Books: What are you currently reading?

[Drumline3469]

Originally Posted by Ryougabot

I am re-reading The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. I read something that completely floored me.

He is so right. I am going to make it my goal to read 3 nonfiction books this year...and the Heroscape D&D rulebook.

My fiction for the year is Atlas Shrugged by Rand. I am almost afraid to pick it up. Anybody here read it? Is it worth my year?

Atlus Shrugeed is great. You really get through it faster than you think. Fountainhead is another good one by Rand, I'm fairly certain. It's a big shorter, but still good.

[jschild]

My fiction for the year is Atlas Shrugged by Rand. I am almost afraid to pick it up. Anybody here read it? Is it worth my year?

It's incredibly simplistic - Imagine reading any fiction by Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh - Every Liberal is evil, pretty much every rich person brought themselves up by their bootstraps, invented everything in their company, and single handedly built and support the country. It's ok if you treat it a farce, but horrible if you treat it as "serious" alt-history.

[Elstree]

Originally Posted by jschild

It's incredibly simplistic - Imagine reading any fiction by Ann Coulter or Rush Limbaugh - Every Liberal is evil, pretty much every rich person brought themselves up by their bootstraps, invented everything in their company, and single handedly built and support the country. It's ok if you treat it a farce, but horrible if you treat it as "serious" alt-history.

Atlas Shrugged is not a work of political conservatism. It is a work of radical libertarianism. Rand rants as much against corporate welfare as she does individual welfare. She elevates the rights of the individual above those of the collective and believes that self-sufficiency and personal responsibility are first principles. She especially argues that society as a whole has no more right to appropriate for the collective good the products of an individual's ingenuity than it does the products of his labor. Rand's ideas are not without fault, but likewise they aren't foaming-at-the-mouth crazy either. They are carefully reasoned and have an internal consistency that leads to a moral absolutism that can appear simplistic because it allows for no grey. She certainly doesn't deserve to be dismissed in the same breath as apoplectic pundits like Limbaugh or Coulter.

[jschild]

I'm not talking her politics, I'm talking the simplistic writing style. I got the book. It's not complicated at all. And her novel is indeed foaming at the mouth - when every good guy is a brilliant, invented everything their company makes, doesn't take advantage of a single employee, capitalist saint and every bad guy is a socialist leech that doesn't work for anything it is a simplistic book.

Approaching it as farcical (sp?) commentary on socialism its a decent read. Approaching it as a serious commentary and realistic look at the evils of socialism and its horrible. It's not the politics, its the writing. Micheal Moore would put out just as bad fiction if he tried it. It's so heavy handed that taking it as a serious and deep work of fiction vs. a farce or parody is where it fails. It does decently well as one, and fails as the other.

[braveheart101]

Just finished reading Seamus Heaneys translation of Beowulf. It is amazing! Does anyone else here like it?

[CheddarLimbo]

Originally Posted by Ryougabot

I am re-reading The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. I read something that completely floored me.

He is so right. I am going to make it my goal to read 3 nonfiction books this year...and the Heroscape D&D rulebook.

I love Dave Ramsey! His radio show is very inspirational and funny! Do you use his financial program?

[Drumline3469]

Originally Posted by CheddarLimbo

I love Dave Ramsey! His radio show is very inspirational and funny! Do you use his financial program?

I do, as well as SEVERAL people that I know. We all love it.

[Ryougabot]

Originally Posted by CheddarLimbo

I love Dave Ramsey! His radio show is very inspirational and funny! Do you use his financial program?

You could say so, I shaved my head and drank the cool-aid three years ago. I have since paid of all of my debt (except the house) built up an emergency fund and am saving for retirement. I actually teach the class in our community, and his system actually allows me to get more Heroscape, and not feel guilty about it....but that is a different thread.

Atlas is probably going to have to wait until Q2, I just picked up Kiki's Delivery Service, and am thoroughly enjoying it

[CheddarLimbo]

I saw someone in my neighborhood that had a Garage Sale sign in their yard that said "Help us with our debt snowball!" and I had to stop and talk to them. Meeting other people that have had a TMMO is like being a part of some secret club like the Masons.

[ZBeeblebrox]

Reading a Dragonlance novel : War of the Twins

[ROM]

Richard Dawkins' “The Greatest Show on Earth, The Evidence for Evolution".

[RabSheila]

Over Christmas vacation I read "The Handle" by Richard Stark and am now reading "The Rare Coin Score" by Stark. Also read "The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot" with my daughter and we are currently reading "The Mystery of the Whispering Mummy."