| Author | Message | ||
     Reindog |
Anyone read it? 1168 pages long with small print! This is gonna keep me busy as I am probably the last person in the world to tackle Rand's opus. Although written in 1957, it reached #1 in Amazon fiction last April as Americans strive to understand what is happening to their world. Apparently, Rand was aware of the forces in the world that threaten to destroy the individual and private property. We live in such times with evil threatening to usurp the very concept of America and minions willing be led towards slavery one small "feel good" step at a time. The wiki gives a synopsis of the book's themes. (Message edited by reindog on December 31, 2009) | ||
| Xl1200r |
I read Anthem by Rand in high school and really enjoyed it. I read it again recently and came away not as impressed - maybe because I knew the plot line ahead of time, maybe because my polluted mind was less able to create it's own imagery. I also bought the Fountainhead but have yet to attempt it. I'm not much of a reader and my current project is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - been about a month and I'm not quite half way through it. | ||
| Diablo1 |
Apparently she was only aware of certain types of evil. Sounds like she would oppose any government intervention in people's lives, like the Center for Disease Control, the EPA to prevent industry from destroying the air and water with pollution, the SEC investigating Bernie Madoff in a timely manner (they didn't), the fluoridation of water, etc. I prefer some government regulation over the free market system, along with some laws to prevent criminals from running amuck. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
It's the difference between owning and using a cell phone and being assimilated by the Borg. We are treading dangerously close to being assimilated. | ||
| Xl1200r |
You do understand that the fluoride in drinking water has been pawned off as "good for your teeth" like what you get at dentist, when it fact it's just a dirty industrial byproduct. The whole thing was suggested by the industries that had to otherwise dispose of this non-pharmicudical grade fluoride, which is very expensive. Now they get to dump it into the water supply for free. No thanks. (Message edited by xl1200r on December 31, 2009) | ||
| Strato9r |
"The Fountainhead" rules, period. If any book should be read by every high school kid, this is the one. I challenge anyone who has read it to not see the similarity of it's central character, "Howard Roark", and the path his character takes within the storyline, to this guy who used to put his name on some of the most amazing motorcycles ever built. "Atlas Shrugged" is a more challenging read; a bit long winded and convoluted at times, but one of my favorite books. It is a great diagram of the best and worst of both human nature, and capitolism, or rather true capitolism vs. greed and avarice disguised as capitolism. Government bailouts and corruption, unprincipalled banking disasters, unearned fortunes by glad handing second handers; here it was, folks, written in '57, a spot on prediction of '09............. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I read it a long time ago. It's a decent but at times TOUGH read. For example, at one point in the book, the protagonist gives a speech on the radio which takes ~50 (really!) pages to cover. IMHO Ms. Rand had some good ideas and plenty of BS. Read up on "Objectivism" which is the term coined to identify her philosophy. | ||
| Reindog |
Made it to page two and it is already a challenging read  | ||
| Diablo1 |
You do understand that the fluoride in drinking water has been pawned off as "good for your teeth" like what you get at dentist, when it fact it's just a dirty industrial byproduct. The whole thing was suggested by the industries that had to otherwise dispose of this non-pharmicudical grade fluoride, which is very expensive. Now they get to dump it into the water supply for free. No thanks. The fluoridation of water was promoted by the dental professionals because it helped prevent tooth decay. The tinfoil hat folks, like the John Birch Society, opposed fluoridation as some sort of communist plot to soften American brains. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation } | ||
| Bikertrash05 |
Eh, I live movies. 1984 Brazil Demolition Man A Clockwork Orange Death Race District 9 Gamer Gattaca Mad Max Minority Report Postman Red Dawn Soylent Green THX 1138 Colossus | ||
| Hughlysses |
Soylent green is people!!!!!! | ||
| Xl1200r |
I can use wikipedia, too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_water_f luoridation read the whole article and take note of how the WHO and EPA feel about it. | ||
| Edgydrifter |
Go ask your dentist what he or she thinks about fluoridated water. I did, and because he's my dad he boiled it down to a to a very simple example. "Look at my teeth," he said, showing off a mouth full of fillings, "and now look at yours." I don't have a single filling. Neither does my sister. The difference? We grew up with fluoride in the water and he didn't (and, I suspect, because softdrinks weren't allowed in the house when we were young). According to my dad, within a few years of fluoride being added to the water supply in the town where he practices, the incidence of cavities in the kids there dropped off a cliff. Fillings used to be a huge part of his business, now it's a minor one. Poison or not, as an enamel fortifier, fluoride works. | ||
| X5thxgearxfreak |
Englands' water isn't that great either. Just look at our teeth. Need I say more? | ||
| Xl1200r |
And according to my dad he never smoked pot despite watching 2001: A Space Odyssey with Supertramp when he was a DJ in college. Go ask you dentist what he thinks about SWALLOWING fluoride. My brother did once - made a mess out of the dentist's bathroom. Fluoride in toothpaste? Have at it. In water? Questionable benefit and I'd prefer not to swallow any chemicals I don't have to. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Poison or not, as an enamel fortifier, fluoride works. Seriously? This is your stand? Bleach kills the AIDS virus, are you suggesting we inject it into the bloodstream of folks who have the virus? | ||
| Boltrider |
I thought fluoride gave women bigger boobs?  | ||
| Xl1200r |
Wait, what?! I retract all arguments. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
No that's chicken hormones. | ||
| Edgydrifter |
Please reread my post. My dad IS a dentist, and a damned good one, too. He supports fluoridated water, and considers opposition to it "leftist hippy bunk." Only substitute "bunk" with stronger terms. To be fair, though, "leftist hippy bunk" is pretty much the umbrella heading he uses for everything he considers wrongheaded. | ||
| Milt |
Sarcasm alert: In The Fountainhead, I particularly like how the "hero", Howard Roark rapes the "heroine" Daphny Taggart near the beginning of the story. Now that's what I call personal liberty! No, wait... I want the police to lock up people like that. No, wait... Way to go, Ayn. | ||
| Spatten1 |
Apparently, Rand was aware of the forces in the world that threaten to destroy the individual and private property. She was from Russia. | ||
| Theironmaiden22 |
Fluoride actually does help. If you look at countries without fluoride treated water and look at their citizens teeth you'd know fluoride helps. I work in a dental lab, it's easy to tell if someones drinking water from a well or from the public system. | ||
| Milt |
I might have gotten the heroine's name wrong - might have confused it with someone in Atlas Shrugged. I haven't read either since 1967. No excuse - just an explanation for my confusion. | ||
| Nik |
In The Fountainhead, I particularly like how the "hero", Howard Roark rapes the "heroine" Daphny Taggart near the beginning of the story. Now that's what I call personal liberty! Umm...? Daphny Taggart is the heroine of Atlas Shrugged, not the Fountainhead. You're thinking of Dominique Francon. But yes, there's a lot kinky sex in both that can seem superfluous on the surface. I think that's why her books are a favorite among young women. I know I have a lot of fun whenever I'm with other Ayn Rand fans... To answer the OP; Atlas Shrugged is my bible. | ||
| Moxnix |
Alan Greenspan, former head of our Federal Reserve Bank, was one of the group around Ayn Rand for years, intellectual discussions in the E. Village, etc. He WAS a gold bug, a person who believed in money backed by gold reserves, until he took the job. If Ms. Rand knew what he did to the American economy, she'd probably regret spending time with him for nought. | ||
| Nik |
And after what he did to the American economy he blamed his earlier ideals that he completely ignored in his time at the Fed. The ultimate stab in the back. | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
Monix, I've heard the opposite. That because of his past association with Ayn Rand, Greenspan prevented regulation of the derivatives market. I believe Geithner is part of that clan. | ||
| Nik |
Monix, I've heard the opposite. That because of his past association with Ayn Rand, Greenspan prevented regulation of the derivatives market. I believe Geithner is part of that clan. The press about that is why he's a traitor. Blaiming his resistance to regulation of one market is a red herring. The Fed, through setting of interest rates and its inflationary policies controls every market! They created the credit bubble which burst in the first place!! The Fed, a quasi government agency, manipulating the currency goes directly against the Austrian school of economics espoused by Rand and other objectivists. | ||
| Moxnix |
On the one hand, we had an Alan Greenspan who questioned the "excessive exuberance" in 1997 over the bubble in tech stock shares. On the other, he sat in the big chair while great hordes of people with lousy credit and no chance of mortgage repayment got loans supported by "gambling income" or "eBay sales," for the housing crash we are suffering and will suffer for a couple more years. Someone lead the boy astray, turned his head from free markets to stoopid markets. It was neither Ayn, nor me. Where's my tin hat, it's time to snoop on the Bilderbergers. |
