Nic Jones (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nicwrites) wrote,@ 2008-04-02 14:40:00 |
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Atlas Shrugged
An impulse buy ago I bought Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I got about three pages in before the heavy weight of the tomb and it's somewhat ponderous start had me asleep.
So I downloaded an audiobook version. I tried to get a legal version - EscapePod listeners were offered a free audiobook download, but the company involved required a credit card number (even for a free download). I gave up and downloaded it illegally, which was so very much easier.
Atlas Shrugged is one of the longest books written in English. (The audiobook version is 56 hours long) It's longer than Tolstoy's War and Peace. Like War and Peace, it's a literary classic, once being voted the second most influential book (after the bible) in a survey done by the US Library of Congress.
Describing it isn't easy. It's a bit of a rant pushing the philosophy of objectivism. The story mostly follows railroad tycoon Dagne Taggart, vice-president of a trans-continental railroad. She and other industrialists find themselves set upon by an increasingly socialistic political and social environment, and struggle to maintain their businesses.
The conflict is clearly written to show laizzes-faire capitalism is the One True Path and that a regulated economy is doomed to failure. At times I found the book a bit frustrating: I may not be an economist but I understand the basic difference between the extremes of anarchy and totalitarianism in social and economic policy. Often one of the main characters would be presented with the arguments of a socialist regime and the obvious counter-arguments wouldn't come.
It's also a little blunt in its push for these ideas. The industrialists are all brilliant men, tall and grand. The "looters" are weasel-y and small. It feels overly manipulative in this sense and this weakens the premise - it's a little like Rand's philosophy can't stand on its own in a realistic world, so she creates a world of larger-than-life heros and strawman enemies expecting us to be impressed. It isn't until the last few chapters that Rand presents a character that can actually articulate the opposing viewpoint and by then it's far too late to make any difference.
The book is certainly long, but the length of the book isn't really misused. Rand uses multiple industrialists to show slightly different versions of her argument. The audiobook version came in 10minute chuncks and I did skip two - there's a loooong speech at the end of the book by one of the characters that basically just summarises the philosophy, but I had understood it enough through the story that it was just redundant.
There are some really great moments in the book. I loved a speech made about money as the root of all evil that begins:
And the book is the source of the famous quote:
"Reading" it as an audiobook was more pleasant than I expected it to be. I could read while riving or riding, or at night with my eyes closed lying any way I liked (which is much more comfortable than reading a paperback in bed.) It is definitely slower, though. You also have the problem of zoning out. When you relise, while reading a paperback, that for the last three or four paragraphs you haven't been paying attention, you can just flip back and read them again. When you zone out with an audiobook you have to rewind and try to find your place. It's much harder.
On balance, though, I liked the audiobook version, and I think I'm going to try a few more books this way.
20NAULS
Ars has a review up of Dark Sector, yet another game banned in Australia. Ben Kuchera's verdict is "buy", and there's a lot about the game that looks interesting. I really hope Yahtzee gets his hands on it to review.
An impulse buy ago I bought Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. I got about three pages in before the heavy weight of the tomb and it's somewhat ponderous start had me asleep.
So I downloaded an audiobook version. I tried to get a legal version - EscapePod listeners were offered a free audiobook download, but the company involved required a credit card number (even for a free download). I gave up and downloaded it illegally, which was so very much easier.
Atlas Shrugged is one of the longest books written in English. (The audiobook version is 56 hours long) It's longer than Tolstoy's War and Peace. Like War and Peace, it's a literary classic, once being voted the second most influential book (after the bible) in a survey done by the US Library of Congress.
Describing it isn't easy. It's a bit of a rant pushing the philosophy of objectivism. The story mostly follows railroad tycoon Dagne Taggart, vice-president of a trans-continental railroad. She and other industrialists find themselves set upon by an increasingly socialistic political and social environment, and struggle to maintain their businesses.
The conflict is clearly written to show laizzes-faire capitalism is the One True Path and that a regulated economy is doomed to failure. At times I found the book a bit frustrating: I may not be an economist but I understand the basic difference between the extremes of anarchy and totalitarianism in social and economic policy. Often one of the main characters would be presented with the arguments of a socialist regime and the obvious counter-arguments wouldn't come.
It's also a little blunt in its push for these ideas. The industrialists are all brilliant men, tall and grand. The "looters" are weasel-y and small. It feels overly manipulative in this sense and this weakens the premise - it's a little like Rand's philosophy can't stand on its own in a realistic world, so she creates a world of larger-than-life heros and strawman enemies expecting us to be impressed. It isn't until the last few chapters that Rand presents a character that can actually articulate the opposing viewpoint and by then it's far too late to make any difference.
The book is certainly long, but the length of the book isn't really misused. Rand uses multiple industrialists to show slightly different versions of her argument. The audiobook version came in 10minute chuncks and I did skip two - there's a loooong speech at the end of the book by one of the characters that basically just summarises the philosophy, but I had understood it enough through the story that it was just redundant.
There are some really great moments in the book. I loved a speech made about money as the root of all evil that begins:
So you think that money is the root of all evil? Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?
And the book is the source of the famous quote:
There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. When there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.
"Reading" it as an audiobook was more pleasant than I expected it to be. I could read while riving or riding, or at night with my eyes closed lying any way I liked (which is much more comfortable than reading a paperback in bed.) It is definitely slower, though. You also have the problem of zoning out. When you relise, while reading a paperback, that for the last three or four paragraphs you haven't been paying attention, you can just flip back and read them again. When you zone out with an audiobook you have to rewind and try to find your place. It's much harder.
On balance, though, I liked the audiobook version, and I think I'm going to try a few more books this way.
20NAULS
Ars has a review up of Dark Sector, yet another game banned in Australia. Ben Kuchera's verdict is "buy", and there's a lot about the game that looks interesting. I really hope Yahtzee gets his hands on it to review.