Atlas Shrugged is currently ranked #28 on Amazon.com’s list of bestsellers … more than 50 years after its publication.
In the “literature and fiction” category, it is currently ranked #6.
(Thanks to Robert Bidinotto for the heads-up.)
Category: News
Atlas Shrugged sales briefly top Audacity of Hope
From The Economist:
According to data from TitleZ, a firm that tracks bestseller rankings on Amazon, an online retailer, the bookâ??s 30-day average Amazon rank was 127 on February 21st, well above its average over the past two years of 542. On January 13th the bookâ??s ranking was 33, briefly besting President Barack Obamaâ??s popular tome, â??The Audacity of Hopeâ?.
Enough to give a guy some hope. The article continues:
Tellingly, the spikes in the novelâ??s sales coincide with the news (see chart). The first jump, in September 2007, followed dramatic interest-rate cuts by central banks, and the Bank of Englandâ??s bail-out of Northern Rock, a troubled mortgage lender. The October 2007 rise happened two days after the Bush Administration announced an initiative to coax banks to assist subprime borrowers. A year later, sales of the book rose after Americaâ??s Treasury said that it would use a big chunk of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Programme to buy stakes in nine large banks. Debate over Mr Obamaâ??s stimulus plan in January gave the book another lift. And sales leapt once again when the stimulus plan passed and Mr Obama announced a new mortgage-modification plan.
Whenever governments intervene in the market, in short, readers rush to buy Randâ??s book. Why? The reason is explained by the name of a recently formed group on Facebook, the worldâ??s biggest social-networking site: â??Read the news today? Itâ??s like â??Atlas Shruggedâ?? is happening in real lifeâ?. The group, and an expanding chorus of fretful bloggers, reckon that life is imitating art.
See the full article for more.
Atlas Shrugged audiobook ranks #4 at OverDrive
From Atlasphere member Greg Garamoni:
The audiobook version of Atlas Shrugged (Blackstone Audio, Inc.) appeared as the fourth most downloaded Adult Fiction audiobook on OverDrive‘s list of “Most Downloaded Books from the Library” for January 2009.
OverDrive describes itself as the leading global distributor of audiobooks and eBooks to libraries, schools, and retailers. The “Most Downloaded Books from the Library” lists (adult fiction, adult nonfiction, juvenile fiction, and juvenile nonfiction) are based on activity at 8,500 libraries in the OverDrive global network.
Atlas Shrugged has been on the list for six months. This provides clear evidence that people are still listening to her message (pun intended). This trend is a ray of hope as the dark politico-economic reality imitates her fiction.
Most Downloaded Books from the Library
powered by OverDrive
Published on February 1, 2009
Download Audiobooks – Adult Fiction
1. The Host, by Stephenie Meyer (Books on Tape)
2. The Associate, by John Grisham (Books on Tape)
3. The Appeal, by John Grisham (Books on Tape)
4. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand (Blackstone Audio, Inc.)
5. 1st to Die, by James Patterson (Hachette Audio)
6. Scarpetta, by Patricia Cornwell (Books on Tape)
7. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Blackstone Audio, Inc.)
8. Plum Spooky, by Janet Evanovich (BBC Audiobooks America)
9. 7th Heaven, by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro (Books on Tape)
10. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen (Blackstone Audio, Inc.)
Buy the complete Firefly series today for $17.99
For some reason, today Amazon is offering the entire first season of Firefly for $17.99.
If you’re not familiar with Joss Whedon’s Firefly yet, well, get with the program.
I’ve heard certain Ayn Rand fans call it “probably the best television show” they’ve ever seen. I would tend to agree. It’s also one of those programs you can re-watch every year, and not get tired of it.
Atlas Shrugged in top ten of all time favorites
A recent Harris Interactive Poll asked 2,513 U.S. adults: “What is your favorite book of all time?” Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged was #9 on the list. The Bible tops the list, with Gone with the Wind in second. You can read about the results and the poll’s methodology at Harris Interactive.
Atlas Society on Spitzer Scandal
Edward Hudgins of the Atlas Society wrote the following about the Eliot Spitzer prostitute scandal:
It is ironic that New York Democrat Governor Eliot Spitzer has had his undeserved reputation for high moral standards tarnished by his sexual escapades which, while perhaps sleazy, did not harm any of us. In fact he deserved our moral scorn for his assault on productive individuals and flouting of the rule of law when he was New York attorney general, done arrogantly in the name of “morality.”
Hudgins also directs readers to Roger Donway’s article,”Eliot Spitzer: Ayatollah General,” in the April/May 2005 issue of The New Individualist.
Walter Donway: "The Struggle for Poetry's Soul"
Walter Donway just sent the following announcement, which explains the significance of his essay as well as anything I might hope to write:
My brief essay “The Struggle for Poetry’s Soul” just went up on the popular Atlasphere web site. In the essay, I try to suggest why it is important to restore the traditional craft and enduring values of poetry, being lost today in the blizzard of “free verse,” deliberate difficulty, and rejection of popular values such as rhyme and storytelling in so much of contemporary poetry.
With whatever talent I may have, I am trying to explore the diversity, power, and beauty of the traditional discipline and forms of poetry in Touched By Its Rays.
As I suggest in my initial poem in that book, “A Prelude,” perhaps some young person of real talent, and with a whole life ahead of him or her, will read my poems and envision what a great poet might accomplish in days ahead. That is one meaning of Touched By Its Rays.
Of course, a great many contemporary poets, and nearly all critics and teachers of poetry, would be deeply offended by my remarks.
UPDATES – Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship
I’ve been working for several months now with Stephen Hicks of the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship to create their new web site, which we just launched recently.
They’re doing some terrific work to promote an Objectivist-inspired vision of entrepreneurship, and I highly recommend signing up for their beautiful Kaizen newsletter (instructions below).
Below is an announcement Dr. Hicks recently sent out to members of his mailing list. We’ll also be publishing some of their interviews soon at the Atlasphere, so stay tuned for those as well.
My new Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship at Rockford College is now one year old, and I am writing to let you know of our accomplishments to date, highlighting especially the Objectivist connections.
This month we launched our website: www.EthicsAndEntrepreneurship.org. The website was designed by Joshua Zader, whom you may know as the founder of the Atlasphere. The CEE website has information about our programs and publications — and a web log that will track developments in business ethics and entrepreneurship. I invite you to check it out and to subscribe to its RSS feed to follow our activities over the coming years.
The second issue of Kaizen, our glossy newsletter, was also published this past week. In our first issue we featured an interview with architect John Gillis. In our second we interview painter Michael Newberry. The interviews focus on the excitement and challenges of entrepreneurship in the worlds of architecture and painting and include full-color images of Gillis’s and Newberry’s major works.
I invite you to check them out on our website. Each future issue of Kaizen will feature an interview with a successful, entrepreneurial achiever, along with news of CEE’s activities.
I am happy also to announce that CEE has hired four talented people with Objectivist connections.
Shawn Klein as full-time instructor in Philosophy. Shawn is a Ph.D. candidate and has been a frequent and popular lecturer at TAS conferences. He is teaching courses for us in Business Ethics, Ethical Theory, and is developing a new course in Sports Ethics.
John Reis is adjunct professor of Philosophy. John is a long-time Objectivist with twenty-five years of business experience in Chicago, and he has been an adjunct professor at Elmhurst College for many years. John is putting that experience to good use for us at Rockford College by teaching our course on Business and Economic Ethics.
Anja Hartleb-Parson, our research and publications manager, is a Ph.D. student in political philosophy who has participated in both TAS- and ARI-sponsored conferences. We are pleased that while she is pursuing her doctorate Anja has been helping us with our publications projects and has lectured for us on Objectivism and issues in political philosophy, including the Kelo case, free speech, and Ayn Rand’s We the Living.
We also hired he very talented Christopher Vaughan, who directed and edited my video documentary on Nietzsche and the Nazis. Chris also directed and edited the twelve-minute promotional video about the Center which appears on our website, and he developed the design for our Kaizen newsletter. Chris is working with me on a number of new, creative projects, which you will hear more about over the coming year.
In its first year CEE has reprinted and made available at Amazon.com four important essays by Objectivist scholars. The essays are on topics directly relevant to CEE’s mission in business ethics and entrepreneurship. The essays’ primary audience is students in the various courses CEE sponsors at Rockford College. But we are also making them available through other outlets, as we would like them to have as wide a reading audience as possible.
Tara Smith’s “Money Can Buy Happiness” is republished from the journal Reason Papers.
David Kelley’s “The Entrepreneurial Life” and “Is It Nobler to Give than to Create?” are re-published together from Navigator magazine.
David Mayer’s “Thomas Jefferson: Man versus Myth” is republished from MayerBlog.
And my own “Ayn Rand and Contemporary Business Ethics” is republished from the Journal of Accounting, Ethics, and Public Policy.
These four essays are the beginning of what CEE plans will be a continuing series of essays by professionals on key issues in business ethics, entrepreneurship and related fields. I hope you find the series to be of interest.
We have had a busy and productive first year and are working hard on our next projects.
Let me close inviting you to receive a complimentary print copy of our newsletter, Kaizen. If you are interested, please send your postal address to us at CEE [at] Rockford.edu. And please spread the word. Your support is appreciated.
Sincerely,
Stephen
Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy
Executive Director, The Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship
New Bob Burg Book a Top Seller at Amazon
Atlasphere columnist Bob Burg has co-authored a new book titled The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea.
The book topped out at #7 overall at Amazon and is currently #1 in the “Success,” “Motivational,” and “Business Management” categories.
The book is a parable about business success. I’ve not read it yet, but its theme is that changing your focus from getting to giving — putting others’ interests first and continually adding value to their lives — ultimately leads to unexpected returns.
It’s an unconventional take on selfishness, which may be controversial among admirers of Rand’s work.
If that sounds like it’s up your alley, definitely check it out.
For samples of Burg’s articles at the Atlasphere, check out “Default Settings to Big Government” and “Bringing Your Business to the Next Level.”
UPDATE: The book also hit #6 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list.
Rand-inspired Non-mathematician Discovers Hypercomplex Numbers, with Possible Implications for Mathematics and the Philosophy of Science
I haven’t the foggiest idea whether this would bear scientific scrutiny, but he certainly deserves an A for creative self-promotion.
From a new press release which appears to have been authored by Atlasphere member Rodney Rawlings:
(PRLEAP.COM) A Toronto, Ontario, writer and editor has arrived at a system of creating hypercomplex numbersâ??numbers that extend the complex number system to more dimensionsâ??using only high school algebra, as viewed through the lens of Ayn Randâ??s philosophy of Objectivism. He contends that this has implications for mathematics and the philosophy of science.
Rodney Rawlings calls his multidimensional numbers â??RADN numbersâ?â??for â??rotating any-dimensional numbers,â? because they have a property of rotation exactly analogous to that of the complex numbers. They are also commutative and distributive like them.
He says that he arrived at this result by asking himself what exactly numbers are, how they arise in the human mind, and what their relationship to reality is. But these questions were only so fruitful because he used a correct philosophy, he claimsâ??Ayn Randâ??s. Any other philosophy, such as the currently influential one of Karl Popper, he says, would not have led to such a result. â??This has two implications: first, that Randâ??s philosophy has a strong element of truth, at least in the area of epistemology; and second, that the type of numbers I discovered must have a special significance, seeing as how they are intimately related to the basic nature of numbers.â?
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