Go Back   I-Mockery Forum > I-Mockery Discussion Forums > Comics 'n Books
FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
kahljorn kahljorn is offline
BANNED
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NO
kahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contest
Old Feb 21st, 2009, 05:44 AM       
also its better if you don't think of there being only two types of people but that there are just two types of ideologies which she is dealing with. Namely, "communism"/socialism and capitalism.

Quote:
The book is just to damn long and all though Ayn Rand has a real flare for writing parasitic characters her titans of industry are dull as hell and practically interchangeable. They go off on this pedantic rants about the need to be selfish and then there all chummy and knightly with other industry men, doing each other solids with only the knowledge there helping their bros out seems like a bit of a contradiction.
I kind of disagree with this ;o rearden and dagny for instance are way different types of people. From what I remember Rearden's character ends up having quite a bit of character development and some type of dilemma with his perceived weaknesses.
And usually when they do things for each other, note that its more for their own benefit than for their "Bros." Almost everytime they help somebody out its because they believe that it will help their business out. Like rearden sells the railroad industry a bunch of rearden metal for rails or something, right? But not only is he making a small profit but he's: Improving the transportation network which will let him transfer more resources at a faster rate (allowing him to produce more products faster), and move his products to sell easier -- improving his own industry. Dagny in return gets a high quality rail that won't degenerate. Also, it put his product out there and showed how useful it can be. Most times they help eachother its under conditions like that. Eventually they start helping each other out because they know that the economy is getting fucked and they are the only productive ones in society, and the more of them that crumble the more the economy is destabilized and their own industries would eventually crumble as well. Especially since many of these industries were co-dependent.
The ones that were helping their "Bros" were all the anti-dog-eat-dog people who thought they should be able to keep their industries open while not being productive.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
King Hadas King Hadas is offline
God Emperor of Brigadoon
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Washington
King Hadas is probably pretty okKing Hadas is probably pretty okKing Hadas is probably pretty ok
Old Feb 21st, 2009, 04:12 PM       
Your right about the co-dependency thing, there's no reason they wouldn't be chummy with each other but something still rackles me about the Capitilist characters. I guess it's cause they didn't have any real faults (at least none by my standards). On the other hand I really liked the pro-socialist assholes, I'm not good with verbatim or I'd quote that one part where that young engineer tells Dagney off for suggesting he had to be good at engineering to get a job as an engineer.

Maybe I'll pick it up again and read just the last hundred pages.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
kahljorn kahljorn is offline
BANNED
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NO
kahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contest
Old Feb 21st, 2009, 04:47 PM       
how far did you get into it? the last 100 pages really aren't that worthwhile, the speech by John Galt is though...
the middle is pretty important though because that's when the economy starts to collapse. its pretty interesting, and if you like the pro-socialist bastards then I would recommend reading the whole thing really. They start to really fuck things up in the middle of the book.

you should read the fountain head :O that book is awesome. although the main character is again faultless ;]
Reply With Quote
  #4  
King Hadas King Hadas is offline
God Emperor of Brigadoon
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Washington
King Hadas is probably pretty okKing Hadas is probably pretty okKing Hadas is probably pretty ok
Old Feb 21st, 2009, 07:36 PM       
I stopped reading after Dagney's number one peon realizes his also in love with her. At the end of the chapter he tells the mysterious stranger in the cafeteria about Rearden and Dagney's affair and the stranger, distressed, books it out of there (I assume his in love with Dagney as well).

I guess I'll just have to show some true world grit and finish the damn thing. You see I got side tracked with something else and when I got back to it I saw it's hugeness with fresh eyes. The pages are enormous and the print is so tiny. If this was in paperback I bet it would be more like 2000 pgs long. If it was non-fiction I wouldn't be having this problem but at some point in my life I picked up a lot of weird rules on when it is and isn't okay to read a book.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
kahljorn kahljorn is offline
BANNED
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NO
kahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contestkahljorn won the popularity contest
Old Feb 21st, 2009, 10:46 PM       
oh yea that's pretty far in. My paperback edition is like 1300 pages i think.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
King Hadas King Hadas is offline
God Emperor of Brigadoon
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Washington
King Hadas is probably pretty okKing Hadas is probably pretty okKing Hadas is probably pretty ok
Old Feb 22nd, 2009, 02:45 AM       
That's not too bad. I think I'll pick this back up after I finish what I'm reading right now. In reality I stopped reading Atlas Shrugged a few months ago. I use these "What are you ___ right now" threads as pretext to talk about whatevers on my mind.

At this very moment in time I'm reading Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham.
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

   


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:18 AM.


© 2008 I-Mockery.com
Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.