Have you read Ayn Rand???

  

I just discovered Ayn Rand.   I bought her book Atlas Shrugged while ago.  I think I saw it on a list of books I should read in my lifetime.  Its had been sitting on my bookshelf for some time...if I only knew.

Atlas Shrugged was a big book, so I brought it with me on my 23 hour flight to Australia.  Someone on the plane saw me reading it, and asked me how I liked the book.  He  commented that it was a great read and particularly interesting in these times.  I agreed with him, but I hadn't gotten to the point that that was obvious.  I think I finished about 100 pages on the trip.

Halfway through the book (400 pages), one of my co-workers saw it on my desk and asked me how old I was.  Apparently, I was supposed to read this books in my 20s.   Sooo...I'm a little late.

Another co-worker commented that it was disgusting. I asked her why, and she said I would find out for myself. 

Anyway, after 3 months I finally finished the 800 page book.   The scary thing is...this novel was written over 50 years ago, but  the story is very applicable to today's world.   In a nutshell, there are people in the government and in big business that have an incredible impact on the rest of the world.  While some people are fighting to hold things together, there are others trying to push forward their own agendas.

Reading this story, you see how much today's unemployment, financial crisis, failing business are all related to greed...This book tells what happens when society fights back (Actually, its probabaly deeper than that...but that's as deep as I get.)  I loved every page.

Anyway. If you haven't read the book.  You should have already.  But it is not too late.   :)

Barb's Top 5 Ayn Rand Quotes

• Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values.   Ayn Rand
   
• I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.  Ayn Rand
   
• Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver.  Ayn Rand
• When I die, I hope to go to Heaven, whatever the Hell that is. Ayn Rand
• A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.  Ayn Rand