What The Dog Saw

I have just finished a WONDERFUL book by Malcom Gladwell, called "What the Dog Saw"  ("Tipping Point")  It would be an amazing read for Book Club.  A little different but fascinating, and impossible to NOT have a great discussion


"You don't start at the top if you want to find the story. You start in the middle, because it's the people in the middle who do the actual work in the world," writes Gladwell in the preface to WHAT THE DOG SAW. In each piece, he offers a glimpse into the minds of a startling array of fascinating characters. "We want to know what it feels like to be a doctor," he insists, rather than what doctors do every day, because "Curiosity about the interior life of other people's day-to-day work is one of the most fundamental of human impulses." Like no other writer today, Gladwell satisfies this impulse brilliantly, energizing and challenging his readers. http://www.gladwell.com/dog/index.html

"The World is Perishing From an Orgy of Self Sacrificing"

You have all heard of The tea Party movement I presume...They are connecting themselves with "Atlas Shruggs" Ayn Rand's other famous book.

Thought you all might enjoy this clip, and part 1 of an interview with Ayn.


Here is Rourke's famous speech at his trial, of course echoing Ayn's beliefs.


Also here is part one of Ayn with Tom Snyder...part two is on you tube if interested

Traveling time

This about sums it up

Ayn Rand say selfishness is a virtue but this quote from her book really sums it up. " I love you so much, nothing else matters, not even you." What do you think about THAT!

More thoughts on Ayn Rand

Ayn said "Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life"

Really!?!?!? This is so self centered...but totally explains why Howard and Dominique are the heros of this book and totally explains why I cannot see them as such.

Ayn Rand's Philosophy

In casual conversation I asked a friend of mine if he had ever read The Fountainhead.
He said "no, but I am familiar with Ayn Rand's philosophy"
My response "errr?!" Ok, time to use the World Wide Web!
The Ayn Rand Institute is located at my Alma Mater UC Irvine. Her philosophy is Objectivism.

The following is a short description of Objectivism given by Ayn Rand in 1962.

At a sales conference at Random House, preceding the publication of Atlas Shrugged, one of the book salesmen asked me whether I could present the essence of my philosophy while standing on one foot. I did as follows:
Metaphysics Objective Reality
Epistemology Reason
Ethics Self-interest
Politics Capitalism
If you want this translated into simple language, it would read:

1. “Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed” or “Wishing won’t make it so.”
2. “You can’t eat your cake and have it, too.”
3. “Man is an end in himself.”
4. “Give me liberty or give me death.”
If you held these concepts with total consistency, as the base of your convictions, you would have a full philosophical system to guide the course of your life. But to hold them with total consistency—to understand, to define, to prove and to apply them—requires volumes of thought. Which is why philosophy cannot be discussed while standing on one foot—nor while standing on two feet on both sides of every fence. This last is the predominant philosophical position today, particularly in the field of politics.



There is more more, click here


Frankly, I find "God is Love" much simpler. But I will give Ayn a bit more of my time.