Is Ayan Rand worth reading

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DR_SWAMP_THING@reddit

Her prose is awful. Just watch the movies and said you read the books like everyone else.

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I liked all four of her novels. Anthem is great easy read. We the Living is good - it was the first book I've read set in the USSR and I thought that was really interesting. Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead are libertarian classics. They're pretty good novels, but do a good job of making an argument in support of libertarianism.

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chainsawx72@reddit

Yeah, just so you can understand John Galt references.

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TheBigNoiseFromXenia@reddit

Who is John Galt?

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Simplyx69@reddit

In Ayn Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged, John Galt is-

Oh, you almost got me, you little scamp!

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chainsawx72@reddit

See this guy gets it, or possibly doesn't get it at all, it's impossible to tell.

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Enoch_Root19@reddit

Schroedingers John Galt.

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BreakfastFluid9419@reddit

😂😂😂😂

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V_ROCK_501st@reddit (OP)

Lmao

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Otter@reddit

You should read her books (or at least Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead) four times. First when you’re college-aged. Second when you’re a young professional with a few working years under your belt. Again when you’re mid-career. And finally, one more time when you’re late career (mid 50s and on). It is like reading four different books. Your experience with the world changes the books dramatically and you get something very different from them at each stage.

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Hoosier108@reddit

That’s interesting. I listened to it as a book on tape during long hours driving for work at stage two; it was very formative to the way I think about work. I only agree with maybe 50% of what Rand said, but her message is fascinating and is a great mirror to measure yourself against.

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Otter@reddit

Absolutely. I found that, as I aged, my critical thinking skills developed. My experience, knowledge, and skills better informed my approach to her work. At each iteration I made different connections that formed my internalization her work. I’m no Ayn Rand scholar, but the little I’ve read about her persona indicates that she was a very pragmatic person, as we all become to some degree or another as we age. She was 33 when she wrote Fountainhead and 52 for Atlas Shrugged. I’m older than that now, but I’ve literarily observed an understanding of her evolution over that time. I don’t agree with everything she espouses, but I welcome the way that it is presented to me for critical evaluation. She doesn’t mince words and comes from a very specific frame of mind. I at least appreciate that aspect of her writing. She has a story to tell — molded in personal experience — and it is unambiguous and entirely unapologetic. Perhaps the most astute compliment I can give is that, agree or not, I respect the author’s voice.

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helemaal@reddit

Yes.

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Nakedsharks@reddit

I agree with a lot of her themes, but I also find her to be pretty overrated. People are praising the fountainhead, but it's chapter after chapter after chapter of repetitive, extremely dry talk about architecture, before anything even remotely interesting happens. When the book finally does start to develop past that, it's just a story about a creepy relationship between two people that never really makes a lot of sense.

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IcyBigPoe@reddit

Hmmm.

Last time I read this book was about 20 years ago, but none of what you say stands out to me at all.

I need to read it again as an adult; maybe I missed the point.

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Nakedsharks@reddit

The whole relationship between Howard Roark and Dominique is just weird. I get that, ideas of consent were different back then, but their whole first encounters were pretty on the line even for that time. Then the entirety of their relationship is just her trying to ruin his life and career, even though she "loves him" and is still sleeping with him and him being all "I wouldn't love you if you weren't making my life miserable", then he encourages her to marry another man, since Roark and Dominique were is love. The whole book was nonsense.

I love the themes of individualism and I like themes of us not being beholden to the dogmas of the past. I like the ideas of their being more than one way of doing things, all that, but the story itself is extremely dry til it finally gets the the strange relationship between Roark and Dominique that I just could not relate to. I don't know, maybe it's just me and there's something I'm missing. I read a lot and I enjoy a lot of older books, but this one wasn't it for me at all.

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Ok-Affect-3852@reddit

Absolutely worth reading, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged are classics. We The Living is my personal favorite. Anthem is great too, and probably the best to start with. Some have an issue with Rand’s fiction as it can be a little heavy handed at times. Voicing her philosophy of objectivism is her main focus, and sometimes she puts the story itself on the back burner while she’s emphasizing more philosophical issues. Regardless, her work is impactful and definitely worth checking out.

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gregaustex@reddit

Jump down a manhole, light yourself a candle.

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Rothbard25@reddit

The fountainhead is my favorite book of all time. Read that before atlas shrugged

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Ok-Affect-3852@reddit

Definitely agree, the fountainhead should come first.

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shroom_elemental@reddit

Just watch the movies. The Fountain Head movie isn't even cringe.

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Ok-Affect-3852@reddit

The Fountainhead film with Gary Cooper is an amazing film! I would also recommend trying to find the old film adaptation of We The Living. It’s an old black and white movie (I believe Italian) that was surprisingly good as well. The Atlas Shrugged movie trilogy is sadly not done well.

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liberrimus_roob@reddit

Anthem is a very easy read. I recommend starting there

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Achilles8857@reddit

If you understand nothing about philosophy (as a subject) and it's relation to economics, morality, politics - you should read this book. It lays out Rand's personal philosophy the context of a compelling dramatic story that in many ways bears resemblance to the modern world (as a good story should).

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L1b3rty0rD3ath@reddit

I'm a libertarian. But as a moral person, I'm not a fan of Ayn Rand at all.

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claybine@reddit

Luckily for you she wasn't libertarian

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c126@reddit

I’d recommend Murray Rothbard as a much better read. Try the Ethics of Liberty.

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Interesting_Loquat90@reddit

Everyone should read some Rand.

Just like libertarians should read non libertarian authors.

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