I recall reading Anthem in fifth grade and thinking how much it was like being shouted at by a lunatic who had no idea he was repeating himself over and over. A teacher or librarian recommended it to me as a really important and wise book. Even though it's only about 50 pages long the substance of it was pretty fully beaten to death in a few pages. I went through the whole thing trying to find the part where it was important and wise but apparently any matter of that sort had been edited out, perhaps due to a concern that it would baffle the target readership. This experience helped dispel my 10 year old default assumption that being a grownup necessarily meant being smarter than I was.
I think at the same age I first read Animal Farm. That partly restored my faith n the perspicacity of at least some adults.
I think it was тАЬThe Virtue of SelfishnessтАЭ that I read, and I thought it was just tedious intellectual justification for self-absorption. It was dull. I think I heard about her from watching William F. Buckley & Gore Vidal, who were great to watch together, but she was boring.
I had the same experience. A family friend tried getting me to read Atlas Shrugged all the way through. I could not get more than a few chapters in.
I don't even remember getting into the philosophical weeds with it, the book is just so powerfully boring. It should be administered as a prophylactic before anesthesia.
I read Ayn Rand in high school and thought she was full of it.
The only work of hers that I read was Anthem.
I recall reading Anthem in fifth grade and thinking how much it was like being shouted at by a lunatic who had no idea he was repeating himself over and over. A teacher or librarian recommended it to me as a really important and wise book. Even though it's only about 50 pages long the substance of it was pretty fully beaten to death in a few pages. I went through the whole thing trying to find the part where it was important and wise but apparently any matter of that sort had been edited out, perhaps due to a concern that it would baffle the target readership. This experience helped dispel my 10 year old default assumption that being a grownup necessarily meant being smarter than I was.
I think at the same age I first read Animal Farm. That partly restored my faith n the perspicacity of at least some adults.
I think it was тАЬThe Virtue of SelfishnessтАЭ that I read, and I thought it was just tedious intellectual justification for self-absorption. It was dull. I think I heard about her from watching William F. Buckley & Gore Vidal, who were great to watch together, but she was boring.
I tried reading Rand in high school and even at that early age found the prose so dreadful that I gave up after about 30 pages.
yes , crummy writing and a truly horrible morality , if you call it that
I had the same experience. A family friend tried getting me to read Atlas Shrugged all the way through. I could not get more than a few chapters in.
I don't even remember getting into the philosophical weeds with it, the book is just so powerfully boring. It should be administered as a prophylactic before anesthesia.
I remember throwing one of her books against the wall I was so disgusted with her BS тАЬphilosophyтАЭ.
I found Atlas Shrugged in my grandfather's books (he was a staunch Republican), I read it and forced myself to finish it. Yuck.