Favorite Ayn Rand Book

Atlas Shrugged, without a doubt: said it all, showed it all, and with a great sense of life, too.

As Rabbi Hillel said in a different context, all the rest is commentary.

Post 1

Saturday, October 5, 2002 - 2:26am

Atlas Shrugged was the one I enjoyed the most, and I loved The Fountainhead, but to me Anthem is special. It was the first one I read, and it was a defining moment in my life. At the time it was the most beautiful piece of writing I had ever read.

Post 2

Wednesday, June 4, 2003 - 9:01am

We the Living was were it all began for me, but the Fountainhead is my favorite work in the fiction category. The Romantic Manifesto is my favorite of the non-fiction books.

Post 3

Thursday, June 5, 2003 - 8:38am

My problem with Atlas Shrugged is John Galt. He seems to have been hatched from an egg as a perfect human. He makes all his rational choices instinctively. I could not help wanting to know more about how this perfectly perfect human came to be. He walked the walk, and talked the talk, but his character was never as fully explored, as was �Howard Roark� in the Fountainhead. As a reader, I found that disappointing.

Post 4

Thursday, June 5, 2003 - 9:09am

A frequent criticism of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead by non-objectivists is that the
characters are one-dimensional. Why would an author who is trying to make a philosophical
statement endow her characters with irrelevant idiosyncrasies? They are supposed to be
ideals and it would be pointless to expound on their childhoods to give you an understanding
of how they got to the ideal state they are in. If we delved into the background of Wesley
Mouch and found he was picked on in the school yard it would tend to depict him as a
victim rather than the villain he is. If John Galt were from a wealthy family he would be
deemed "privileged" and not noble.

Post 5

Thursday, June 5, 2003 - 10:51am

Perhaps I should have said that although he operates in a rational manner, he is shown to me as acting instinctively, and therefore with out choice. It left me with the understanding that there was no process of growth in John. That he was simply born perfect with out choosing his perfection.

Post 6

Thursday, June 5, 2003 - 10:54am

Howard Roark however, is magnificently portrayed and fully explained. :)

Post 7

Saturday, November 15, 2003 - 10:49pm