this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
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Back when I was in junior high in the early 1980s, I found a copy of Atlas Shrugged on my father's bookshelf, and started reading it. I can't remember how far I got into it, but I do remember thinking it was just awful in just about every way: story, writing, pacing, everything.
I asked Dad about it, "Oh, that. It's terrible, isn't it?" A friend had given it to him. Neither one of us finished reading it and after that it ended up at a book reseller.
On the plus side, he'd gone through his books and gave me James Clavell's Shogun to read, which was an awesome novel.
I tried reading it twice and didn't finish either time.
The only other book I struggled with was Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The travel-log sections were entertaining, and the relationship with his son was interesting, but the discussions on the nature of quality were completely lost on me.
I did get through Zen on the second attempt because I thought it was worth it. I saw no value in Atlas Shrugged at all.
Zen and the Art was a big deal for me. A journey to the state I wanted to leave. It made me love what I was giving up.
What or where were you giving up?
Montana. Great place to grow up. I left to see the world and for work. Now I can't go back (until I retire maybe) for job and personal reasons.
Was your father an English teacher? That's how I ended up reading those books around that age. Add some Hesse and the Gulag Archipelago and we may be related.
Dad had an interesting career. Started as an office clerk for a railway with only high school education. Then he got into using an IBM 650 (IIRC) for doing freight rate calculations. How he managed that transition, I have no idea. He didn't care for being cooped up all day flipping switches, dealing with punch cards and tapes.
He switched to marketing and got on there very well and retired after 37 years as a regional director.
He always has a book on the go, even now at 83. He has an eclectic pile of them that he kept, from Zane Grey to an early history of the Civil War written around 1870.
So interesting. I just read everything on the shelves. It was mostly confusing. Animal Farm is not like Charlotte's Web.
The audiobook isn't so bad. It's certainly 64hrs of audio... And took me 3 months.
That's how I ingested it. I did it on work related cross country drives at 1.3x speed. It was... underwhelming and made me ask "What the hell is this?" and "She can't seriously see the world like this, right?" many, many times.
I like to fall asleep listening to audiobooks, except they have to be kinda dull otherwise I get actually invested. You may have just picked my next one!
Do you want nightmares about the Reagan Administration? Because this is how you get them.
I hate to break it to you, but the characters in Atlas Shrugged are famously one-dimensional. They're terrible caricatures who are 100% good or bad. They never develop or learn anything new about themselves.
It's obvious who's good and bad from page 1, which makes the massive length even more ridiculous. It could have been a pamphlet that said "money good, helping people bad".
The best possible book review is just a recycled quote from Billy Madison:
"what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."
Shogun is a good one. My favourite book for a long time, and it currently sits on my bedside table for a second read. I’m just amazed that you mentioned it.
I remember not picking up another book for some time after finishing Shogun. I wanted to hang onto it as long as I could. It's epic.