October 08, 2003



Galt's Speech Summarized

Don from Anger Management reports that reader Tom is about to start reading Ayn Rand. I am personally not an Objectivist, but I do admire some of Rand's writings and agree with her on many key points.

Anyhow, I hope Tom knows what he's getting into. Those novels are a tad on the long side. Unfortunately, I don't think the Cliff's Notes will do them justice, and there are no Classics Illustrated versions of the Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged. Plus I recommend watching the movie version of the Fountainhead only after reading the book, for reasons which will become obvious after you've done both.

Having said all that, I think I can help Tom out in a big way. About two-thirds of the way through Atlas Shrugged, John Galt takes over the radio airwaves to deliver a speech. The speech rambles on for about 300 pages. That may be a bit off; I'm working from memory. Nobody ever reads the thing in its entirety.

Well, I take that back. Most people don't read it in its entirety. But I have, and I'm therefore in a position to save you some time. Here's Galt's entire speech, summarized:

A=A

I dig my own life.

We're outa here.

So long, losers!

So I'm hoping that saves you some time.

By the way, another author who has explored many of the issues that Rand did in Atlas Shrugged is Nancy Kress in her Beggars series. Plus, if this kind of thing is important to you, Kress's work is overtly science fiction, unlike Atlas Shrugged, which tries to hide the fact that it s.

Hmm. I wonder if anyone ever described Atlas Shrugged as "genre-defying?" (Okay, four times in two days is enough. I promise to stop using that term.)

 

Posted by Phil at October 8, 2003 11:41 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Indeed, Galt puts most ministers to shame.

My cat, John Galt, is much more succinct. He merely meows. Nice overview, by the way.

hln

Posted by: hln at October 8, 2003 01:05 PM

8515 Get your online poker fix at http://www.onlinepoker-dot.com

Posted by: poker at August 15, 2004 03:48 PM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?