Atlas Shrugged...

Reading fiction is not all that interesting to me. I think I have read 5 fiction books in the last 10 years. I am trying to incorporate them into my reading habits to exercise my mind and escape from political issues and religious dogma.

Honesty, I feel too ignorant to analyze the book. I probably need to reread it and let it sink in. I feel competent to make a few comments.

The story was great - all 1000+ pages of it. I enjoyed the characters personality and how the author used words to describe there actions and reactions. I laughed out loud a couple times (humorous laughs and laughs of disbelief). Every spare moment I had I opened this book, i.e., on the train to work, waiting for subways, on the subway, waiting for Laura to get ready, etc. People who always had a book open were an enigma to me. Now I can understand.

"Redistributing the wealth" and "spreading it around" are phrases we have heard a lot over the past year. Atlas Shrugged gives a window into the way these people think which is really unknown to me. I can't believe some people believe it is moral to take (tax) one person to give it to someone else. I understand the necessity of taxes but to to want more and more to redistribute is very disturbing to me.

The book inspires me even more to invent something. I studied Civil Engineering in college. My first job was in construction management with a consultant that worked mostly on state DOT projects. I was so bored that I had to quit (but it took me a year to do it). I remember my manager asking me how it was going and during the course of the conversation he says, "well we can't all be rocket scientists." That attitude really should appall us.

There are two things that I want to invent (or create): a school (because i believe that the public school system will become irrelevant) and a way to make existing home energy efficient & self-sustainable.