Strangely enough*, earlier this week Scott H Young (who I’ve already cited in this post) wrote an interesting review of both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shurgged, and then I Stumbled Upon Modern Library’s list of the 100 best novels and non-fiction books of the 20th century (a subsidary of Random House) where these two books came first and second in the novel section, as selected by readers.

You can count on Atlas Shrugged being present on my reading list (or ‘listening list’, if you like - the audio version sounds compelling). As for Commanding Heights I’ll download it soon, but it’ll undoubtedly be a long time ’til I watch it - I’ve got a huge folder of unwatched documentaries taking up space on my hard-drive at the moment (mostly Adam Curtis stuff).

Thanks for the comment,
Lloyd

p.s. Is this comment box better?

*There’s a word I’m trying to remember: it’s used to describe coincidences that are not in fact coincidences at all. For example; a seemingly random series of related occurrences are noticed and I mistakenly believe them to be synchronous, when in actuality these events are quite common - it’s just I’ve noticed them in succession on this occasion and have drawn this false belief of synchronicity. It’s driving me MAD… what is this word?

Great idea. With regard to “philosophical fiction” you might be interested in Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. It’s fiction, economics and philosophy all rolled into 1000 pages. It’s also not to everyone’s tastes as it’s viciously in favour if free markets and meritocracy, but I noticed Friedman on your list so I guess you’re ok with that ;) I actually downloaded it as an audio book (52 hours) from pirate bay and listened to it at work!

Also another recommendation from me is “Commanding Heights - The Battle for the World Economy”. Not a book, but a three part documentary (again from pirate bay). It’s quite cheesy in the way that all American documentaries are, but I learned a lot from it.

Laterz
Andy
p.s. can you make your comments box bigger?