Random quotes, images, and thoughts from Ed Ireson.
- I Foody:
- What are some books that people are particularly likely to be assholes about? There are some books like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and The Fountainhead that people tend to be assholes about. Treating the books like arguments for a particular policy, philosophy, or way of being. The Alchemist is another one, even books by Daniel Quinn could qualify. It isn't so much about the quality of the books as it is about the way people interface with the books. Oh, and just to be clear I'd like to confine things to books that are marketed as fiction. No holy texts or self help books please.
- captainawesome:
- Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead have been mentioned, but I gotta nth them - they're the best example of this I've ever seen. Otherwise reasonable, empathetic people read Rand and temporarily become raging assholes. College students are the key demographic here; I saw it a bunch of times in my midwest university. Sadly, I too fell victim to this for a while. But in high school, which makes me cooler than the college losers. Ha!
- mkultra:
- Your characterizing this intention as the reader being an "asshole" about it is totally unfair. Though I am, I confess, often overcome by an uncontrollable urge to slap any twentysomethings I see reading Ayn Rand.
- Netzapper:
- The part you're missing is that Ayn Rand's books forward a decidedly assholish philosophy, one that most people feel a little guilty for subscribing to. As a result, the Ayn Rand fans seek constant affirmation from everybody around them. In order for an objectivist not to feel like a jerk, she needs everybody else to be an objectivist too.
- Source:
- http://ask.metafilter.com/123662/What-books-do-people-proselytize-about
