Atlas Shrugged

[gtrman66]

I'm up to page 200. So far it is a pretty good read. I have to say I sympathize with Rearden and Dagby. Both want to do the best job possible to keep their companies moving forward. The "interference" they are running into reminds me so much of the red tape enforced by OSHA, FDA, ISO, QS, EPA, IRS, NEC, NFPA, et al... that have nothing to do with safety, reliability or common sense.

In the name of fairness, safety, compliance... we are reduced to substandard components, lack of improvements and a generally unmotivated workforce. We no longer focus on innovation, but compliance.

So, is d'Aconia putting out feelers to recruit the best and the brightest? I love his explanation of why he bought a useless mine. It is a real slap in the face to the current Socialist ideals. Hard to believe this was written 50 years ago.

I haven't figured out who John Galt is yet.... but I get the feeling I'm going to like the guy.

[right$pecial]

Still haven't read it. I'm buried up to my a@@ in Dante at the moment, but I do love literature and appreciate the commentary.

[nelson]

Sweet gtrman! I'm glad you're taking on this classic! And you're getting to the good stuff.

Galt doesn't come in until later. But I really like the Dagby and Rearden characters. D'Anconia provides a real twist and interesting story line.

Isn't it amazing how it was written so long ago, but it's so accurate about the effects of anti-capitalists... Rand saw it coming decades ago, and the ball has just been picking up steam since then. Today's USA might make her want to move back to Russia. LOL

[MYCAR47562]

I Still Have 3-4 Books To Finish Before I Can Start On This But I Will

[gtrman66]

The Equalization of Opportunity act sounds a lot like the fairness doctrine.

[gtrman66]

Hooray the maiden voyage of the Rio Norte Line was a success!!! Rearden, Wyatt and Dagby are three people I would love to work with in "real life".

[nelson]

What a great moment! Rearden is a genius with that metal and his bridge design. Public opinion is irrelevant to the producers. But it determines truth for the James Taggarts of the world! And Wesley Mouch, that socialist incompetent government parasite!

[MYCAR47562]

Ok I Have A Feeling I Shouldn't Read From The Thread Anymore Till I Read It

[gtrman66]

Maybe I should put "SPOILER ALERT" in the title.

[MYCAR47562]

Lol Yeah

[gtrman66]

Page 357 and counting.

They could really skip the whole relationship between Dagby and Rearden.

So Mouch is issuing executive orders. Very interesting. Why does the fed want the steel? What is Project X? I think John Galt will be revealed soon... well, I felt that way since about page 20.

[gtrman66]

Here's something I found amusing/depressing.

Rearden attends a banquet and feels as though it was a celebration of nothing.

We go around the room every week and recognize one person's contribution. This inherintly does the same thing. By being forced to recognize some achievement it cheapens the real thing.

One guy put off doing his job for months. I reminded him several times, his boss reminded him several times, but still no work was completed. Once the FDA audit was announced he had to work feverishly until late at night and through the weekends to get these documents complete. He was heralded as a hero. He did his job and nothing more. On top of that, it was late, shoddy and incomplete. Yet because he was perceived to have put in long hours, he was a savior.

This same guy has taken credit for my work once (almost twice). He's almost 1/2 my age, comes in late, leaves early and disappears for hours at a time almost daily.

He NEVER completes the mundane but required work and only focuses on the high profile stuff that gets sr. mgmt. attention. His work is always passed on to someone else who must suffer through fixing it, completeing it and getting the required signatures while he takes the credit.

I get the feeling he would fit in very well in the world of Atlas Shrugged or the BO administration.

[gtrman66]

The speech d'Francisco gives on money was awesome. It's not money that evil, it is essential, but it's the "love" of money that is the root of evil. Big difference. If it were not for money, trade would be conducted by brute force or gunpoint.

Was d'Francisco about to talk Readen into leaving like the others when the furnace broke? What does he mean by he already has his answer? Will Rearden disappear and Dagny follow? Apparently Dagny was told by Danegger that she's on the list.

When will we know who John Galt is?

I wonder how many people with John Galt bumper stickers and T-Shirts actually read this book?

[gtrman66]

The court room scene with Rearden was awesome. What a performance. I think my favorite line was about the people vote whether or not they like his product by making the decision to buy it.

Got into the full run down of the economy. The domino effect is what we seem to be seeing right now. UNfortunetly the nitwits we have in Washington cannot seem to fathom the trickledown effects of their meddling in private affairs.

I stopped when d'Aconia announced John Galt is Prometheus. I need to look up that name. I hadn't heard it since world lit 20 years ago.

[nelson]

Isn't it great! It changes the whole game. The moochers don't stop mooching, but now they know how dangerous Rearden is.

I love reading Rand's details about the economy - the names of particular acts or laws, and exactly what they are intended to do.

[gtrman66]

It's like what we're seeing right now. We are going to "fix" the credit card problem with more laws instead of telling people to stop being debters in the first place.

The fed is picking and choosing what private enterprises to bail out for the "public good"... boy des that sound familiar.

[MYCAR47562]

Shouldn't Be Long Till I Have It To

[gtrman66]

Grrrrr, I left the book in my wife's car last night and she's out. I need my fix. Dagny just landed in Atlantis.

The hobo monolouge about 20th century motors sounded like a page right out of BO's playbook. Sends a shiver up my spine.

[nelson]

Oh, you've reached the moment of Dagny's clarification!

It really makes me react the same way. What an amazing analogy. Every time I see the phrase social responsibility - and it's funny how often you see it, especially in conjunction with "green" efforts. hehe

[MYCAR47562]

yo so i skimped on my atlas shrugged book i bought a newer paper back....... it a 3 by 7 in book with like 1600 pages and the font is like a 6 this is gonna be a rough read i think

[gtrman66]

It moves quick. I am still really enjoting the story. There are a lot of subplots, but not as bad as Tom Clancy likes to do.

[MYCAR47562]

It moves quick. I am still really enjoting the story. There are a lot of subplots, but not as bad as Tom Clancy likes to do.

I LOVE TOM CLANCY IVE ONLY READ 2 OF HIS BOOK'S BUT THEY WERE AWESOME.

[Jeb]

Maybe you should read "Great Expectations"! It will teach you about women!

[right$pecial]

Maybe you should read "Great Expectations"! It will teach you about women!

Hell No! That will ruin just about anyone...even if it is fairly accurate.

[Jeb]

Makes me want to eat cake!

[MYCAR47562]

Great Expectations? Never Heard Of It And Kinda Makes Me Not Want To

[gtrman66]

I got bogged down with a lot of parenting and family stuff, but I got back into reading. Dagney will be forced to make a decision on whether or not to stay at Galt Gulch. I want to go there.

Watching "This Week" today and saw the conversation on "Government Motors" and my wife observed that Ford IS Reardon Steel. She's right.

[nelson]

Watching "This Week" today and saw the conversation on "Government Motors" and my wife observed that Ford IS Reardon Steel.Wow that's a cool analogy. The last hold-out!

[MYCAR47562]

Ok Damnit I Have Tried Reding The Book Twice Both Times I Barely Make It To The End Of Page One Before I Go To Sleep, Maybe I Need To Try And Read Earlier?

[gtrman66]

169 PAGES TO GO. It's really getting wild at the end.

[nelson]

I admit to skimming through much of Galt's speech. Sixty-something pages. The moment was dramatic, the intervention was interesting, but everything he says has already been stated, and I think the author is simply expounding on her new philosophy.

Anyway what are your honest thoughts on the book so far?

[gtrman66]

"I want to move to Colorado" comes to mind.

It is interesting comparing the politicians in AS's way of putting things in comparison to the way the BO admin has been stating the issues. Almost like a playbook for the BO guys. Pretty scary. I hope we do not do too much damage before 2012.

A movie version would be hard to do it justice. There's too much going on to be resolved in a 2 hour format.

I agree on the speech, it's like a sum up of the whole of the book. I'm on page 3 of it and looked ahead. I might be doing some skimming myself.

I will not stop giving to charity, but I have always been selective to which ones I give to. I wish this were required reading in our college campii.

[gtrman66]

Holy crap... this is right out of the book;

Third-year law student Justin Williams loves his home state of South Carolina. It was that love that prompted him to file suit against Governor Mark Sanford.

"I love the state of South Carolina. I love it dearly," said Williams, a former USC student body president. "In my travels, I've always run into people who don't have very positive things to say about our state, especially about our educational system."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525675,00.html

Nothing about how much of a negative long term impact this will create.

[MYCAR47562]

Just How Great It Will Be To Build More Storage Faciality's To Store Crap The Schools Won't Use

[gtrman66]

I DID IT!!!

I finished it last night. I thought for sure Project X was going to take out Atlantis... glad I was wrong.

I would think this would make an excellent movie. I looked it up on imdb.com and it shows Angelina Jolie is signed up for it, but it's been on hiatus since 2007.

I think the movie would rattle the current administration and their plans.

I have a couple quotes I hope to get around to posting later.

C'mon Lucas, get to reading, it will be worth it, I promise.

[MYCAR47562]

congrats on the long read and im gonna try to soon...

[MYCAR47562]

I Started Today So Far Im 4 Pages In I Had To Stop For A Second As My Eye's Were Getting Tired, Kinda Hard To Play Receptionist While Reading A Book

[gtrman66]

Stick with it. It is worth it.

[MYCAR47562]

I Will

[right$pecial]

How far are you now MYCAR? Okay boys, I finally found a copy of the book at Borders and am going to start reading it tonight. No wonder it's taking you guys so long to read it; I thought that it was three too five hundred pages but this thing is as long as Joyce's Ulysses.

[MYCAR47562]

im still on page 4 lol i have been slacking really bad

[right$pecial]

In regards to the people in a conversation between an old, ruined businessman and Dagny:

"I don't know. But I've watched them here for twenty years and I've seen the change. They used to rush through here, and it was wonderful to watch, it was the hurry of men who knew where they were going and were eager to get there. Now they're hurrying because they are afraid. It's not a purpose that drives them, it's fear. They're not going anywhere, they're escaping. And I don't think they know what it is that they want to escape. They don't look at one another. They jerk when brushed against. They smile too much, but it's an ugly kind of smiling: it's not joy, it's pleading. I don't know what it is that's happening to the world." (Rand, 61).

Does this seem familiar to anyone else here? I started reading the book yesterday and am up to page 150, but this is one of those conversations that I marked because it is so damn true...there are others but I was at the lake and only had enough scrap paper to mark this passage. Very astute observation of the human condition if it was written in this century. I wonder if this has simply been going on for long enough that Rand picked up on it back in the 50's or if it is now simply so evident that it slams a lakedrunk like me in the face with a sense of what is wrong with so many in this country.

[Remphoto]

I think you hit the nail on the head, Right. Now it is "watch over your shoulder because the government is getting involved in an even more major way". I certainly can sense that in our industry and in with our customers.

[right$pecial]

Well I'm now at the section where Dagny is about to leave Galt's Gulch. I know she's going to go(probably) but at this point I just want them to go out together and blow up the railroad to hasten the downfall of the looters. I went back and read the comments about doing without the Dagny/Reardon relationship and I think the whole sexual elements are there to show the reader that hard men like Reardon are not cold, unfeeling monsters and I'm also pretty sure Rand was a masochist, but I'm not judging, just saying. I have noticed that as the book progresses Rand has just as much insight into the individual human condition as she does with the broader social issues.

Also can see the relationship between Reardon and Ford. It will be interesting to see how much more the government will interfere with FOMOCO despite the fact that it did not take the bailout.

And I remembered an interesting bit of pop culture for anyone who is a video game junky: the first person shooter "Bioshock" is based upon "Atlas Shrugged". In the game John Galt is replaced with Andrew Ryan and is portrayed as evil in order to fit into a much more simplified plot, however; there are elements that are very, very similar. From http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1094581/quotes :

Andrew Ryan: I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? 'No!' says the man in Washington, 'It belongs to the poor.' 'No!' says the man in the Vatican, 'It belongs to God.' 'No!' says the man in Moscow, 'It belongs to everyone.' I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture, a city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, Where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well.

[gtrman66]

My 16 year daughter has that game and referenced the relationship to the book several times in conversation.

The whole "health care" fiasco going on right now is straight from the book. People shouldn't have to work for their care, we the "earners", "creators" and "inventors" should be forced to share our wealth.

[right$pecial]

My 16 year daughter has that game and referenced the relationship to the book several times in conversation.

The whole "health care" fiasco going on right now is straight from the book. People shouldn't have to work for their care, we the "earners", "creators" and "inventors" should be forced to share our wealth.

Healthcare, your references between Reardon Steel and Ford, the slick names they put on our bills, and the way our "leaders" double talk at every turn.

Finished the book. Very good and I wish I had taken the time to read it earlier. Only downside is that I knew how it would turn out. The looters are truly despicable characters though and I imagine much of our leadership would react in the same way if it ever came to it.

GTRMAN, Did you notice how the first third of the novel resembles 20th century America, the middle section resembles the current conditions, and the finale falls back upon the fall of Soviet Russia(even though they had the courage that President Thompson did not)? Considering the novel was published in 1957 the prophetic implications are frightening.

[gtrman66]

Yeah, it keeps me up at night.

The regulations that the fed places on companies is truly amazing and the rate of new regs is going to bring productivity of any kind to a screaching halt.

[MYCAR47562]

don't ask the question that nobody knows the answer to........ who is john galt, i have finally made it past the over animation of the first and miss taggart told them to keep going past the red light. i know it's just the begining but im likeing it now

[gtrman66]

Hang in there... it's worth it.

[right$pecial]

Hang in there... it's worth it.

Yep, it starts out rather slow, but it builds and builds and builds until you won't want to put it down.

[MYCAR47562]

Those Kinds Of Books Are Hazardous To My Job Lol

[MYCAR47562]

well im 100 pages in now and man are the majority of the people in this book Pansy's or what? i mean they are more worried about public opinion than the security of there workers jobs

oh and my book has 1074 pages so woo hoo im a little under a tenth of the way there

[right$pecial]

Yes, they are all pansies and more concerned with public opinion than doing the right thing. Remind you of anyone?

[gtrman66]

If that book doesn't scare the crap out of you... nothing will. I'm surprised it is not sold in the Horror section.

[MYCAR47562]

So Far All It Has Done Is Made Me Mad So... Hum

[Jeb]

I guess I will have to turn off my computer and read the book!

[synseer]

Found this website while looking up something else. Made me think of everyone here. Maybe some of you already know about it.

http://www.callingjohngalt.com/

[MYCAR47562]

All I Can Do Right Now Is Laugh At The Way Reardon Is Refusing To Sale To The Government And Wyatt Burning His Oil Field

[right$pecial]

All I Can Do Right Now Is Laugh At The Way Reardon Is Refusing To Sale To The Government And Wyatt Burning His Oil Field

Yes the burning oil field made me laugh my ass off.

[MYCAR47562]

IM DONE after taking 14 days over a year to read it, buying the cd listening to it and having the last 10 minutes of the book not play and finally giving up on the speech i have finished.


That was a great book, i got bogged down for about 4-5 months trying to read galt's speach but finally (last week) skipped the 30 pages i had left.


i have one question, why leave Eddie like that? i understand she had to show that at some point you have to give up or you will just be destroyed, but why Eddie?


What really scares me near the end is how it changed from public opinion to the selfish "you can't blame me". In my opinion it shows the change from socialistic paradise to lost souls (sorry best way i could put it).


There is a qoute i am trying to find it was a saying that john ragnar and fransico would say that dated back to school, i know im not helping much but i was reading something the other day and that quote was a perfect fit and now i can't remeber it. by chance do yall?

[nelson]

Glad you finished man! Classic, eh?i have one question, why leave Eddie like that? i understand she had to show that at some point you have to give up or you will just be destroyed, but why Eddie?I sortof thought he finished like a minor hero in the story. He stays with the train because it's the contribution he can make to enable the person he secretly loves.What really scares me near the end is how it changed from public opinion to the selfish "you can't blame me". In my opinion it shows the change from socialistic paradise to lost souls (sorry best way i could put it).Good observation. Isn't it a little like what we are already seeing in our own society? The looters do not even know what's happening around them. They are helplessly dependent on the producers, but at the same time they believe entitlement is their birthright. So naturally, looters blame everyone but themselves when failure occurs, or disaster strikes (or whenever they don't get their boondoggle).