Well damn. That was one long book. I didn't even actually read it either, I listened to it. I'm left with a feeling that it was both insightful in certain ways and short sighted in others. I was also left thinking that the unbelievable length of the book seems wholly unnecessary. It was as if it went on forever without much of a story as some type of trial Ayn Rand wanted to see if you could make it through. Like a test to see if you wanted it bad enough. Ugg. I'll tell you one thing, if it wasn't an audio book there would have been no way in hell that I could have mustered up the patience to finish that sucker. Here are some of my thoughts:
The idea that certain engineers, businessmen and scientists in our society are the sole sources of real value and that everyone else just sucks off of them is an exaggeration that is so extreme that the point Rand is trying to illustrate is lost in the absurdity of her illustration. I agree that governments that regulate and subsidize to the extreme drain the productivity of the productive and reward the unproductive and mismanaged, but John Galt waxes at great length about how there is absolutely no middle ground that can be reached whatsoever. That means starving old ladies in the streets, and I believe that a measure of a civilization is how far down we allow the "least of these" to live. Point taken regarding excessive handouts, but the absolutist position of Rand is no place I'd want to live. By definition, half of the people in the world have an IQ that is below 100. People like John Galt are portrayed by Rand as intellectual superheroes far beyond anyone real that I've ever met, and I've met Nobel Prize winning physicists.
On the other hand I think that Ayn Rand nailed sexuality, and talked very well on the hangups society has with being sexual. So much sex is preoccupied with societal expectation, reputation and shame. See what values you hold true in your life for no reason other than they have been imposed upon yourself and you see how you've been restricted by your own enabling hand. For a pre-sixties work of literature this book has a very modern view of sexuality.
The thing I liked most about the book was its views on how one has the right to make ones self happy in life, and that this alone is our highest moral purpose. The objectivist concept of practical selfishness really rings true when I studied it is depth and Rand led me to see many ways in which I have allowed myself -- by my own hand -- to live with guilt, restriction, denial and limitations. These sections of the book were illuminating and liberating. To live one's life pursuing the moral goals of others is to yield ones own life for the purpose of deflecting responsibility. It is derived from a fear of failure. Letting others down would cause them to condemn one's own path, causing one to have to face one's own inadequate nature. So we plod through life pursuing the morality of others in an effort to make them happy with us as some kind of affirmation. What a waste of life. To follow the path to our own happiness regardless of what others think is our birthright. No man's opinion matters more than yours. Nobody deserves to be happy more than you do.
So was it worth the marathon? I guess so. Would I recommend it? Not without a warning that it is long, slow moving, repetitive and that a large amount of the philosophy contained within seems derived from a cold war era fear of communism. You've got to really want it for it to be worth it. I'm glad I made it to the end, but I'm also glad it is over.
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