<li><p>To enter the scholarship from the ARI.</p></li>
<li><p>To fulfill my summer reading assignment (book of choice).</p></li>
<li><p>Sharpen up for October retake of SAT mainly for bringing up critical reading (680).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Now, I have a a few problems with this book. First, there isn’t many SAT-level vocabulary and that is the section I do the worst on! I’ve read about 110 pages so far and I’ve only encountered one unknown word.</p>
<p>Second, I’ve never read a book this long (over 1000 pages). The most I’ve read was 300. I think I am motivated enough to do it with my schedule of 35 pages a day, but I’m a slow reader (I don’t move on until I completely understand everything that is going on so far).</p>
<p>Third, Ayn Rand is an idiot. The book and scholarship were obviously created to deploy objectivism, so the book professes many stupid things.</p>
<p>SPOILERS!!!</p>
<p>For instance, Jim is portrayed as a dimwit who doesn’t know run a business. I agree at this part, but then Rand attacks morality and preaches needless greed. I don’t remember the page, but it went something like this:</p>
<p>“Jim was in college and snobbishly told Francisco to learn to give to people since Francisco had learned of virtues such as charity in college. Francisco said that his goal was to have 100% more production than has father. Somebody asked him why, and he said that my virtue is to produce”</p>
<p>Does anybody else not find anything wrong with this? The man already has more than enough money than he can spend. Instead of giving away a large part of his fortune and living off steady investments which can last for 1000’s of years, he just tries to get more money.</p>
<p>However, I do agree with the general gist of the objectivist philosophy that everything people do is in a selfish manner except for charitable atheists. I can never understand how they are an anomaly to this philosophy.</p>
<p>I really liked the book and think it gets better. just reading something on that level should help your SAT even if you think you know most of the words. however. if you dislike it this much, do you really want to spend 6 months on it? reading 35 pages a day will take quite a while, and will be torture if you don't enjoy it. at this point I would recommend you find a different book.</p>
<p>I really liked the book and think it gets better. just reading something on that level should help your SAT even if you think you know most of the words. however. if you dislike it this much, do you really want to spend 6 months on it? reading 35 pages a day will take quite a while, and will be torture if you don't enjoy it. at this point I would recommend you find a different book.</p>
<p>Not to mention if you're not into Rand's philosophy you probably won't win the writing scholarship. Unless you're really, really good at lying about your beliefs.</p>
<p>I hope you are aware that all SAT vocab words are words that you will never use in real life. It's the dumbest thing in the world. You aren't going to find those words in a novel.</p>
<p>" Not to mention if you're not into Rand's philosophy you probably won't win the writing scholarship. Unless you're really, really good at lying about your beliefs. "
Actually, according to the objectivist philosophy, you don't even have to really agree with it in order to fake a paper on it and accept awards for it. As long as it's in your self-interest, go for it. Money is good.
I agree to a large extent with Rand, although she does come off as a bit of a bratty school girl sometimes. She's a pseudointellectual, but that doesn't make her philosophy any less compelling.</p>
<p>It's a terrible book, and very poorly written, in my opinion. I would certainly look for something else if you are trying to improve your reading skills. I also find the philosophy repugnant.</p>
<p>I can choose any non-fiction or biography book for my English class, but not for the scholarship.</p>
<p>I never said I disagree with the core philosophy of Objectivism, selfishness. It would probably be what I would write my essay about. Not about how "gathering wealth is a virtue and charity is despicable".</p>
<p>I haven't read many books, so I can't really remark about the literary qualities of this book. If there are any, I certainly haven't noticed them so far.</p>
<p>The book would take me exactly a month to read at my rate.</p>
<p>I thought Atlas Shrugged would be mildly interesting, but it turned into a overly wrought, pretentious vehicle for the espousal of her so-called "objectivist" pseudo-philosophy, and just plain boring literature.</p>
<p>"I thought Atlas Shrugged would be mildly interesting, but it turned into a overly wrought, pretentious vehicle for the espousal of her so-called "objectivist" pseudo-philosophy, and just plain boring literature."</p>
<p>I mostly agree, but I maintain that the philosophy is good, though the presentation is poor. I recommend reading the book and reformulating everything in your own mind. Rand's being a simple fool is irrelevant. Imagine a portrait covered with a mixture of fetid garbage and thick mud. Clear away what's wrong, and it'll be something else entirely.</p>
<p>Anon<em>Person</em>1, I have never met anyone that used SAT words in real life. The closest thing I have come to seeing someone use words like that is the Harvard guy that Matt Damon rips apart in Good Will Hunting. It doesn't matter how educated you are, it never almost never used in everyday speech. Maybe we should label the people who use it intelligent, educated, arrogant, show-off, "i know more words than u" adults.</p>
<p>Meteorain007 - Your experiences are clearly limited. Not only do real people use expanded vocabularies, college level reading material presumes higher level literacy.</p>
<p>Um, actually my whole circle of friends, as well as my family, use "vocab words". When my dad spills something, it was "inadvertent"...just an example. I just hate when people act like SAT words are meant to punish them or are just random things to memorize...</p>
<p>First point -- Ayn Rand wrote this book (and all of her other books, though this is her masterwork) to detail her philosophy in the form of a novel. That's the point. That being said, it's an easy read. </p>
<p>Seconds point -- There are loads of vocab words in there. My teacher does SAT hot words with our class (from the Barron's book) and gives us extra credit for finding them in literature. During the month when I read Atlas Shrugged I found between fifty and one hundred vocab words. </p>
<p>Third point -- You're only one hundred pages into it. This book is what, 1,200 pages? If you hate it so much, don't read it. But you are missing out on a fantastic read, even if you don't agree with objectivism. Additionally, if you this the book is stupid, I doubt you'll be able to write a very good essay for the contest. So, pick another book. Or better yet, read Shakespeare. :)</p>
<p>P.S. I love Ayn Rand.
P.P.S. I love the words they use on the SAT. Garrulous, conflagration, loquacious...I use whenever possible.</p>
<p>You could be right, my experiences may be limited. Maybe it's because I'm attend engineering school, maybe it's because I don't have many friends who are intellectual ivy leaguers, or maybe it's because the last book i actually read with literary sustenance was Fight Club... in 10th grade.</p>
<p>ha, yeah, my parents and two brothers are both ivy leaguers...and my brother's a writer, so it could just be I have a totally different realm of experience than you. plus, my whole family reads, as well as all my friends. I was reading rebecca for school, and my mom was like, oh yeah, we listened to that book in the car on vacation!</p>
