Here is a Japanese translation of a book that all Japanese 'free-thinking' people should read. Too many Japanese people who lament the Japanese way of living challenge the values of Japan. This book 'Atlas Shrugged', by Ayn Rand, goes a long way towards developing a coherent intellectual framework to challenge and understand the values of contemporary life. I don't believe Rand achieved complete appreciation of the problem, and certainly she offers only limited 'political inspiration' for Japanese people, however the themes have pertinence to all of humanity.
Her book is among Random Houses' top 100 of all time - the readers choice. Not bad for a book as controversial as this. She is either hated or praised. She has changed people's lives including mine. Japanese people might avoid such controversy. I say they need to confront it. People hate the book and the author precisely because the ideas are threatening. That is reason enough to analyse its content - because you might well be scared of it. Its a horrid little tale about contemporary society....even it its set in a fictional period 50-odd years ago.
Rand is the closest approximation to my own ideas. Eventually I will publish these, but they are still work in progress. One cannot just write one book; one has to write a system of them. In the interim, I only deal with concrete political, relationship, investment issues on my blogs. The coherency will eventually come with publication of the philosophical content.
I personally agree with about 95% of what Rand wrote, and intend to add about 30% to what she didn't say; mostly in the realm of psychology and politics. This is not a criticism, but rather recognition that she was foremost an author who developed a philosophy to develop her characters. If she had written just philosophy, its probable that she would not have bad any influence in her lifetime. She was foremost a 'targeted' purposeful missile, and she struck her target audience. The role of post-Randians like myself is to refine or extrapolate her ideas to give them greater pertinence and coherence. Some ideas are merely implicit in Randian philosophy; but in other areas, there are gaps. Those gaps are often true to her purpose. i.e. Her lack of politics might be construed as a desire to avoid controversy which would bury her deeper convictions.
