[brian0918]

The 1999 Plume paperback edition of Atlas Shrugged recently reached #29 on the Amazon.com bestseller list, thanks to publicity from the WSJ article. Now there is an effort to get as many people as possible to purchase the book on February 2nd, preferably at the same time of day, in order to shoot the book up to #1.

More information here: http://tinyurl.com/7r76fa (Facebook)

Text from the post:

Quote

Around Saturday, January 10, 2009, I noticed that *Atlas Shrugged* had entered Amazon.Com's list of Top 100 bestsellers, as the 76th bestseller. In the three days that followed, it ascended that chart, at one point going as high as 29. For a few hours, it was even higher than Barack Obama's *The Audacity of Hope*.

There is something that can be done to make sure that it is in the Top 100 bestsellers list in February. It is a "Book Bomb." This would involve many people purchasing *Atlas Shrugged* on the same day -- Monday, February 2, 2009 (Ayn Rand's birthday).

You can read about an example of a book bomb at http://tinyurl.com/8jzawh .

Note that there are several different editions of *Atlas Shrugged* being sold on Amazon. We recommend specifically purchasing the 1999 Plume paperback edition, because that is the only edition that has made it into the Top 100, and so it is the most likely candidate to still be within the top 100 in February. That specific edition can be found at http://tinyurl.com/7xytx3 . The recommended one has a black cover with a golden Atlas it; not the green cover with the red circle, or the white cover with the blue Atlas statue.

Everyone around the globe is invited to participate. However, we prefer that these purchases be made specifically on the U.S. version of Amazon.Com.

The point of the book bomb would be civic activism. It is intended to send a message to the public.

Since the administrators who will be ruling Washington, D.C., throughout 2009 evidently plan to increase government power, the show of support for *Atlas Shrugged* will serve as a reminder to D.C. administrators who intend to go forward with their big-government designs. We want them to know that we are watching their political actions, and we strongly recommend that they heed the lessons of *Atlas Shrugged* before they further undermine economic productivity with their wasteful spending of tax dollars.

Just as Wyatt's Torch served as a reproach to the government administrators in the story, the book bomb effort may serve as a reproach to those in Washington who aim to expand government power in the next few years.

So mark your calendar. Monday, February 2, 2009, is the day to participate in the *Atlas Shrugged* Book Bomb.

Please promote this event on your blog and/or in your YouTube vlogs.

You may also be interested in joining the Facebook group "Read the news today? It's like 'Atlas Shrugged' is happening in real life": http://tinyurl.com/7yjvyd

Please note that the spike in the book's sales began in mid-January, independent of this book bomb.

This post has been edited by brian0918: 15 January 2009 - 06:53 AM

[Mimpy]

Although I understand the sentiment behind this group, I think the goal is ultimately unproductive. What will you really accomplish by purchasing another copy of Atlas Shrugged, when you have read it already? Who will care if the book reaches #1 on Amazon's Bestseller List? All you will have managed to do is distort reality for a couple of hours. Atlas is not the #1 book on Amazon right now, specifically because the general culture does not agree with its message. To make it #1, we have to work to change the culture, not buy more copies for the sake of simply buying. When people are genuinely buying copies for themselves because they want to learn about Ayn Rand's revolutionary ideas, that is when reaching the #1 spot will actually mean something. It will indicate that the culture is indeed changing.

What would be more productive now is to get a couple of your friends who are unfamiliar with Ayn Rand's ideas to read Atlas. That will have a much greater impact in the long run.

[Greebo]

I don't know. When a book is #1 on the best seller list, people who have no idea who Rand is are more likely to notice the book and wonder, "What's this all about?". I can see that as reason behind the push.

[TheEgoist]

I need a new copy of Atlas. I've loaned out two so far and only have one copy of my own. I might do this.

[Mimpy]

Greebo, on Jan 15 2009, 12:50 PM, said:

I don't know. When a book is #1 on the best seller list, people who have no idea who Rand is are more likely to notice the book and wonder, "What's this all about?". I can see that as reason behind the push.

Did you order Twilight? It's taking up about 10 of the Top 25 spots. It has consistently been #1 for several weeks. Does it invoke in you a sudden interest in vampire novels meant for pre-teens?

[kainscalia]

I'm buying one. My copy unfortunately got splashed with battery acid. Loooong story

[brian0918]

Mimpy, on Jan 15 2009, 10:22 AM, said:

Although I understand the sentiment behind this group, I think the goal is ultimately unproductive. What will you really accomplish by purchasing another copy of Atlas Shrugged, when you have read it already?

I think the plan for everyone who has said they'll buy one is to give it to a friend who hasn't read it yet...

[Greebo]

Mimpy, on Jan 15 2009, 11:00 AM, said:

Did you order Twilight? It's taking up about 10 of the Top 25 spots. It has consistently been #1 for several weeks. Does it invoke in you a sudden interest in vampire novels meant for pre-teens?

No. Neither does a single allegorical example disprove the general statement. That's like suggesting that the existence of one bald cat proves no cats have fur.

Being #1 on the best seller list does increase general awareness of the book, which increases the chances that people who've never heard of Rand or AS will now at least hear of it.

That said, I don't think it'll boost the the awareness significantly, and I consider the overall goal somewhat idealistic in its intent, so I'm not buying extra copies.

[K-Mac]

Of the two copies I've given away, they've been read by three people. I plan to buy another and give it away sometime too. Any publicity is good publicity, right?

[Benpercent]

This presupposes that the Amazon bestsellers page gets a lot of attention. How popular is it? I must admit that I myself had never looked at it, despite being a customer of Amazon for years, until last earlier this week or so when that Wall Street article about Atlas Shrugged came out.

[noumenalself]

Please, please, please do not participate in campaigns like this. If you need a copy of Atlas for a friend, buy it now. Don't operate on an artificial timeline to "bomb" Amazon. It will accomplish nothing culturally significant, and it will *only* make Objectivism look bad.

Do you know who organizes campaigns to buy books to increase their profile? Scientologists. They used to organize efforts to make mass purchases of *Dianetics* to push it up on the best-seller list. It worked for a while, then bookstores and best-seller lists got wind of it, and the game was up. They realized it for the dishonest effort it was.

Don't think that anyone would ever dare compare Scientologists to Objectivists? There are enough unjustifiable accusations that Objectivism is a "cult" already. As if that weren't enough, an couple of prominent Objectivist "activists" who shall remain nameless organized a campaign back in 1999 to vote for Atlas and other Ayn Rand books for the Modern Library's greatest books of the 20th century:

http://www.randomhou...bestnovels.html

As you can see, the campaign was remarkably successful! Scores of Objectivists voted every day for Atlas and other titles, and the result was a first-place ranking. But look who else made it into the top ten! 3 other books by L. Ron Hubbard! Is that the kind of company we want to keep? Who would decide to read a book from a list like this, noting such company?

I submit it is better for Atlas to linger in obscurity than to be tainted by campaigns to make it seem more popular than it really is. The spike in sales the other day as a result of the WSJ article was a beautiful, spontaneous thing. That's the kind of publicity we want. Don't ruin it by trying to manufacture it artificially.

[noumenalself]

P.S.: In case you don't think anyone noticed the company of L. Ron Hubbard, check out this clipping I saved, from the Baltimore Sun:

"At the close of the last century, Modern Library, the prestige publisher,
announced its list of the 100 best novels of the 100 years, as chosen by a
panel of top writers and scholars. Not a single work by Ayn Rand made the
list.

Then, turning the contest into a national parlor game, Modern Library
invited ordinary readers to submit their choices. A quarter of a million
responded, and presto! Rand's magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, scored No. 1, and
three more Rand novels appeared in the top 10.

This news might have brought a contemptuous smile to Ayn Rand's stony face,
but for one thing: Her chief competitor was L. Ron Hubbard, who landed three
titles on the public's top 10. Hubbard, a marginal writer of science
fiction, founded Scientology.

This outcome pretty well settles the enduring question of whether Ayn Rand
was an important writer, or whether she was simply the goddess of a great
American cult whose erstwhile members include such powerful men as Alan
Greenspan. Whatever her status as a writer, as a charismatic spell-caster,
Rand ranks up there with Rasputin and Aimee Semple McPherson."

http://www.rickross....general531.html

[noumenalself]

K-Mac, on Jan 15 2009, 12:58 PM, said:

Of the two copies I've given away, they've been read by three people. I plan to buy another and give it away sometime too. Any publicity is good publicity, right?

Not all publicity is good publicity. Consider, for example, the tremendous amount of publicity Ayn Rand is currently getting because of her connection with Alan Greenspan. It is all being used to discredit Objectivism, on the premise that Greenspan must have been influenced by Rand, and that Greenspan bears some responsibility for our current economic crisis. Years ago, however, people thought Greenspan's Rand connection would only make her look good. Turns out not. Were it not for the heroic efforts of ARI, the Greenspan connection would be doing tremendous damage to Objectivism's reputation right now. I fear it may have anyway.

Also, another tidbit from history showing that not all publicity is good publicity:

http://web.archive.org/web/20051110194238/...l_redux_wh.html

[K-Mac]

For every idiot out there, like the ignorant moron that wrote the Baltimore Sun article, there are probably several normal, everyday-type people who actually picked up the book and read it for themselves as a result of that list. People who are against us will always be against us, and will always be evil and/or stupid. That is not who I am targeting. I am looking for others out there like me. I had never heard of Rand or Atlas Shrugged until a year and a half ago and I wanted to see for myself what it was all about. I was a quasi-Baptist (with serious doubts) and a conservative Republican from Houston, Texas...which ones of you would have considered me a good candidate for a student of Objectivism? I don't think very many. If I worried about everything the crackpots in the media said, I would be a nervous wreck and never go anywhere or do anything.

noumenalself, on Jan 15 2009, 12:44 PM, said:

Not all publicity is good publicity...

Good! Let's flush out the lies and correct them!

[athena glaukopis]

Seeing Rand on the Modern Library list was my first introduction to Ayn's name/work, that fact (that she was voted to the top of the list) NEVER LEFT ME, and was an integral fact involved in my choice to buy Atlas Shrugged.

[noumenalself]

athena glaukopis, on Jan 15 2009, 02:06 PM, said:

Seeing Rand on the Modern Library list was my first introduction to Ayn's name/work, that fact (that she was voted to the top of the list) NEVER LEFT ME, and was an integral fact involved in my choice to buy Atlas Shrugged.

I'm glad to hear that, but I think this was a matter of good luck on the part of the organizers of the campaign. I don't think it's in the nature of campaigns like this to have effects like this.

K-Mac, on Jan 15 2009, 01:54 PM, said:

Good! Let's flush out the lies and correct them!

Agreed. But is the way to flush out lies to perpetuate our own? An organized campaign to buy books on a single day, to create the impression of a sudden spike of interest when there is none, is, I think, dishonest. If someone buys books he wouldn't otherwise buy, just to create this impression, the effect is to create an impression of interest that isn't really there, not even on his own part.

This post has been edited by noumenalself: 15 January 2009 - 02:27 PM

[brian0918]

noumenalself, on Jan 15 2009, 03:26 PM, said:

An organized campaign to buy books on a single day, to create the impression of a sudden spike of interest when there is none, is, I think, dishonest.

I think the point is to make a spike in interest, by having the book displayed on the front page of Amazon's book section.

This post has been edited by brian0918: 15 January 2009 - 02:47 PM

[FrolicsomeQuipster]

I may do it, I always liked the cover of this edition the most and never yet read Atlas in English.

[K-Mac]

I suppose it would only be dishonest if I weren't really buying the book and I weren't really interested.

[kainscalia]

What languages have you read it in, Frolic? I read it first in English but I am interested in getting the Spanish version and , if it exists, the French version to see how they got around translating the concepts faithfully.

FrolicsomeQuipster, on Jan 15 2009, 02:50 PM, said:

I may do it, I always liked the cover of this edition the most and never yet read Atlas in English.