[quote=briansd1][quote=mlarsen23]There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.[/quote]
I’ve read neither (although I read excerpt of Atlas).
I’m not really into fantasy stuff so I have no idea what Lord of Rings or Happy Potter are all about. Don’t even want to watch the movies.
Used to read historical novels such as Ivanhoe and The Three Musketeers as a youth. I know, pretty conservative for my generation.[/quote]
Brian,
I would strongly encourage you to read it. I know it will make you go blind, and I give you a pass on skimming some of the 50 page rants…we all do it. But I think it will be highly enlightening to your world view and your politics more directly.
And to reciprocate, is the a book I should read that will remove the scales from my socialist eyes still yet untouched be Rousseau and Marx…or the NYT’s:)
I love a good trip down fantasy lane, because after all isn’t that what philosophy is? A pure idea applied to an impure world. The better it describes the indescribable the more worthwhile the philosophy. Caricatures/philosophies are just simplifications of things…
