# Ayn Rand **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 8, 2001, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ayn-rand/53579 "2001-02-08T03:00:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ayn-rand/53579/21 "2001-02-13T23:49:38Z")
**Guinastasia** Greenspan wasn’t a “member” AFAIK, but he certainly wrote two articles for her newsletter, The Objectivist, one on the gold standard and how it implies economic freedom(that was in July of '66), and in August of 63 he wrote an article on integrity. :shrug: You don’t have to be an objectivist to defend capitalism. **Chuck** They are making a mini-series. [http://www.atlas-shrugged-the-movie.com/](http://www.atlas-shrugged-the-movie.com/) is, last I checked, an unofficial website for it. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ayn-rand/53579/22 "2001-02-14T01:28:47Z")
Robert Anton Wilson wrote (in, I think, _Cosmic Trigger vol. 2: Down to Earth_) how for a time in the 1950s in New York, he hung out with Ayn Rand and her crew. He figured out the reason she acted so paranoid was because she was on speed all the time. Speed will do that to you. Wilson lampooned her writing in the _Illuminatus!_ trilogy. There was a novel titled _Telemachus Sneezed_, and its hero was “John Guilt.” He made a play on the question “Who is John Guilt” that had something to do with guilty feelings left over from potty training. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ayn-rand/53579/23 "2001-02-14T01:38:06Z")
Wilson parodied Rand herself as well as “Atlas Shrugged”. The author of “Telemachus Sneezed” was also mentioned in the Illuminatus Trilogy - a character named “Atlanta Hope”. He was not particularly kind. ---
**Author:** ![FEotU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@FEotU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FEotU)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ayn-rand/53579/24 "2001-02-14T05:30:24Z")
An “Atlas Shrugged” mini-series? We can only hope! I recall reading a short blurb in a magazine from the early 80’s stating that one of the major networks (I forget which) had considered doing it, but scrapped the idea because “it would require too much thinking by the viewers”. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ayn-rand/53579/25 "2001-02-14T11:31:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FEotU \* > \*\*An “Atlas Shrugged” mini-series? We can only hope! \*\* \Should we hope that it will be just as wonderful as Battlefield Eatth was? The only problem would be to find an Objectivist actor with as much talent and charisma as John Travolta\ ---
**Author:** ![davesink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@davesink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davesink)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ayn-rand/53579/26 "2001-02-14T16:49:40Z")
I suppose this thread will end up in IMHO, but I couldn’t let this pass. I just got through “Atlas Shrugged” and wholeheartedly agree with yabob. As a novel, the plot is totally ludicrous and the “good guy” characters are all basically the same person right down to the physical descriptions (tall, blond chiseled features) to mannerisms (how many times did she describe someone "throwing their leg over the chair’s armrest). I went into this thing not knowing a lick about her so called philosophy, but came out of it being so repulsed by her writing and “Fantasy Island” plot, that I found her "philosophical ramblings totally unconvincing. After reading that crap, I read Leon Uris’ “Trinity” and was reminded it felt like to read a truly great book. ---
**Author:** ![davesink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@davesink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davesink)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ayn-rand/53579/27 "2001-02-14T16:52:09Z")
I suppose this thread will end up in IMHO, but I couldn’t let this pass. I just got through “Atlas Shrugged” and wholeheartedly agree with yabob. As a novel, the plot is totally ludicrous and the “good guy” characters are all basically the same person right down to the physical descriptions (tall, blond chiseled features) to mannerisms (how many times did she describe someone "throwing their leg over the chair’s armrest). I went into this thing not knowing a lick about her so called philosophy, but came out of it being so repulsed by her writing and “Fantasy Island” plot, that I found her philosophical ramblings totally unconvincing. After reading that crap, I read Leon Uris’ “Trinity” and was reminded it felt like to read a truly great book. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ayn-rand/53579/28 "2001-02-14T17:15:32Z")
Books On Tape. I listened to The Fountainhead on tape, and it was very pleasant. A much less grueling (if more expensive) way to digest Ayn’s stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ayn-rand/53579/29 "2001-02-14T17:32:05Z")
Well, I heard that actually, he was friends with some members of her group, that’s all, arl. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2001, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ayn-rand/53579/30 "2001-02-14T18:45:46Z")
Guinastasia: Vanity Fair had a profile of Greenspan about 2 months ago that goes into his relationship with Rand. Sorry, I can’t recall the specifics, but that would get you startef if you’re interested. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ayn-rand/53579.md?page=1)