Illuminatus! vs Atlas Shrugged

John Higgs, author of the terrific Timothy Leary biography I Have America Surrounded, wrote a side-by-side comparison of The Illuminatus Trilogy and Atlas Shrugged. Here are the first few items:

Illuminatusshrugged

Illuminatus! vs Atlas Shrugged

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

MORE: Ayn Rand • raw week • Robert Anton Wilson

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Lupus_Yonderboy

Finally someone has the courage to point out the critical lack of apple-fucking in Atlas Shrugged.
- http://maggiekb.com/ Maggie Koerth-Baker
  
  This may be the first time anyone accused Atlas Shrugged of not being kinky enough.
- http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
  
  Well, you could say the whole book is about trying to fuck over New York.
  
  I don’t think he’s quite right that it’s definitely unfilmable… has anyone tried musical comedy?
  - Ito Kagehisa
    
    You should see if Franz Liebkind is available to write the screenplay.
- dumbbunny
  
  Also read Fuck Yes! by Wing Fu Fing. Say yes to vegetables as well.
http://www.disoriented.net/ angusm

Now that I’ve learned that no one in “Atlas Shrugged” fucks a giant apple, I’ve lost all interest in reading it. I don’t know if the inclusion of fruit-fucking would have been enough to redeem the novel, but it would certainly have been a start.

Interestingly, there’s no mention in Mr Higgs’ piece of the fact that “Atlas” and Rand are actually parodied in the “Illuminatus” trilogy, in the form of an imaginary novel called “Telemachus Sneezed”, written by one Atlanta Hope.
- Lupus_Yonderboy
  
  I don’t think that that was what he was going for, but someone did bring it up in the comments.
- LikesTurtles
  
  Actually there is apple fucking in Atlas Shrugged but no one knows about it because it is mentioned half way through John Galt’s speech. No one really reads that whole thing, it the Objectivist version of a EULA. If you do decide to go hunting for it, be warned that the apple doesn’t consent to the sex but that’s ok because rape by a superior being is the best thing that can happen to an inferior.
- Saltine
  
  If you like fruit-fucking, perhaps you’d also like John Barth’s The Sotweed Factor, in which an aubergine is giving a hot stuffing.
  - http://www.disoriented.net/ angusm
    
    Is the aubergine cute?
    - Saltine
      
      Definitely a hot number.
  - robotnik
    
    See also “Portnoy’s Complaint” by Philip Roth.
    - Scott Maddix
      
      That was a liver, wasn’t it?
      - robotnik
        
        Yes, but also a cored apple.
      - princeminski
        
        If you call that living.
  - jimh
    
    Watermelons > Apples
    Or, you know, so I’ve heard.
  - Andrew Pam
    
    Also see the Fruit Fucker robots in the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness video game.
Ito Kagehisa

Killer wizard maverick horse adultery detective elephant shoes.
- strangefriend
  
  My ego shrieks in pain
  your comment makes no sense
  But are you right?
  Was H.P. Lovecraft right?
  Is it impossible for the human mind to grasp some concepts?
  Is the Infinite beyond our reach?
  - Ito Kagehisa
    
    http://www.amazon.com/The-Brandy-Damned-ebook/dp/B00865C2RK/ref=sr_1_1
    
    But actually I think I like your reply even better!
- jackbird
  
  If you actually use “horse” in your “correct horse battery staple” password, I think it cryptographically weakens it. Also, when you post it on a forum.
http://twitter.com/qazwart David Weintraub

From John Rogers:There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
DreamboatSkanky

A *golden* apple, people.
humanresource

Its a fun review, but I don’t agree that RAW’s description of authority figures was all that unrealistic, especially in the era of Nixon and MAD.

“ “A raise for Dr. Charles Mocenigo,” the president called from the hallway. He was harassed, but he still spoke with authority. He was, in fact, characteristic of the best type of dominant male in the world. He was fifty-five years old, tough, shrewd, unburdened by the complicated ethical ambiguities which puzzle intellectuals, and had long ago decided the world was a mean son-of-a-bitch in which only the most cunning and ruthless can survive. He was also as kind as possible for one holding that ultra-Darwinian philosophy; and he genuinely loved children and dogs, unless they were on the site of something that had to be bombed in the National Interest. He still retained some sense of humor, despite the burdens of his almost godly office… He took amphetamine pep pills to keep going on his grueling twenty-hour day, with the result that his vision of the world was somewhat skewed in a paranoid direction, and he took tranquilizers to keep from worrying too much, with the result that his detachment sometimes bordered on the schizophrenic; but most of the time his innate shrewdness gave him a fingernail grip on reality. In short, he was much like the rulers of Russia and China.”
- http://twitter.com/enkiv2 John Ohno
  
  RAW is guilty of making politicians look too sensible and making it seem as though they had more control over things than they really do. Though, he doesn’t do that in any of his other books, so maybe that’s Rob Shea’s fault.
Dv Revolutionary

Sorry it’s dumb but I can’t help it – I have to comment on how the woman looks.

Damm, Ayn Rand was stunning as a younger woman. That russian/jewish face, avant-garde early 20th century fashion and deadpan expression. Frickin awesome. Somebody needs to brew a terrible black liquor, add in as much speed or caffeine as is legal, print that photo on the cover and sell it as objectivism.

Robert Anton Wilson is dashing as well. Everyone should take up smoking again just to have portraits like these.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Funny, I would have gone with descriptors like insectoid and soulless gaze.
  - Ito Kagehisa
    
    Yeah, but the hat totally works it.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      That’s actually a cooling tower for her brain.
      - Ito Kagehisa
        
        And we know how overheated that was!
- penguinchris
  
  I really don’t see it… both are awful portraits, and the cigarettes (which I do think can add a lot to a classic portrait) don’t help (or hinder – they’re just there).
  
  I can see that there is maybe a sort of unconventional beauty in Rand, in a better photo anyway, but Antinous has it right with the insectoid and soulless gaze comment.
Michael Davis

FNORD
- Marco Mustapic
  
  Wow, an empty comment, how strange, and discomforting
- millie fink
  
  Driving down the street
  I see “Jesus Is Lord”
  And then immediately after
  I hear the word “FNORD!”
  
  http://www.fnord.org/occult/discordia/text/what.is.fnord
cymk

Having read both I have to say RAW is much more enjoyable to read than Rand.
Lurking_Grue

“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.”
Cowicide

Isn’t is time for RAW week again?
- DreamboatSkanky
  
  It’s always RAW week in your heart.
http://twitter.com/pdxfrank Frank Hegyesi

I always wished I knew what John Shea contributed vs.Wilson, as I prefer this book to any of Wilson’s solo books. Yes i am a dippy-doo-doo-ding-dong-head and should know better. I can’t help it. I got Pac-Man fever.
IndexMe

In column C you could add Carlos Casteneda. Particularly courageous people might suggest filling out other columns in the spreadsheet with some other recent authors who write both scripture and science fiction.
noah django

just leaving this here. #4 not a bad rule for any comment forum, really.