Atlas Shrugged audiobooks

[JMartins]

Though I have read Atlas Shrugged a couple of times, I would like to purchase it as an audiobook as well -- primarily because I'd like to be able to listen to Galt's Speech, Francisco's money speech, and various other parts, while doing housework and other similar tasks. I see that there are three versions available -- one is narrated by Edward Herrman, another is narrated by Scott Brick, while the third is narrated by Christopher Hurt. Which of these narrators would you recommend? I have a positive impression of Christopher Hurt, whose voice is used in the dramatization of Galt's Speech on YouTube, though I'm completely unfamiliar with the other two.

Thank you.

Edited September 20, 2008 by JMartins

[Clockwork]

I have the audio book by Edward Herrmann, which is abridged at 10 CDs long. He has a great voice that, I feel, does the characters justice in the compacted version of Atlas Shrugged. I've ordered the Christopher Hurt unabridged audio book (forty-something CDs long), but I haven't gotten it yet. I do have the Christopher Hurt version of The Fountainhead though, and he does a great job as well... with the exception of a few mispronounced words which don't affect the overall feel of the book.

One thing to note in the audio books is that the interpretation of the emotion that the characters use is predetermined by the narrator. There were a few points in The Fountainhead that I felt should have been emphasized differently, but for the most part the emphasis and tonality in the reading was spot-on and I can't wait for the full version of Atlas Shrugged to listen to while I work. I'd recommend getting the full version of Atlas Shrugged by Christopher Hurt, he did a great job with The Fountainhead and I expect him to do another with Atlas Shrugged. Be warned though, if you mention to a friend that you got a copy of the Atlas Shrugged audio book and that it's really good, they'll give you strange looks when you give them a nasty glare after they say "That sounds great, why don't you burn me a copy?"

I just pulled up the YouTube video of Galt's Dramatization and it's making me excited to receive the full audio book of Atlas Shrugged. If you'd like a sample of Edward Herrmann's voice, a modified sample of him reading Galt's speech shows up as the first item under if you search for "Atlas Shrugged" on YouTube.

On a side note, the grainy quality of the audio on the Christopher Hurt YouTube video made me recall my favorite one of Andrew Ryan's statements from BioShock that made me smile when I heard it:

"On the surface, I once bought a forest. The parasites claimed that the land belonged to God, and that I establish a public park there. Why? So that the rabble could stand slack-jawed under the canopy and pretend that it was paradise earned. When Congress moved to nationalize my forest, I burnt it to the ground." Andrew Ryan, BioShock

Edited September 20, 2008 by Clockwork

[agrippa1]

Though I have read Atlas Shrugged a couple of times, I would like to purchase it as an audiobook as well -- primarily because I'd like to be able to listen to Galt's Speech, Francisco's money speech, and various other parts, while doing housework and other similar tasks. I see that there are three versions available -- one is narrated by Edward Herrman, another is narrated by Scott Brick, while the third is narrated by Christopher Hurt. Which of these narrators would you recommend? I have a positive impression of Christopher Hurt, whose voice is used in the dramatization of Galt's Speech on YouTube, though I'm completely unfamiliar with the other two.

Thank you.

If you have iTunes, you can sample the Christopher Hurt version on their online store - only about 30 seconds. I listen to a lot of Rand on iPod. It sure beats the heck out of changing CD's every couple of hours.

Also, if you're interested in Rand's non-fiction, Anna Fields, the woman who reads Capitalism is excellent.