This is to inform all you people who doubted me - I finally finished Atlas Shrugged!
Woohoo !!!
Okay, I shamelessly took 2 years and 2 attempts (the first time I gave up mid way at the John Galt speech) to finish it, but I finally did it last week and just wanted to pat my back a bit for the achievement ...
Honestly, Atlas Shrugged is not a page turner per se ...
It requires a good amount of dedicated reading and a lot of effort to get through some pages sometimes.
But saying that, its an awesome, awesome book - and a definite read if you had read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and liked it.
I am not going to do a book review here (because I am pretty sure I'll suck at it) but if you have sometime to spare and want to get into the entire philosophical reading mode (without reading absolutely boring theoretical stuff), I suggest this book would be a good read.
The scope of the book is quite far fetched and exaggerated - and yet you wish such things could happen. You wish one person could stand up and stop the functioning of the world.
The name comes from the question about Atlas.
Atlas is shown carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders ... What would happen to the world if he shrugged?
One of the most powerful lines from the book and my favourite (which is kinda clichéd) is by John Galt - the main protagonist of the book. It goes like this:
"I swear—by my life and my love of it—that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
13 comments:
India is one of the few places that still has the capacity for the individualists to win the battle for the culture.
Here in America, the parasites are far too entrenched.
To be the best at what I do, whether it's something I want to do or merely something I need to do... I find it hard to break free from the comforts of my own parasitic tendancies to cause positive change in my own life.
Heck, I'm answering blogs from work!
Have you ever wondered why Atlas "shrugged" and didn't 'stretch' or 'flex'?
umm... since you gifted me the book i feel obliged to post my views here...
of course, i didnt take that long to finish the book, i did it in about one and a half days. hehe...
the book as you have said is far-fetched. although ayn rand suggests we step away and stop the machinery im not too sure that is the right way to go about it. brilliant minds must beget brilliant minds and recognise the need to see an active role for themselves in this world. trouble is, the most brilliant minds arent ambitious enough and find happiness in some abstract forms and not in the form of money and power. to them the greatest power is knowing they can say no. the world doesnt stop as a result of them having said no, it carries on. not at full steam but with an awful limp.
Reminded me of when I attempted The Fountainhead. I never went past part 1 of the book. Infact it is perhaps the only book in my life I ever left unfinished.
Same here ! I still havent finished atlas shrugged , because i don't own a copy , started reading it at Crossword !
Anyways , i loved Fountainhead , and as a matter of fact , i'd finished it while study leave was going on ...in 3 days ! Plus plus plus , i've read it thrice !
And yes , "who is John Galt ? "
CONGRATS on finishing it yaar!! You been reading it since we were in THIRD YEAR.. :)
ok heres something intriguing...
why does everyone hail ayn rands books when in truth everyone is stretched to the limit to try and finish them?
can a book be both interesting and boring at the same time? so boring that it takes you years to finish it and yet so interesting, that you carry on reading it for those years cause you wanna get to the last page?
weird...
mulling over my thoughts,
That has always bothered me too. Why is it so important to have read Rand and not say James Carter(I made that one up). As children we are basically influenced/ coerced into reading books that we may not otherwise have read. However, as adults why do we continue to gravitate toward names that are known. Is it because we fear to tread on unknown reading grounds or is it an involuntary expression of an individual's need to fit in, to belong? I wonder...
Okay ...
Reading Atlas Shrugged was no ways in trying to prove a point or anything.
I had always wanted to read it after having read The Fountainhead.
So when I saw it in the local bookstore, I picked up the copy.
The only thing is that I never really got enough time (or chose not to perhaps) read it at a stretch.
I did not find the book boring at all - infact, the story progressed at a much faster rate than Fountainhead.
In the post, I mentioned it wasn't a page turner for people who haven't read Fountainhead or prefer more faster Dan Brown / Robin Cook books.
Anyways, I read it coz I wanted to and now I can move to other books lying around :)
hmmm...
points taken into consideration from both you saurabh and id it is.
coming to ayn rands books, they are really eye openers in terms of attracting you towards realising what you could accomplish by choosing not to. im not saying that her books are entirely boring, what im trying to say is that her books are brilliant in the matter they wish to project but boring because of the pace and detail with which she chooses to express herself. thats what i meant when i said they are boring and interesting at the same time, boring because you cant concentrate for long spans at a go and interesting because they leave an indelible mark on your psyche for a lifetime...
hope im a bit clearer in what im trying to convey now...
Yay Bravo.... ! Congrats...
I still need to start this book. But I have a pile of books to finish before starting this BIG one !
hey , anyone tried "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts ?
Awesome !
This will astonish you!
It`s in the interest of as all!
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