Anthem

Rating:
Summary: ayn rand is an awful, awful writer
Review: The fact that Ayn Rand is so widely respected appalls me, and chills me the very marrow of my bones. Her philosophy is basically a rehashing of older ideas that she has distilled in such a way that high school students can understand them. She says nothing new about individuality or the self, and is fit only as a companion to more complicated works by perhaps Lacan and Foucault. In addition to her juvenile philosophies, she is a horrible writer. The writing in Anthem could have been done by a 12-year-old, and all of the metaphors are trite and obvious. I almost vomited in disgust when the main male character named himself "Prometheus." So, he's bearing forbidden knowledge of the self, hoping to impart it on the rest of us, much like Prometheus who stole the forbidden fire (a symbol of knowledge) from the heavens. Spare me. This is so obvious and stupid. It pains me that people have actually rated this book higher than novels written by James Joyce.

Rating:
Summary: A true "Anthem" to man's spirit
Review: I found this book lying on the floor in the band area of my high school. I have a tendancy to take books if they are unclaimed for a week, and this one had been there for two. Think of Anthem as the spirit of both Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged: condensed and stripped of all words but the ones which matter. In other words, poetry. I'm using Anthem as my piece for speech this year; it is beautiful and terrible, exhalting and disturbing, sweet and bitter. This book is a probably the best one of Rand's books to start with. If you dislike Anthem, you will most likely not be able to read through Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

Rating:
Summary: an innaccurate portrayal of socialism
Review: This book is an attack against socialism or other collectivist ideologies. Rand claims to be inividualistic, yet she supports laissez faire capitalism, which in my opinion is incompatible with individualism. Capitalism transfers power into the hands of private companies. These businesses control resources, wages, ect. How can someone be an individual when their lifestyles are dependant on their wages that their boss dictates? Your wages deterrmine how you eat, dress, live, ect. The capitalistic wage system is anything but individualistic. She claims to advocate individual freedom, but how can one be free when they are compelled to spend 80 percent of their lives in authoritarian institutions called "work"? How is being a wage slave individualistic? Not to mention capitalism has created the most totalitarian institution witnessed in modern times; the corporation. This is a strict, top to bottom hierarchy. People (thanks to new technology) are monitored constantly. Some places put badges on people to monitor them daily, and if they leave for the bathroom they are fired. Some people have to urinate in jars because if they take off time to use the restroom they risk losing their jobs. Is this individual freedom? No, this is absolutism, the absolutism that thomas jefferson warned us about when he realised that "moneyed incorporations" were aquiring power. A capitalist would bring up the argument that "you aren't forced to work, its a free contract". You have to be some nazi or stalinist to believe this. I mean, this is the type of contract between a man robbing another with gun to his head. Its a free decision, either work, or starve to death. Wow thats real individual freedom. Dont fall victim to objectivist/capitalist propaganda. These are ideals that no one really takes seriously. Free market capitalism is a joke, and would fall apart immediately, and if it didnt, people would overthrow it because they wouldn't allow such a despotic system exist. Free market ideology is only a political weapon; a weapon against social spending, the poor, ect.

So what would a real free society look like? It would be a cooperative society, where people work with eachother instead of against eachother. Authoritarian institutions like the corporations, the state, and other institutions that limit human freedom would cease to exist. The pig capitalist system would be abolished. However, portrayed society presented in this book will become a reality if we continue to accept capitalism.

Rating:
Summary: A model of individuality
Review: I spent the two hours or so reading Ayn Rand's novella of individuality with a satisfactory smile. Through all my years of schooling, I had never been introduced to Rand's work or perspective. I am so glad I stumbled across a reference in a book I was reading recently.

Rand's story of breaking the chains of socialism and collectivism struck the soul of my inner belief system. In the self or ego lies the soul of a human. The inner drives and wants make up the man. We all strive to find and perfect ourselves and find answers in this world. That is what makes us human. By being held back by a society's preconceived notions and goals, we are denied our rights as humans. This is the purpose of "Anthem," which is thematic of the scores of times throughout history man has risen up to take on a powerful society.

Rand's style was smooth, concise and to the point. My favoriate line, one I read several times, was early in the work when Equality 7-2521 was struggling to find the answers of nature. Rand writes: "The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who will seek them."

For too long, different civilizations have stiffled the creativity of all man, leaving the search for knowledge left to a chosen sect of society. "There is noting to take a man's freedom away from him, save other men," Rand writes. "To be free, a man must be free of his brothers. That is freedom. This and nothing else." By saying this, Rand does not dimiss the brotherhood of society. She simply says a man cannot be free unless he alone searches for his true nature, his EGO.

It is for this EGO to which we truly live.

Rating:
Summary: A World Of We's
Review: Anthem is a book of many questions. It is based on the theory of collectivism. Imagine yourself in this environment. the men inhabit one side of the town and the women inhabit the other side. You don't know who your parents are because you grow up with all the children of your age and of your sex. What you are taught is right and you can make no arguements. When you turn the age fifteen you are given a job and are to fullfill that job until you are forty. When you turn twenty once a year you are put together with the opposite sex and are to conduct into intercourse. This is the life of each man in the novel Anthem. A world where someone can never think of themself.
This book deserved a five because it developed several thought provoking questions in my mind. It has the great themee individualism and collectivism to inspire people to always think for themselves. If you enjoy this book I recommend reading The Giver and watching the movie ANTZ.

Rating:
Summary: Pretentious and Ridiculous Garbage
Review: I had to read this book for school, and I was expecting a story filled with subtle yet well rounded anti-communist philosophy. However, my hopes were shattered half way through the first page. This book was basically a humongous monologue, where the author rants about the wonders of individualism, through the mouth of the main character. The character himself was selfish, one-dimensional, obsessive, and amazingly egotistical, continuously praising either his own genius or his physical beauty, and his girlfriend was portrayed as an empty headed doll, blindly following him, when she wasn't being attracted to shiny objects that is. The philosophy was not much better. The book preached for a utopian world where everyone would care only for themselves and let society fall apart. The antithesis of this utopia was the setting of the story, portraying an unrealistic so called "collectivist" governement, which only manages to display the fact that the author knows nothing about communist or collectivist theories. Besides this, the writing was weak and simplistic, while the plot was one-dimensional. However, if you enjoy unfiltered bias and propaganda in a mind numbing book that tries to pass itself off as literature, by all means, read Anthem.

Rating:
Summary: Short and sweet--an excellent read
Review: I had to read this book for my sophomore English class, and I must say that this was my favorite book to read all year. As I read, I felt connected to Equality 7-2521 and grieved when he grieved and smiled when he smiled. It was like he was a real person with real feelings, like there was actually someone trapped in some insane society somewhere in the world. That said, the plot has a good meaning behind it, in the sense that we should be careful with strong governments and overregulation of procedures. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has an open mind and a spare hour or two to read.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly no one mentioned Rush
Review: Ever wondered what Rush was singing about in their album 2112? This is the book behind the music. Instead of a guitar, the main character finds a light bulb. I read this book when I was 17 and still consider it a very thought provoking book.

I have read other review who get into the meaning behind the book and have to shake my head. This is a great book for those who like to read without trying to decide if the author was really writing about her dislike of society and red panties. Yes I am being a smart butt, I just like to read to enjoy the work.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Political & Philosophical Book on FREEDOM
Review: Ayn Rand's book, Anthem, is an incredible book that highlights the benefits of a free, individualistic society, over the Collective (the type that is presented by liberals, the Democratic Party, professors, media types, and other elites who "care" for us).

Anthem is a story about an individual who lives in a Collectivist society--the same type that would appear in communist Soviet Union or today's communist Cuba. I can see that these types of societies are not to be desired. Instead of thinking in terms of "I," everyone thinks of themselves in terms of their membership in the larger society, and thus the use of the term "we" to describe their ideas. Notice that identity politics today is very similar: if you are a member of a certain racial or ethnic group, you are expected to think in 'we' terms; whatever the group thinks should be accepted, regardless of your own best interests. (That is one reason why, for instance, President Bush's conservative judicial nominees, who are minorities, are being rejected. It is because their group leaders insist that they think in the 'we' context as opposed to the 'I.' If you think like an individual, be damned).

We see the triumph of the individual at the end of the book. There is a lot of emotion involved in this book. For instance, the hero in this novel notes that there was a period of time when people were free, when the Collectivist voices were just starting to take root. Yet, people were ignoring the concerns the Individualists had, and thus the Collectivists took over. We see the same thing today: the Collectivists are on a rampage: they think anytime we pay less in taxes it is evil; they insist that the government pay for health care, retirements, loss of wages due to unemployment, loss of wages due to competitive global markets; universal schooling, etcetera. It is just a way for the Collectivists to get a greater hold on us, yet few are paying any attention.

We ignore this book at our peril. Just like many of the other books warning us of the dangers of Collectivism, we should never forget that what may appear theoretical may just be true.

Thankfully, in this book, people will fight to regain an individualistic society. People will rebel. Thomas Jefferson said rebellion is good every now and then. A free society can encourage people to leave the unfree societies--exactly what is happening right now in America. We attract people from all the unfree corners of the world. And when our own individual states become unfree -- California, for instance -- there is a rebellion, a move back to an individualistic society. Ayn Rand was very right, indeed.

-- Michael Gordon
Los Angeles

Rating:
Summary: probably the worst "good" book i've ever read.
Review: I read this book because i was told that it was extremely bad by two of my moderately intellectual cousins. I can't say I disagree. The book's main point is that individual identity is more important than a harmonious society, which is true. But the book has no characters and no real plot and seems like a well written book rewritten by a fifth grader. This book could make a good short story, but the fifty pages it takes up are completely wasted.