I completely agree with your take-it-or leave it philosophy when it comes to the beleifs put forward in books, and I live by it. I can think of many books that I can honestly say I like, which I don’t necessarily agree with. I think that amount of flexibility is a necessary if you want to explore interesting schools of thought, and you can’t discount the value of books as just plain entertainment and food-for-thought, even when you don’t subscribe to everything they say. If anything being widely read involves exactly that personal choice applied to what you imbibe from your wide reading.

Thank you for dropping by and for your very thoughtful comment.

Samir

1) They read some books by Ayn Rand
2) They liked what they read

Fantastic,great! If it makes you happy, then by all means be happy. But………

3) They then start believing they are more intelligent, more enlightened, moral etc. than the rest of us.

WRONG! They read some books. Big deal. They are no better than the next person who read books written by other people. End of story.

Thank you for visiting and I hope to see you sharing your thoughts here more often.

Samir

I too don’t like others to tell me about the worth of an author or a book. I like to discover it myself. Many of the great writers were discovered by me like this: I did not know they were considered to be great – like William Faulkner and Steinbeck and S H Vatsyayana ‘Agneyeya’ (in Hindi). I was pleased with myself that they are considered great – the opinion that I had formed was my own.

There are so many books out there – you cannot read them all. And nobody should insist that you read that particular book. No way, let me discover it, make my own opinion about them – and I am a happy man.

I don’t like many of the holy cows of literature – only to discover later on that there were some prominent critics who thought exactly like me. There are so many overrated writers/poets/philosophers – but sooner or later they loose their throne – and it is people like you and me; people who listen to their hearts.

There are some authors that you should read – like Rand; and there are some writers that you just have to read – and these are always the ones discovered on your own. You got my point?

I am always a bit less enthusiastic about reading the authors who have been idolized. Many of them have lost that position after some time. There was a time and environment for them – it is gone now!

Now, about Rand – Sameer, I will just say that you will not miss much if you don’t read her. She impressed people in some particular time had space – now she does not impress me – and that is all I am bothered about. She glamorizes her character and situations, way too much. Not to my liking. Let me form my own opinion, even an author need not tell me about her own characters!

I know in my heart that some day most of the people will be voicing the same opinion. This is my experience. But, that is besides the point, it doesn’t matter also – what the majority says. Does it Sameer?

I can see your point about her style of writing after having read some excerpts online. It is quite verbose, but not unnecessarily so, from the little I skimmed — certainly challenging, as you say. I’ve come across books like that before, and I have generally found that the heavier language of books such as these, as compared to the fast-food wonders of most modern “cool” business books, for example, can help in some ways. It forces you to really pay attention, and really fathom the meaning of everything rather than taking it for granted that you understand what is being said. For me it’s just great that such a range of literature exists to be read.

Glad you dropped by, and thanks again for sharing your story.

take care
Samir

Like you, i too had heard a lot about the author, but never really thought that i was upto readin her books.
One day while randomly surfing the net i read one quote from Rand book which really impressed me to a certain extent. i searched for an ebook and found one. I started reading it, and i have to admit initially i was bored with her style of writing.

i thought that reading the book online was not possible so i gt a copy of ‘Atlas Shrugged’ and started reading it, just for tp initially. Slowly but surely i realised that even though the story was fiction, i could not read the novel like other fictional ones that i have. Sometimes the sentences were kinda complicated and i really had to read twice or thrice to get the complete meaning of what Rand was trying to convey.

After having completed the book, i dont think i have read any other book quite like it. Her Objectivist manifesto is a double edged sword. In Rand’s world characters are either completely Black or completely White and that causes them to act the way they do. I dont think life really is that way, people are always Grey.

Its ultimately for the reader to decide how much he wants to agree with Rand. But one thing’s for sure, Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead for that matter will really get out an extreme reaction from one, it can be +ve or -ve depending upon how well Rand has impressed you. theres never an OK verdict:D

take care
ciao

How do I get myself into these things? One minute I’m writing an article about an abstract idea using Ayn Rand as Exhibit A, and suddenly I’ve been signed up to making a film version of Alien Warrior Ducks and the Anarchist Architect — The Musical.