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Comment by alganet | Hacker News Reader

I had a couple of friends who insisted that I should read it. I tried, but found it to be very boring.

I think that's the most incredible aspect about this book. As a novel, it is so incredibly boring and flat. As an anti-ideology morals-first treatise, it is so very ideological.

Maybe I'm biased because I never even finished it, I fell asleep every single time.

The idea of hidden figures sacrificing themselves to provide a good foundation for society is quite nice. A book about this idea is kinda dumb, for obvious reasons (you don't talk about fight club).

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I liked it, other than the interminable speeches and preaching. I presume Rand's own internal struggle was to protect her artistic integrity from the oppressive editors who wanted her to strip out the 60 page sermon at the end.

But I also liked "Sharknado". "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead" were entertaining reading, but their themes, although initially attractive, just don't stand up to scrutiny by anyone who's ever held a job in the real world. The misunderstood genius who explains nothing to anyone and has only contempt for those who don't immediately understand their grand plans may be the potential savior of humanity, but more often than not they're just a pain in the ass with poor communication skills proportional to their unjustified egos.

Interesting. I read The Fountainhead and, while I found the idealogy reprehensible and the moralism patronizing, I was very entertained -- cartoonish characters, plenty of action. I haven't tried Atlas Shrugged; thanks for giving me another reason not to waste time on it.

I found The Fountainhead to be a better book. Atlas Shrugged became tedious to the point of skipping pages at the end.

I grudge-read through that ending slog just to see if there was some grand payoff for perseverance. There isn't. You were wish to skip it.

As I mentioned, I haven't finished it, so don't take my comment as a review. It's just a soft opinion.

Your comment reminds me of the Bible (cartoonish characters, plenty of action, etc). Took me some 35 years to learn to appreciate it. However, what made me like it has nothing to do with popular notions of the book (I'm compelled by the history behind its several edits and compilations).

Maybe someday I'll like Atlas Shrugged too. I don't know, maybe there's something else there, but I find it unlikely, given that it lacks this more profound historical background. It tries to fake it, and in some sense it wants to be it (some historical allegory people book thingy).

Heh I read Atlas Shrugged and had the exact same response as you reading Fountainhead. I recall quite enjoying the writing style, but just found the whole thing silly and the idea that anyone could come out of reading it thinking they'd just stumbled across a great life philosophy funny and depressing.

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