Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

Atlas Shrugged Amazon book-bombing

Rate this topic


brian0918

Recommended Posts

What languages have you read it in, Frolic? I read it first in English but I am interested in getting the Spanish version and , if it exists, the French version to see how they got around translating the concepts faithfully.

Dutch, my native tongue.

Same with the fountainhead, I read the Dutch version from the library but bought the English one in a second hand bookstore. :lol:

Edited by FrolicsomeQuipster
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This sounds awfully second-hander. "We can't do this - what will people think?"

It's not second-handed to want to represent a philosophy honestly in the public sphere, if what you want to do is to spread that philosophy successfully. Look at seehafer's point: the problem is not spreading awareness of Ayn Rand, but establishing her credibility.

Although I agree a sustained publicity purchase by, erm, "the faithful" to keep the book in the #1 slot would be dishonest, I don't see anything wrong with deciding it's in your own self-interest to help promote Ayn's ideas by buying a copy on her birthday.

If it really is in your self-interest, fine. That's why a spontaneous spike in sales is noteworthy and interesting, something worth writing about. Suddenly lots of people realize on their own that they want to read the book: that's news worthy. But why would anyone write about the book being in a top slot if it's just because of an organized campaign?

Note: if no one wrote about the spontaneous spike (which I think is true), no one will write about an organized one--unless they discover it's just a result of a campaign (which they can find out about if the campaign is announced on the internet!). In that case, the angle would be that the spike was just a stunt.

I agree with seehafer. There are many better, more productive forms of Objectivist activism out there. I participate in them actively. I recommend that others do, too. This will be my last word on this topic--too many other better things to do!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not second-handed to want to represent a philosophy honestly in the public sphere, if what you want to do is to spread that philosophy successfully

I'd actually go a step farther. Trying to get people to read Atlas Shrugged because they think lots of other people are reading it is encouraging them to read it for a second-handed motive.

I'm with NoumenalSelf on this one. If you want to buy a book and help spread Objectivism, make a donation to ARI's free-books program. That's what it's for.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was well advised that The Fountainhead serves as a primer to Atlas. If I'd gone straight to it, I shudder to think how I may have reacted.

My 18 year old sis just finished The Fountainhead and loved it, regularly calling me up for clarification (Dominique confused her). Start them with that, get them used to the temperature before we throw them in the water.

Fountainhead First !!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a lot of stir on the O-Activists mailing list about doing this - in particular, about buying them on the same day, and then mass-mailing them to congressmen, the white house, fed, newspapers, etc. If you aren't already a member, please join the mailing list so you can participate:

http://groups.google.com/group/oactivists

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the point is to make a spike in interest, by having the book displayed on the front page of Amazon's book section.
Bold mine.

That may be one aspect of the campaign mentioned here, and that would seem like an honorable reason in a superficial way, but (whether or not people here agree with what noumenalself has stated up to the point of your post) you're begging the question (or maybe several come to think of it.) For one thing, is this "book bomb" campaign the ideal way or even close to the ideal way of promoting the book? For that matter, I wonder if the money spent on the book in this context might be better spent as donations to ARI. I don't know because that last question isn't specific enough, but what I'm getting at is that the nature of this campaign may ultimately be just a distraction from better efforts...

Edited by tps_fan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suppose it would only be dishonest if I weren't really buying the book and I weren't really interested. :dough:

No foul caused, but that concedes/dovetails with the relevant points which noumenalself made.

Let me put it this way, if there was an organized effort to promote the book, and that involved things like press releases, interviews, and the like, then we might be talking... as it is... a spike in sales is, well, a spike in sales.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Additionally, I'm surprised no one's mentioned the fact that--as an introduction to Objectivist thought--The Fountainhead is far superior to Atlas Shrugged.

I read Atlas Shrugged before I read The Fountainhead. I very much prefer Atlas Shrugged. The Fountainhead I don't really like.

I would definitely recommend AS as a first reading to someone who is unfamiliar with Rand's works.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
To what end? For the most part, Ayn Rand does not suffer from an awareness gap in our culture --

Are you kidding me?! I had NEVER even heard her name or of her books until my boss suggested I read Atlas Shrugged nearly two years ago. The VAST majority of the people I talk to about having read AS (non-O'ists and people under the age of 80) have never heard of her. Very few may have read TF in high school.

I automatically assume it wont be.

That's because you're a pessimist.

Instead of using your money to buy the book you should use the time to convince others to buy the book.

Who says the people buying the book aren't also doing that?

Look, who knows if this is an overall good idea or not? There's no way to track results. My thought is that if it gets even a few people to read her works, then it's worth it.

Edited by K-Mac
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Neither fame, nor money, nor love, nor in this case top ranking in Amazons best seller lists, is real if obtained by fraud. What is fraud, simply the attempt to pass off something as that which it is not. The reasonable understanding of the top 100 list is that it is a list of the top 100 most popular books sold by Amazon. To push AS up beyond that position which it holds by the normal purchasing behavior of the public is an attempt to decieve. It does not matter if, as a result more readers are exposed to Rand's writings, it would still be immoral.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...