Rating: Summary: Read WE instead Review: This slender book (maybe emaciated would be a better word) is a meager re-hash of a few of the ideas that Evgeny Zamiyatin used -- brilliantly, incisively, and with far more vinegar and fire in his writing -- in his classic WE, which predates both BRAVE NEW WORLD and 1984. If you've already read ANTHEM, dig up WE and read that. For all of her vest-pocket nattering, Rand didn't have a tenth of the genuine creative power of Zamiyatin -- or his more genuine philosophic sense. ANTHEM is a bloodless, flabby little parable that gets blown clean out of the mind by the sinister power of WE. Zamiyatin died in exile -- he left the country rather than continue to endure censorship -- with his works censored by the Russian state apparatus and his legacy all but forgotten. Rand went on to found her own mini-empire of publishing and lecturing. Knowing Rand's thinking, she probably would have blamed him for it all.
Rating: Summary: This book changed my outlook on life!!! Review: This powerful novel is about the effects of losing ones self identity. The possible effect of communism (collectivism). Equality dared to be different and act on his curiosity. This crime was punishable by death. I admire this courageosness. I hope other people who read this will agree that we must never let this force aof a few people running our lives and minds. We must never forget that "All men are created equal". This one solitary line must always be remebered if we are to all keep our own identities. These words "I" and "ego" must never be forgotten and democracy "of the people, by the people, and for the people" must always live on.
Rating: Summary: Great Book Review: I feel that Anthem which was a futuristic book has a lot of good points in it. One being forbiden love. Two sexism. Three no individualism.
Rating: Summary: Overpriced Review: Cute, short, fairly enjoyable. Good message. But the price is WAY inflated because half of the book has a reproduction of Rand's revisions for an earlier edition. Who cares
Rating: Summary: A great piece of work Review: This is really a great book. I read it when I was 14 and again about two weeks ago(21 now). I forgot how good it was. Another book most of you will love is "The Giver" by Lowis Lawry, it is very good and has similar meanings.
Rating: Summary: For those who think ... Review: This is a great book for anyone with a mind AND the ability to use it! Truth is beauty and this book is both. I'd recommend "For the New Intellectuals" next - another short, direct book
Rating: Summary: Ayn Rand Shows True Feelings Of Collectivism Review: The book was really great! I read it for English, and it shows the cruelness of a future world. It really caught my attention!
Krystle Beauchamp
Rating: Summary: Excellently well-crafted book. Review: I liked this book a lot for different reasons. One, the way the information that Rand was trying to convey was done with such amazing brevity. Two, as a result of its brevity the entire book was wonderfully short. Three, she took such a short time to convey a simple yet very important and powerful messsage: it is great to care about others, but it is just as important to care about yourself and your individuality as well. I just wish that she could have done it more quickly in some of her other books
Rating: Summary: good beginning Review: Great book. Simple, to the point, and what a good point it is. After you read it, make sure to read "The Fountainhead" and please don't read it in reverse order. Anthem is to Fountainhead as Animal Farm is to 1984. If you don't know what I am talking about, check out George Orwell's books
Rating: Summary: Better than Orwell, to be sure. Review: _Anthem_ was the first Rand book I ever read, and introduced me to the author who was to become my favorite. I had already read _1984_ and _Brave New World_ by that time, and I'd say that _Anthem's_ depiction of the triumph of the individual is much more inspiring and intriguing than the above works, and it comes via a very un-Rand-like economy of words. This was, to me, a quite different presentation of her philosophy than her other fiction works.
I was prompted to write this review after reading someone else's review, where _Anthem_ was deemed unoriginal in comparison to Orwell's _1984_. Please note that 1984 was written in 1948, whereas Anthem was written in 1937. Personally, I think they are both good books (but I'd rank Orwell's _Animal Farm_ over _1984,_ and both below _Anthem_)
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