Friday, June 03, 2005

RANDBLOGGING

Okay, anybody who's spent any time surfing the blogosphere knows: there are all kinds of blogging. Catblogging, travelblogging, protestblogging, foodblogging, what have you.

Well, we here at Grandpa John's - always on the cutting edge - have something new to offer the world.

Randblogging.

That's right. I, Lance, am a Rand virgin. I've heard about it, talked about it, even lied a little bit about it. But I've never read any of it.

A couple days ago I pulled an old, yellowed copy of Atlas Shrugged out of an upstairs bookshelf and thought: now's the time.

And when I say old, I mean old. The price on the cover is $1.75.

I'm going to read this enormous book with its tiny print and yellow pages (unless I go blind first, or find a better copy at the library), and I'm going to post my thoughts RIGHT HERE at GRANDPA JOHN'S from time to time, as I do so, in UNEDITED format.

So, without further ado, I give you: My Thoughts on Chapter One.

Whaddawegothere? An oak tree (I bet I hear about this again before I'm done with this book), a railroad, a few interesting characters so far.

Older brother, wimpy, careful, slow to make decisions. Has a conscience, wants to help others. Younger sister, decisive, risktaker, focused on a goal and the goal is to: get the railroad going and make lots of money.

Knowing that this book is the Grail of fiscal libertarians, I think I see where this is going.

I actually know somebody named Dagny. She's absolutely nothing like this character.

The oak tree, this concerto she thinks she remembers but was never actually written - these are going to be important, I think.

And I tell you what, whoever this John Galt is better stand up pretty soon because THAT is getting ANNOYING.

Thus ends the first installment of Randblogging with Grandpa John. We hope you'll join us again for our next installment.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's nice to see your Rand cherry get popped.

Rand's Objectivism has a lot of appeal to libertarians and conservatives, but there are portions of the philosophy that I oppose. Enjoy.

Also, pick up Rand's "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal." It even encludes a couple of essays by Alan Greenspan.

-Owen

James Wigderson said...

You have got to read Whittaker Chamber's review of Atlas Shrugged. It's a devastating critique.

I'm not so sure I would've started with that Atlas Shrugged. Her first book, We the Living, is actually a better read and the diatribes are much shorter. It's actual subtle in some points.

Al said...

Except for the fact that it looks like Chambers never read the book, yeah, his critique's a killer. Did the guy have a major drinking problem?