Listening to Atlas Shrugged on CD in my car this weekend, I recognized Tim Geithner in the character of Wesley Mouch. So I Googled "Geithner Mouch," and got about 775 hits. I guess I'm not the only one to notice the resemblance.
BTW, if you know somebody who might enjoy Atlas, but who doesn't have time to read a phone book, you might want to consider giving it to them on CD. Total running time is about ten hours -- many people could finish it over the course of commuting to work for a week or so.
When you mentioned that it was only 10 hours long I had to check out the link because it is definitely longer than 10 hours! I noticed that its an "abridged" version. What kind of stuff do they cut out to make it shorter?
Posted by: Tyler Mitchell | 04/27/2009 at 08:50 AM
SPOILER ALERT -- Don't read this response if you don't want anything given away about Atlas Shrugged.
I'm not sure what all is left out, but I'm pretty sure they left out one part I really liked. In the novel there's an accident in which a coal-burning locomotive pulls a train into a mountain tunnel intended for diesel engines. The prelude to this is an examination of the motives of all the people who contribute to the accident directly or indirectly. The point is that in a free market all the players share an interest in the same outcome, but after government interference distorts the market people's goals begin to conflict.
It's been a long time since I listened to the discs, and I might have confused some parts of the story. But I remember being disappointed that this sequence was left out. I will pay close attention to it this time, and if that sequence is still in the audio version I will note it here.
Posted by: John Galt | 04/27/2009 at 10:37 AM
The version I listened to was 68 hours I believe. John Galt's speech was about 3.5 of it.
Posted by: Francisco Diego Carlos Andres Sebastian d'Anconia | 04/27/2009 at 03:18 PM
I downloaded the audio book unabridged and it was just shy of 63 hours. It was the 35th anniversary edition and had 30 minutes of commentary written by a friend of Ayn Rand. John Galt's radio speach was at least 3.5 hours of which I didn't want to stop listening. The coal engine in the tunnel was what brought Dagny back from her "retreat" in the woods right after Francisco found her.
Posted by: Heather Turner | 07/15/2009 at 11:03 AM
How about George Soros and Ellsworth Toohey?
Posted by: Francisco Domingo Carlos Andres Sebastián d'Anconia | 07/28/2009 at 10:29 PM