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Comment by awl130 | Hacker News Reader

i have a lot of friends who are recovering meth addicts and so when i first read ayn rand's atlas shrugged and came across john galt's ridiculous 60 page monologue (and no, i did not elect to read it word for word, you are a fucking moron if you do), my first suspicion, not knowing anything about her background yet, was that this sounded like someone high on amphetamines. sure enough, with a little research, i found that she was on benzos the entire time she was writing atlas shrugged. once i saw this interview with the shifty eyes i was convinced. she's tweaked out of her mind. to be clear, i think atlas shrugged is a significant work of art, but i also think parts of it are just the ramblings of someone high on speed, and i'll be damned if i'm going to read all of it.

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She used "diet" pills, i.e. amphetamines, prescribed by her doctor most of her life. It wasn't uncommon at the time. Even Paul Erdos the mathematician used amphetamines to boost creativity/productiveness, I am sure there were many others.

i have nothing against drug use for creativity. heck the beatles must have taken speed for their "all night" recording sessions. but they didn't take their 12 hour recordings, put it on an album and call it art. they gave us the finished product. i only wish ayn rand and her publisher and editor extended her fans the same courtesy. not a huge deal; i'm just making a point that doesn't seem obvious to most people. that woman was high as fuck.

I think most people just don’t care about the personal life of a creator when evaluating its content. Even deplorable people can have good ideas. Why reject the ideas because of the source.

Sorry to be pedantic, but benzos are not amphetamines and have almost the opposite behavioral effects. They're sedative and would make it much harder to write anything at all.

Perhaps he meant to say Benzedrine, which was a brand name for amphetamine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Benzedrine

benzedrine is an amphetamine. what am i missing here? or did i use the incorrect slang? don't know, wasn't alive during the 60s.

she was on benzedrine, then dexedrine and dexamyl

http://randwatch.blogspot.com/2011/03/was-ayn-rand-drug-addi...

Yes, incorrect "slang". Not from the 60's, it's actually very 21st century. Benzos almost universally refers to Benzodiazepines (Xanax, Klonopin, etc...). Doctors even say Benzos, it's a legitimate abbreviation.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine

i stand corrected.

Benzos = Benzodiazepine [1] Bennies = Benzedrine [2]

[1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine

[2]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Benzedrine

I've also heard "bennies" used to refer to diphenhydramine (Benadryl — hence the term). This is used off-label as a sleeping pill in low dosage (causes dependence), as a sex enhancer in medium doses, and as a recreational deliriant in high doses. It's not particularly good for you.

Figured it was worth leaving this here in case some SV person tries to find amphetamines on the street by looking for "bennies" and gets the wrong stuff.

Is Benadryl at normal doses bad for you? I occasionally take one to combat insomnia. I'd stop if I found out this wasn't a benign thing to do.

As an aside: I've heard on Reddit that taking Benadryl to hallucinate results in a guaranteed nightmare trip. You're exclusively subjected to frightening and disturbing imagery such as giant spiders and shadows monsters.

Here's the thread: https://m.reddit.com/r/Drugs/comments/1fmizz/how_to_trip_saf...

Not sure I understand the appeal.

Diphenhydramine isn't great for your liver, but occasionally taking a 25-50mg dose shouldn't be an issue unless you have preexisting issues(not a doctor, this isn't medical advice, etc.)

As far as spiders, monsters, and whatnot, http://erowid.org has good write ups in the experiences section for it.

I've also heard them called "bennies", but you're probably not getting OTC benadryl off the street, so I can't see there being much confusion.

nice PSA. good looking out

So I’m a fucking moron if I read something in its entirely that you didn’t actually completely read? Got it. And benzos aren’t amphetamines. They are in the neighborhood of being the opposite.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine

Please provide links to your easily found research. Thanks. Also, many great authors artists are/were on drugs. I don’t see how that’s relevant.

I read all of it. Whyever not? Slogging through a mere 70-page rambling monologue written in tiny print never hurt anybody ;)

Straight after the speech:

    "It wasn't real, was it?" said Mr Thompson.

I had to laugh at that. Those were pretty much my thoughts exactly, too...

When I was in High School I wanted to like her books so badly. At the time, I was very much a libertarian and I had heard so many good things about them from that crowd.

Her writing style just isn't very good. It seems like hours and hours of fictional context to set up a big political rant that is supposed to be self-evidently correct within said context.

I only finished Anthem for required reading. I really didn't like it. The Rush album based on it (2112) is sooo much better.

you're a better person than me. i just couldn't stomach it after page 20.

clarification: i read the whole book (and fountainhead), both of which i enjoyed; i stopped reading galt's monologue 20 pages in. it's like when your friend starts rambling while he's high; i love u man but bro i'm going to sleep. see u later

Don't fret, it wasn't written for you anyway.

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