Atlas Shrugged, My All Time Favorite Book

By On August 7, 2007 · 14 Comments · In Everything Else

At work today I get an email asking me the question, “What is your all time favorite book and why”? It’s for an employee only newsletter that is sent out bi-monthly, so I didn’t want too spend much time on it. But man, what a hard question, how do you just pick one book?

After staring at my computer screen for a few minutes it hit me, Atlas Shrugged. This would have to be my all-time favorite, since it affected my life so much. The following is what I wrote for the newsletter:

My favorite book of all-time would have to be Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. The characters in the book are so memorable, if you talk to me long enough you will hear me make references to them all the time. If you have to know, Hank Rearden was my favorite character, followed closely by Francisco d’Anconia. The book has a lot of great action and drama, with just the right amount of romance and mystery to keep things interesting. I am going to have to stop myself here, I was about to dive in to the whole plot, but I am going to have to let you read this book for yourself. Since talking about it might spoil some key plot twists. If you want to learn more about this book and Ayn Rand you can find all the information you need at AynRand.org.

Do you like how I end it with a web link? What a nerd thing to do. I was going to end it with a shameless self plug to my own website on Objectivism, (TalkObjectivism.com). But then I figured I shouldn’t, having people at work know your political opinions I found is not a good idea.

While trying to find the correct spelling of the names of the characters I referenced, I found a great website, CliffsNotes.com. Now I know what your thinking, “Come on Mosley! You didn’t know about Cliffs Notes”? Well the answer to that question is yes I did know about the notes, I just didn’t know that they gave them away for free online.

It was a lot of fun reading through this and learning about the deep meanings of all the characters and key plot points. This makes me want to read this book again. There was so much I missed the first time.

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  • http://rantbits.com Michael Fultz

    That is an interesting book. I’ve got a copy, myself. There’s no “Cliff’s Notes” of “Atlas Shrugged”, is there? I liked Rand’s “Fountainhead”, as well. Have you read that book?

  • http://www.mrbaconpants.com Mosley

    Yes there are cliffs notes, I never knew there were.
    I have yet to read the fountainhead and I will soon.

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling Spelling Police

    Your spelling habits have just gone past annoying. There is a mistake in EVERY post. How can we take you seriously? Get the Google Toolbar, use spell check. Please.

    “Atlas Shurgged”, com’on!

  • http://www.mrbaconpants.com Mosley

    @Ass (aka spelling police)

    If you read this blog you would know I am Dyslexic so messing up the “ru” would be a mistake I make a lot. Spell Check does not find every mistake. I messed up the title because I typed that into wordpress after the fact.

    Also, about your comment on not taking me seriously because I am not a good speller. I think this is just you being the asshole that you are. I have seen blogs like JohnChow, TechCrunch, and ProBlogger all have spelling and grammar mistakes and I still take them very seriously. I understand that as a blogger a lot of time it’s the content of what is written that is more important that how well it’s spelled. We are all not wordsmiths and English snobs.

    You can prove to me that you’re not the asshole I think you are by helping me find and fix spelling errors. I have someone who ghost edits but they can’t find them all. ;)

  • emily

    Atlas Shrugged is on Spark Notes as well. (www.sparknotes.com) I tend to like them better than Cliff Notes.

    And I’m not sure if whomever is ghost editing still is…I’ve been noticing a lot more mistakes as well. I get annoyed by non-dyslexic bad spellers, but I don’t think anyone should be getting on your case about this. If anything this blog is a testament to what dyslexic people can accomplish when they put their mind to it. And of course I keep waiting for another ‘porgies’ incident too lol so I don’t mind!

  • http://www.mrbaconpants.com Mosley

    The ghost editing is just to find and fix the bigger mistakes and things that might make my post misunderstood. I don’t mind little mistakes, it comes with the territory.

    After reading the post they have been edited, I do find them easier to read so they’re doing a good job to me. I might make a few spelling nuts mad but I don’t write this blog for them… ;)

  • http://bethseverydaylife.blogspot.com Beth

    Spelling Police -
    In my opinion the ghost editor is doing a fantastic job as of late. So maybe an unedited post will be up for a few hours before it is edited, ghost editors have lives, too, you know! If anyone finds mistakes ghost editor has missed, email Mosley. Or better yet, just wait a few hours, I bet ghost editor will set everything straight. Think of it as a chance to improve your own personal editing skills. Wouldn’t that be fun?

  • http://www.mrbaconpants.com Mosley

    Hehe! I think its safe to say that Spelling Police are not safe on the mean streets at MrBaconpants.com

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexia#Reading_and_spelling Spelling Polise

    I understand dyslexia. My brother is dyslexic. Also, I understand what is like to be a poor speller. In fact, many years ago in high school I received a 17% on a paper due to spelling. My teacher took off 5 points for every misspelled word.

    Don’t hide behind your disability, take it by the horns. It is not an excuse.

    I’m not saying that blogs with an occasional speeling mistake can’t be taken seriously; I’m saying that people in life will judge you. I agree it’s not fair. However, I have a suspicion that the ‘Atlas Shurgged’ mistake was more of a result of you working too quickly, rather the dyslexia itself. If you know you’re prone to it, spell-check every single thing.

    Fair or not, people may view it as laziness and unfortunately it could have a negative impact on your career. I would hate to see that happened. I think you’re a good person.

    The truth sometimes hurts.

    For the record, I never mentioned grammar. Also, you showed a lot of professionalism with the use of profanity.

  • http://www.mrbaconpants.com Mosley

    @Spelling Polise

    Why did you spelling Police wrong, are you joining the dark side, bad spelling?

    “The truth sometimes hurts?” No it doesn’t, you are not the first person to say this stuff to me. I just hate people that hide behind the internet. Give me your name or website; let me know where the comments are coming from. If I sounded a little upset it was because of that. If you don’t believe me just listen to Shinyfire Radio @ Shinyfire.com and you will hear my friends making fun of my spelling all the time. It’s really not a big deal.

    I don’t hide behind my disability I was just trying to make you understand where the mistakes were coming from. I was NOT being lazy! I looked at that post 20 times after your comment until I finally found where the mistake was. My brain plays tricks with me, so the words that are spelled wrong look 100% right to me. Next time you find something wrong tell me where it is so I can fix it.

    You said that it can negatively effect my career. What career? Blogging is my hobby, art is my career. In the art I choose to do there is no spelling. The people I work with for the most part don’t even know I have a problem with spelling. Also, I work with Copy Editors at work so they make sure I look good!

    You said that I showed a lot of professionalism with the use of profanity. Well this is a personal blog and I can say whatever I want. Also, this blog focuses on humor; show me a standup comic that doesn’t use profanity. So if you look at it that way, using profanity was very professional of me. Note: On my professional blog talkObjectivism.com I would never use profanity, because my audience is different. People don’t go to a website called MrBaconpants.com for professionalism.

    You were telling me to stop hiding, how about you stop hiding? Tell us who you are. ;)

    I do enjoy your comments and I am glad people like you are readers. Sorry if I sounded upset it’s just my personality in writing. If you know me in real life, then you know I get fired up all the time…

  • Spelling Polise

    Yes, I have joined the dark side. I’ll just say I was having a bad day, you handled my criticism well. I overreacted, sorry about that.

    One last point about professionalism, I may very well be an executive in the bacon industry.

  • http://www.mrbaconpants.com Mosley

    Man you’er sneaky!
    Are you someone I work with? If so I have an Idea who you are.

  • Dug

    Spelling is like when you hit a sour note while playing a song.It can realy stand out and hit you right in the face.

    Just be polite and enjoy the music anyway Mr. spelling cop

  • Steams

    Most people either love or hate Atlas Shrugged and mentioning your misspellings is a passive aggressive way of saying they hate your blog post. It’s best to ignore duchebags like this (I thought I would use profanity as well just to back you up). They have done a good job because everyone is talking about that instead of this awesome book. I’m in the middle of it now and having a hard time getting into it. I just finished the Fountainhead and love it so much that I almost don’t want to move on to Atlas just yet.