Posted on 06/08/2011 10:57:58 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Someone once said that we have to learn lessons the hard way or it has no real meaning.
After New York and the rest of the US (as well as the rest of the world) shut down, those in Galt’s Gulch had to wait for people to become self reliant again. They had to learn that there was nobody to come and rescue them from the bad guys. They had to do it themselves
They had to relearn what we as a nation slowly forgot over 200 plus years. Then some people would pick up where our country started from in the first place. Then the men and women in Galt’s Gulch could come out of hiding and organize those that learned the lesson and could be trusted to be self reliant and not rely on government.
20 to 40 years sound like a good enough time for that process to take place. 10 years is not long enough. 20 years and people will have started to develop a longing for freedom and liberty (Egoism).
I think it will require 40 years to shake the bitterness of the past and adapt a more positive forward thinking way of life. Those that fail, die. Those that adapt and are successful will be the new John Galt, Dagney Tagert, Howard Roark, Hank Rearden, James Wyatt, Francisco d’Anconia, Ragnar Donashield et al.
Thanks for the Ping
“Consider the audiobook.”
This may seem like a stupid question. I’ve limited experience with audiobooks, but in all cases, they were straight narration by a single voice. I’m curious whether the Atlas Shrugged version is “play-acted” i.e., different voices for different characters etc.
I don’t know that it’s unique to AS, but on the printed page, quotation marks and paragraph splits aid the reader in figuring out who is doing the talking at any given moment. But if a single narrator is talking on tape, identifying when the conversation has shifted from one character to another may be less readily apparent. For a 1,000 page book, I would think a “play-acted” version would be easier to follow and less likely to feel boring. Listening to the same voice for 64 hours—no matter how gifted the narrator—could tend to be monotonous.
“BTW the movie will come out right before the presidential election.”
Since by that time we may have entered Obama’s double-dip recession, that may help amplify perceptions that we’re on the wrong track entirely and that things won’t turn around until/unless we remove Obozo from office. I think it’s terrific timing, so I hope it doesn’t get delayed any further.
No, it’s single narrator. The version I have is by Scott Brick and it’s not bad though there’s also an abridged version by Edward Hermann (heard part of it at library) and his voice wasn’t as good. Brick varies his voice and adopts a softer tone for female characters like Dagny and Mrs. Rearden.
So it isn’t play acted by diff. voices, other than the same
narrator doing variations. And yes, sometimes it may be tough to know what’s being talked about in terms of “quotes” from characters but usually a skilled narrator can make it understandable.
Audiobook narrators can be good, middling, or awful. I will say that I have 2 audiobooks by Howie Carr, a Boston-based conservative talk host who has written about mobsters like Whitey Bulger and
Johnny Martorano. The book on Bulger (Brothers Bulger) was narrated by Michael Pritchard, not too bad. The other one, Hitman, was narrated by Keith (somebody) who had a raspy “tough guy” voice and it wasn’t as good. It worked when he was quoting gangsters (”I killed the rat.”) but not when quoting a refined-voice politician like Billy Bulger.
Here’s a small sample of the Scott Brick Atlas Shrugged.
http://raccoonradio.freehostia.com/Air/AtlasShruggedSample1.mp3
Three minutes; first minute is the start, when Eddie Willers encounters a bum on the street. Then it jumps to a couple chapters ahead, where Hank Rearden is at his home
and his moonbat brother Phillip, who is raising money for a “progressive” charity, is awarded $10,000 by Hank—yet Phillip demands that Hank give it to him in cash, as
“Friends of Global Progress is a very progressive group”
and they wouldn’t want to be associated with a steel magnate
corporate fatcat like Hank.
(Some people have put audio clips from Atlas Shrugged on YouTube but I think it’s the other version, not the Brick one)
NO I MADE A MISTAKE IN SPELLING!
IT WAS ALL MY FAULT!
Are you satisfied now, or would you like to continue picking fly shit out of the pepper shaker?
Some people need to get a life!
Thanks so much for such a thorough reply. Having heard the clip I “see” how a good narrator handles the transitions. I’ve already read the book twice, but may want to read it once again before Part 2 comes out and an audiobook might be an easier way to absorb it.
At least you didn’t write, “It’s all my falt.”
btrl
I’m waiting for Part 1 to come out on DVD. It didn’t play locally.
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