Ayn Rand - Page 2

Skybird · 03-30-13, 06:43 PM

Just stumble dover her works, and today equipped myself with Atlas Shrugged.

However, she is new ground to me, and research on the web showed me that she is considered to be controversial by not a few people, although a famous poll on the most influential books in the United States had Atlas Shrugged placed on second place directly behind the Bible. It seems her critics tend to see her as what today is called neo-con and that the tea party claims her for themselves. Others more following the path of Murray Rothbard and von Mises seem to claim her for the cause of what they call libertarianism, and Rand herself seems to have named herself as an "objectivist", with that meaning some kind of a catalogue of theorems or principles that are about the relation between reasonable mind and absolute reality forming the basics of a system of natural ethics and ethical behavior.

If I summarize that wrong, forgive me, this is very new stuff for me, I do not claim to have an overview.

I am also aware that after her death a so-called Ayn Rand Institute got founded that as a think tank is even more controversial apparently, and that by some essays I read at a Rand Institute watchgroup website also does not correctly reflect Rand's opinions and views but distorts at least some of them heavily on behalf of neoconservative opinions - in sometime complete opposition to what Rand was thinking about a given issue, for example torture. This club seems to have started to live a life by its own, independent from Rand's views, it seems to me.

Anyhow, I now have a beast of a novel - 1300 pages in fine print, German title is "Der Streik", and this loose collection of impressions and opinions about Ayn Rand, and while I cannot put all that into any order yet since it all is new, I seem to have strayed over a highly influential - in the US at least - name and literature work nevertheless.

So I ask those of you knowing her for your feedback and opinions about the author, and the book, and what both are about. Readers' feedback at US and German Amazon is most enthusiastic, but that must not necessarily match reality. Also, I wonder what public perception she is being given in the contemporary present in the US.

Will start to read it later next week, first I need to finish two other books that are close to their ends.

03-30-13, 06:43 PM	#1
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,615 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	Ayn Rand Just stumble dover her works, and today equipped myself with Atlas Shrugged. However, she is new ground to me, and research on the web showed me that she is considered to be controversial by not a few people, although a famous poll on the most influential books in the United States had Atlas Shrugged placed on second place directly behind the Bible. It seems her critics tend to see her as what today is called neo-con and that the tea party claims her for themselves. Others more following the path of Murray Rothbard and von Mises seem to claim her for the cause of what they call libertarianism, and Rand herself seems to have named herself as an "objectivist", with that meaning some kind of a catalogue of theorems or principles that are about the relation between reasonable mind and absolute reality forming the basics of a system of natural ethics and ethical behavior. If I summarize that wrong, forgive me, this is very new stuff for me, I do not claim to have an overview. I am also aware that after her death a so-called Ayn Rand Institute got founded that as a think tank is even more controversial apparently, and that by some essays I read at a Rand Institute watchgroup website also does not correctly reflect Rand's opinions and views but distorts at least some of them heavily on behalf of neoconservative opinions - in sometime complete opposition to what Rand was thinking about a given issue, for example torture. This club seems to have started to live a life by its own, independent from Rand's views, it seems to me. Anyhow, I now have a beast of a novel - 1300 pages in fine print, German title is "Der Streik", and this loose collection of impressions and opinions about Ayn Rand, and while I cannot put all that into any order yet since it all is new, I seem to have strayed over a highly influential - in the US at least - name and literature work nevertheless. So I ask those of you knowing her for your feedback and opinions about the author, and the book, and what both are about. Readers' feedback at US and German Amazon is most enthusiastic, but that must not necessarily match reality. Also, I wonder what public perception she is being given in the contemporary present in the US. Will start to read it later next week, first I need to finish two other books that are close to their ends. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.