Welcome and Questions

[Marina]

Please use this thread to introduce yourself, name your favorite authors, and share with us what keeps you reading. Also, here you can ask any questions or make suggestions about this group.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Just introing myself for now. I suppose some of us have crossed paths before (hi Masha). I took the political beliefs survey Glen Beck was talking about a few months back. It asks questions about your beliefs and then "pigeon holes" you as liberal, conservative, libertarian or whatever. I scored straight up libertarian. Hummm.

Well, I do believe that people need to keep their word (that includes congress, the president...government bureaucrats, etc. I believe that we are responsible for our actions and that by RIGHT in America people are free. That includes freedom to think. speak, and act as we choose so long as we do not impede or infringe upon the freedom of anyone else.

As for my favorite authors, they are many. As I understand it we will be putting the emphasis on fiction here so over political commentary wouldn't really fit. I like all kinds of fiction, classic literature (well, some of it) and also genre fiction, action, science fiction, fantasy, techno thriller, some historical fiction (I don't however do romance, sorry romance fans) and other genres.

I'll watch what's added and as they "come to mind" suggest some.

For starters, science fiction (actually classic science fiction) have you read The Weapon Shops of Isher? It's the source of the quote: " The right to own weapons is the right to be free"

[Marina]

Welcome Mike! Glad to have you and your vast knowledge of books in this group. Unfortunately, The Weapon Shops of Isher is out of print:( I did get the reference in the Repairman Jack novels because I've heard of the book before. And yes, we are looking to discuss fiction rather than commentary. I will be adding books as my time and 3 kids permit.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

If anyone really want s to run it down it's available used on Abe Books for around $6 (that includes shipping).

[Marina]

Thanks Mike, you just made me impulse purchase it. The price was too good and it includes a bunch of other famous authors' stories.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

I saw that one. There were others listed that were simply that book. I didn't check, but you may have the sequel also.

Have you read Vince Flynn's books?

[Marina]

I read a few. To me he's just a poor man's Tom Clancy, so I prefer the real thing. Come to think of it, I should probably add some Tom Clancy to this group.

[S.J.]

Hello. I'm S. J. Lewis
I particularly like Robert Heinlein, even though much of his later work got a bit strange. Just off the top of my head, though, I can't think of any other fiction writers with a strong small-government/libertarian bent. I'd welcome any suggestions.

[Marina]

Hi, thanks for joining. I haven't read Heinlein but am curious about him, not sure where to start. I will be adding more authors/books as I think of them. If you haven't read the books on this group's bookshelf, I highly recommend all of them, depending on what genre you prefer at the moment.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

I like SOME of Heinlein... LOL Hi S.J. I tend to like his teen reads, like S.J. I find some of his later stuff a bit "off". I hate Stranger in a Strange Land, the book so many are so ga-ga over.

[S.J.]

I resolutely waded through 'Stranger In A Strange Land', but one read was enough. On the other hand, my tattered old copy of 'Starship Troopers' is something I can always rely on when I need a fix. (The movie sucked swamp water and blew chunks.)
I read Ayn Rand back in college. I thought she had some good points, but often wished that she would stop trying to drive them home with a jackhammer. And for anyone interested in seeing how an all-powerful state can grind its citizens into powder, I can recommend Solzhenitsyn.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Read The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, books V-VII back in '74. I believe he updated it later didn't he?

My favorite Heinleins are probably: Starship Troopers, The Puppet Masters: Library Edition and maybe Tunnel in the Sky...and of course Glory Road, but there are others.

[S.J.]

Yes, I believe he did. I remember reading 'The First Circle' and not quite realizing until I was several hundred pages into it that everything he was writing about was happening in one day.

[Marina]

Solzhenitsyn is great, to a point, and I have great admiration for him as a person. However, much like Orwell, he was not pro-capitalism either and not a fan of the US to the best of my knowledge. I suppose it was before people realized that European Socialism is not really "the third way," but a kinder, gentler version of old Communism.

S.J. if you only read Rand in college, I strongly recommend you re-read. There are some points in her books that hit you more strongly as an adult. And you can definitely skip the speeches the second time around LOL.

[S.J.]

Solzhenitsyn seemed to believe that the West had become spiritually bankrupt, but I'm not sure what led him to that conclusion. Our credentialed elites certainly don't seem to believe in much of anything, but that's not true of everyone. I don't think he'd consider anyone who hadn't had to endure what he endured to be suitably spiritual in any case.
Most of the reading I do these days is historical, either political or military. I'm a Civil War buff from way back, and also play miniatures wargames when time allows.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Solzhenitsyn was concerned about the way the west in general and the US in particular was headed...and that was 20 years ago. He "was" a fan of capitalism in principal at that time, but I haven't read anything new or seen interviews for a long time. Don't if he changed his stance. I know he was even then warning against the way things were going in west Europe and the US.

[S.J.]

Well, lots of people have been sounding warnings since almost as far back as I can remember. The stuff they were trying to warn us about is here now.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

10-4

[Eddie]

I haven't read much Heinlein. I quite enjoyed STARSHIP TROOPERS. STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND had a few great moments, but I was definitely underwhelmed by it. THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS is still my favorite. The only other one I've read is CITIZEN OF THE GALAXY.

I've heard good things about THE DOOR INTO SUMMER. Any opinions on that one?

[Mike (the Paladin)]

The Door into Summer is among my favorite Heinlein reads as are, Tunnel in the Sky, The Day After Tomorrow and several others.

My favorite Heinlein is probably Glory Road.

[S.J.]

I enjoyed 'Glory Road' very much. I particularly liked the ending.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

I suppose it could be said not to have ended. Heinlein never really did anything else like it.

[S.J.]

That's true. Hardly any author ever does anything like it, which is why I found it so refreshing. To have such an ending come at the conclusion of a very entertaining book was not unlike a cherry atop a sundae.

[Willard]

Hello, everyone! I joined this group because I like the subject and this is an interesting bunch of people. But I may be listening more than talking (so to speak), at least initially, because the only books I can think of so far that fit this topic are the obvious choices that have already been mentioned-Rand and Heinlein. I like even the later Heinlein though I agree he got a little weird in his later years (and a bit preoccupied with sex) but my favorite novel of his (of those I have read) is The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.
Also, I read more non-fiction than fiction. The last book dealing with government. I read is McCullough's 1776, which I recommend.

[Marina]

Welcome Willard!

Since there seems to be general agreement, I'm adding The Moon is a Harsh Mistress on our bookshelf.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Welcome Willard, I have the same problem. I know I've read books that I could recommend...only I don't have like a mental file and they haven't come to mind...when I'm posting.

[Willard]

Another author finally occurred to me-Kay Nolte Smith. It might be cheating a little to count her, because she didn't deal explicitly with government very much. But she definitely dealt with individualism and personal integrity. She was a member of Rand's circle before she got kicked out. I actually think she's better than Rand in some ways-her characters are certainly warmer and more three-dimensional.
My two favorite novels are probably Country of the Heart and A Tale of the Wind. The former deals with a woman whose father broke her heart when he chose (at the last minute) not to escape from the Soviet Union with the rest of the family. She finally meets him and discovers his motives. The latter is a love story between two unconventional people-to tell you more would be to tell you too much. But the backdrop is the French Revolution and the years following, so the book definitely has a political element.
I'd recommend her pretty highly, particularly those two books.

[Marina]

Thanks! I'll definitely check her out. I wonder why she got kicked out of the circle, although sometimes it didn't take much.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

It wqas easy to get kicked out of Rand's circle, even simple disagreements were often enough. AR didn't handle criticism well. LOL

Have we mentioned William F. Buckle Jr.? He has some very good fiction.

[Willard]

I seem to remember having read something about Smith's conflict with Rand; I'll try to look that up.
Oddly enough, the only Buckley novel I've read is his fictional take on Rand, Getting It Right. It's well-written but I don't particularly recommend it, unless you're just curious. Buckley looked at Rand through jaundiced eyes.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Well....or realistic eyes. I'm a small government type and don't subscribe to a lot of her Objectivism. I often like where she's coming from, but tend to leave the train before I reach her end conclusions.

Buckley wrote Red Hunter which hits the same era and looks at McCarthy. I don't subscribe to all the conclusions there either, but it's an interesting book.

There is a bit of irony in McCarthy's life (it seems to me) as in, he was right in most of his assumptions and beliefs, but went about it the wrong way. By the time it was over no one dared to point a finger because even if they were right it would be them who would be considered a "villain". That paved the way for a lot of the governmental explosion we've seen since.

[Marina]

Buckley was a conservative, but not necessarily pro-small government. If I'm not mistaken he advocated mandatory community service, which is anathema to small-government thinkers. I do appreciate what he did for the conservative movement in terms of inspiring young people in his generation, but he was definitely less than consistent.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Not sure and if he did I'd not agree. I do like what I've read by him on the whole. I'm not an authority. I subscribed to National review for some years and have read some of his works. I don't know enough to speak authoritatively to all he thought.

I was mostly commenting on his experience with A.Rand. He was young and sort of brushed up against her circle. I like a lot of Rand's ideas, but can't agree with all. That was my point. That and I like much of what I have read by Buckley.

[Marina]

Actually one has to wonder how Rand and her philosophy would have fared if she didn't exclude or excommunicate so many conservative and libertarian intellectuals of her time who probably agreed with her on 90% of the issues. I know Atlas Shrugged is still selling like hotcakes, but Objectivism itself never reached its full potential as a movement.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

It gets very narrow and a lot of that still comes from AR herself (or the example she set). She did exclude a lot of thinkers who disagreed with her...but Like you I like Atlas Shrugged.

[Willard]

There are a couple of organizations you're probably familiar with that are trying to popularize and expand upon Rand's work: the Ayn Rand Institute and The Atlas Society. The former used to put out a periodical (it may still exist) I used to subscribe to. They've both done useful work and produced some good books. On the whole I stopped following the first group because they're pretty doctrinaire, right down to aping Rand's literary style and using her phrases. The Atlas Society produces work a little more likely to be original.

[Marina]

Actually Yaron Brook, the current head of ARI, is a pretty cool guy, but I don't think he writes fiction.

[Eddie]

Leonard Peikoff's daugther, Kira, has a dystopian SF novel coming out next year. It is called LIVING PROOF.

Ed Cline is an Objectivist writer. I'm going to read his SPARROWHAWK books soon.

[Marina]

I have to look up Kira (that name is probably not a coincidence, I'm guessing). Could not get into Sparrowhawk, but I'm not much into historical novels so it's probably just me.

Anyone here read Noble Vision? Better do it soon as it will become too close to home once Obamacare is in place.

[Eddie]

Not sure you will like her first book, as it has to do with stem cell research.

I hadn't realized you had tried Cline. He does have some hard boiled detective novels.

[Marina]

Hmmm, I looked up Living Proof, and you may be right. I'll wait till it's out and check out some reviews first to see if it's something that would appeal to me in spite of the setup.

[Ronald]

Hi, I'm new to the group and a newly published author of a pretty good political, self-help, survival bookPrepare for the Worst and Pray for the Best: A Layman's guide to Surviving a Nation gone bad. I'm all for small government, so check out my website also at www.thechiefsbooks.com

[Marina]

Welcome Ron! That's a catchy book title. I'll check it out.

Update: Checked the website. That's some bio you've got, best of luck with your work. The book list is a good sampling, but I would add Breitbart's latest to the list as I truly believe we need to win the culture as well and people have no idea what crap is being fed to them over TV every day.

[Marina]

Oh and that reminds me... I changed my avatar:) You guys like?

[John]

Hi.

Im John and Im from London. I write about economics mostly and politics in Britain the US and Europe on my blog and for The Commentator, an online magazine. I also write about other stuff, movies, drama, whatever, at other places.

Im also a Fellow of The Cobden Centre a British think tank which is heavily influenced by the Austrian tradition.

With this in mind my favourite non fiction authors are PJ O'Rourke, Milton Friedman and Fredirich von Hayek. Those three wrote the books that saved me from youthful Trotskyism.

Others are Matt Ridley, Thomas E Woods, Larry Elder, David Craig, Dinesh D'Souza (sometimes) and alot of the stuff that comes out of the Mises Institute.

Beyond that I love Raymond Chandler and Ian Fleming, Jack Kerouac and Sean O'Casey, and Philip Larkin and general history books.

Looking forward to talking with you all.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Welcome John.

Good choice Masha.

[Ronald]

Masha wrote: "Welcome Ron! That's a catchy book title. I'll check it out.

Update: Checked the website. That's some bio you've got, best of luck with your work. The book list is a good sampling, but I would add ..."

Thanks, I will check that one out, I do like the new avatar as I'm a lifetime member.

[Marina]

John I love Ian Fleming too, although the books ALMOST ruined the movies for me. Seeing Bond as a complex character, with doubts, regrets and failures interferes with the movie image. And I have to say, after seeing Daniel Craig in drag in that awful women's rights PSA, I don't think I can look him as Bond again:(

[Eddie]

I'm surprised you didn't get into SPARROWHAWK, Masha. It is like Rand meets Dickens. Or Hugo would probably be better, but I haven't read him. The historical aspect reads like a fantasy but without the magic.

[Marina]

Maybe it was just the mood I was in, I don't remember exactly why. I should probably give it another try someday.