Atlas shrugged is good. Solid characterization and setting a historical tone.
Also liked Snow Crash. A lot of interesting ideas and research although the characters not as good
tara and raven superfan
I am not trolling, I like these books. also Aztec by Gary Jennings
tara and raven superfan
I haven't read either of these, but they seem pretty interesting. I might give them a read. Snow Crash looks particularly up my alley.
if you enjoy snow crash, definitely give the diamond age a try as well. same author and it has some really beautiful characterization in it
tara and raven superfan
I have never read Atlas Shrugged (and kind of don't want to), but I can at least second the Snow Crash recommendation. Strongest first two acts of any sci-fi novel I've read, and even the third has some very cool ideas around language.
Isn't Atlas Shrugged the book Ayn Rand used to complain about poor people, regulations, and how if the rich left society everything would grind to a halt and nothing would get done ever? Or am I thinking of another book of hers.
I'm but a little lizard, there's something in my gizzard, 'twas put there by a wizard, they're 'bout to cast a blizzard!
re: beesknees
thats all of her books i think
>senlemonsnout
Got me there, lol.
I'm but a little lizard, there's something in my gizzard, 'twas put there by a wizard, they're 'bout to cast a blizzard!
re: bee's knees
atlas shrugged is almost a really solid syndicalist manifesto (her fantasy good bosses even unionize their own workforces), it just exists in a bizarro world where all productive labor is done by CEOs (and makes some good points against authoritarian collectives but oopsie what is a corporation Ms Rand?)
the fanon edit is a much better read
the revolution is now :o)
>julusbilee "atlas shrugged is almost..."
That's always the worst, when something is so close but so, so far from good. Good things are great, mediocre things are meh, bad things are fun sometimes, but the almosts are the ones that keep me up at night.
I'm but a little lizard, there's something in my gizzard, 'twas put there by a wizard, they're 'bout to cast a blizzard!
Ayn Rands books aren’t all clones of each other - Anthem is a short story focused on the very concept of individualism being in jeapordy, while the fountainhead is more about artistic freedom verses social climes
tara and raven superfan
>The Bee's Knees "the almosts are the ones that keep me up at night"
even worse than almost good too, almost great. i really think if she'd cleared her blind spots she was close to synthesizing ego-capitalism with social altruism and cooperative organization. everything she thinks is good just IS market mutualism, with some new innovations to it. but she just can't see past her soviet ptsd and make herself reckon with private collective power.
it bothered me so much i had to go and make revisions to the philosophy lol.
still one of my top novels though. i really enjoy Dagny's quest for an unrealistically perfect boyfriend
the revolution is now :o)
I think Rand wouldn’t be against a company operating as a syndacalist organization if the owner thought it was a good idea (and Reardens steel mill seems similar to this in practice), but she would think that any government policy trying to create a syndicalist society from the group up would be a distressing failure.
tara and raven superfan
ayn rand believed we should never live for the sake of others. she has one sort of wild argument that there's no particular reason to risk your life for a drowning person unless it's someone you love or you're really into heroics. she would never expect someone to consent to becoming paste!
but she would still grind you into paste if you were willing to sign the release forms and there was a market for the paste >;]
the revolution is now :o)
gotta get me some of that human paste to go with my copy
tara and raven superfan