[MD] Intellectual activity

[aesuszynski]

To David from Alice:

Oh great, another Ayn- slammer.

"To Chambers the book was a literary and philosophical nightmare. Its plot
was 'preposterous', its characterization 'primitive' and caricatured, and
much of its effect 'sophomoric'. It was not, in fact, a novel at all, but a
'Message': the anti-religous gospel  of 'philosophic materialism', in which
'Randian Man, like Marxian Man, is made the center of a godless world'.

I was eighteen when I read "Atlas Shrugged". I did not attend the 
"university", but was instead working and I would read it on the bus. At 
first it was intriguing because I had never been exposed to such ideas 
before and it ran counter to what my generation was espousing in the 
seventies.But  she just wouldn't let up. All of the good guys were great 
looking strong, beyond brilliant and brave, while the bad guys were stupid 
and evil. The dialogue was made up of five page soliloquys. It really was, 
as Ian likes to say,"unsubtle" to the point of  absurdity.

I know people were caught up with it and it has made a renaissance lately. 
Maybe it's because I was not a "student" that I could see through it.

But,  I think everyone should read it.

I just read "State of Fear" by Crichton. So many people loved it that I 
thought I'd give it a try. I had the same feeling as I had reading Rand.

Alice