I finished rereading Atlas Shrugged this weekend. I forgot what a really good book it is - it is one of the books I can honestly say that the more I read it, the more I see in it. It's remarkable how a really good, intellectually engaging book reminds one of how much less so much that passes for literature truly is.
Rand's philosophy, Objectivism - that everything should have an objective reason purpose behind each act (the Toirdhealbheach Beucail short statement) - is not for all, and her atheism is somewhat disturbing considering she saw the effects of an atheistic government in her youth in the form of Soviet Russia. Still, for an approximately 1070 page novel the story moves, the characters are memorable, and the plot is engaging.
Rand is not shy about her characters: her heroes and heroines are bold and heroic, the villains weak and unattractive. But the thing that surprise me the most this time as opposed to the first time is how truly motivating her heroes are. To read of John Galt or Hank Rearden or Francisco Domingo Carlos Andres Sebastian d'Anconia or Dagny Taggart is to walk inspired literally to excel to the best of one's ability - that in fact one should do one's best, should live to a higher standard, should simply be to the utmost capacity that one has to exist - these are the things that inspire me long after I put the book down, or call me to go back to it after I have moved into other things.
The question is, how does one put that inspiration into daily practice?
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