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Friday, July 27, 2012 - 7:20amSanction this postReply
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Has anyone read this novel?

http://thewaterthief.com/

It supposedly "rebuts" Ayn Rand through a dystopian vision of a future of "extreme" capitalism.

I can already detect flaws in the author's grasp of key notions based on book summaries and reviews, but wanted to see if anyone on this site had already read it.

(Edited by Luke Setzer on 7/27, 7:34am)


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Friday, July 27, 2012 - 8:25amSanction this postReply
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No. but I did see it advertised on the Facebook sidebar ads. Skipped it.

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Post 2

Tuesday, July 31, 2012 - 11:25amSanction this postReply
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I'm reading this book now.  As you surmised, Luke, it is not an honest rebuttal of Atlas Shrugged at all.  It's clear early on that the author has either misunderstood or intentionally misinterpreted Rand's work.  In the world of The Water Thief, it is the norm for parents to sell their children to corporations.  There is no slavery in Objectivism, and there is very little rational self-interest in this book.  I'll post more when I've finished the book, if anyone is interested, but I suspect it will just be more of the same.

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Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - 10:37amSanction this postReply
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Deanna, did you ever finish reading this book?

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Tuesday, August 28, 2012 - 2:46pmSanction this postReply
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Yes, I did, and it was more of the same as I suspected.  I had nothing new to offer, so didn't post more.  The term the author uses for the state of affairs in the book is "corporatism" which is just as good a term as any I guess.  It describes the situation of corporations owning everything, including people.  Honestly, I had no problem with the author's point that corporatism (as described in the book) is a bad thing.  My problem was with the author equating corporatism to capitalism and trouncing Ayn Rand for upholding it.  There was very little in the book resembling anything that Rand would have supported.  Interestingly, the author alludes to Rand's work in many ways - the coffee shop where the main character spends time with his mentor is located in Atlas Square, the library is the Galt Library - but he never mentions her by name.  Instead, he refers to her as Zeno (or is it Zena, I forget).  Maybe there's a copyright or something protecting her name from being used in this way?  I don't know, but it seemed a bit cowardly.

Anyway, the book is an easy read, and the story is actually interesting, if you can get past the annoyance of Objectivism being completely misinterpreted.  Personally, I sometimes find it difficult to explain to people what Objectivism is all about and often resort to explaining what it isn't about.  This book helps with that. 

If I had to name the most glaring misinterpretation in the book, it would be that of rational self-interest.  The "corporatists" are not only irrational, but they're also stupid.  Their thinking is disordered and based on nothing more than surviving from hour to hour.  There is very little sense of life at all.

If you have any other specific questions or would like more details, let me know. 


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Wednesday, August 29, 2012 - 3:53amSanction this postReply
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perhaps a more interesting, tho more odd, book is Matt Ruff's Sewer, Gas & Electric..........

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