Anthem

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Summary: Individuals Who Don't Like this Book are Parasites
Review: It's a short book, read it yourself and see what you think

Rating:
Summary: Superurb
Review: This book was gr-8. It gave a whole new deffinition to the word individual.

Rating:
Summary: Better than Atlas Shrugged, but........
Review: I believe Ayn Rand's writings are very destructive. And this isn't because of her highly un-original philosophy. No, the reason for this is the powerful grip the books has on her followers. In her books they find justification for behaving in a anti-social manner that is slowly destroying the fabric of the societies of the Western World. This egoism is supposedly derived from "reason". In the real world however there is no reason for people not to find fulfillment and meaning from helping others and caring for their family and friends. The accusation that "altruism", i.e. decency and goodness, leads to tyranny is nothing but products of a very paranoid mind. The craziest thing about this though is the fact that Ayn Rand has been raised to a saint-like status by her followers. No disagreement with her writings is ever accepted and if you disagree you are an evil communist/collectivist. To be a true individualist you must agree with everything she has ever written. Isn't this collectivism in a true sense? No, says her followers, those views are derived by reason and must therefore be share by all intelligent human beings. Pretty scary!! Note that Objectivism, like Marxism, Freudianism and Jungianism, is a closed system of thought in the sense that any critisism of the system is automatically seen as a symptom of unreason. This is what makes Objectivism a religion rather than a philosophy or scientific method. And this is also the reason for the fanatical behavior of her disciples. At best her books are useful self help guides, but this is also true of for example the Bible or the writings of Jung.

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Summary: Wrong on both counts!
Review: I disagree with the reviewer below on both counts. Rand obviously didn't "coppy" this book from Rush's album 2112, and it's a stupid book anyway.

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Summary: This was a boring tale.
Review: I was forced to read "Anthem" for my English class. All that reading it did was make me despise the teacher even more. I found it to be very nondescript. I had no idea of what the setting was like. It only came to me in shades of grey. As for the plot, I found it rather boring. It had an important message about being an individual but it was not presented in an entertaining way. My advice to anyone with the opportunity of reading this is not to.

Rating:
Summary: she did coppy it
Review: mrs rand did too coppy this book off rush just like i said in my reveiw, there album 2112 has a hole side called anthem but like i said its a good book anyway so who cares.

Rating:
Summary: precursor.
Review: well. this book, along w/ most of miss rand's others are at the top of my reading list as the most influential and thought provoking books i've ever read. although not as involved and developed as her masterpieces, 'fountainhead,' and 'atlas shrugged,' it's still very good. it doesn't get too much into the foundations of objectivism. she elaborates further in 'FH' and 'AS.' still, this would be a good book to introduce someone to objectivism or even introducing them to individualism. easy read. recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: I hope that guy talking about copying rush was being sarcastic because the book was written about 40 years before the album 2112. (Sarcasm is difficult to pick up when reading it) Any how its a very good book, a literary classic even, Thanks.

Rating:
Summary: It's been done better..
Review: I must agree with another review I saw for the book. I would much rather have heard about his life afterward; although the entire book was interesting (although I disagree with the concept of objectivism) it would've been much better, had see elaborated more towards the end. And, it could have been better written. Ayn Rand was more of a philosopher, and less of a descriptive writer.

Rating:
Summary: The most thought prevoking book I have ever read.
Review: The first time I read this book I HATED it. That was because I did not understand it. I re-read it. Now, a year later, Ayn Rand is my role model and favorite author. Let the book be lesson to all who don't see how important the human spirit is.