, and there are some things that I find interesting:
- I like the setting and the twists. Atlas Shrugged is never dull. But…
- …it can’t be helped: Rand is not a very good author per se. She tells a story decently, but the character development is non-existent and the book feels artificial.
- Following that thought, the speeches that occur now and then are laughable. Not the contents of the speeches, but the sudden outbursts of philosophical ideas. The characters don’t feel real – they are just Rand’s tools for presenting her thoughts.
- I disagree with Rand’s philosophy in general, but she has some nice points…
- …such as valuing productivity. It’s eerie, noticing how many of her values are the same ones I judge myself by. However, I feel that her next step is rather egocentrical: she applies these set of values to others as well; she makes a general philosophy out of something that I feel is relative and personal. In other words, to me it seems like her philosophy is based on hubris and a lack of empathy.
I’m not going into details about Objectivism or my own critique of it; I only read the book for personal enjoyment and not in order to analyze it. Doing the latter takes too much time and effort for something that I ultimately don’t feel is as earth-shaking as many others seem to think.
All in all, the book is worth a read. I liked it well enough even if I got annoyed at some details. And it’s always refreshing to read new ideas.