A few weeks ago my dad said “Brad, you have to read the book I Am John Galt: Today’s Heroic Innovators Building the World and the Villainous Parasites Destroying It. You’ll love it.” That’s all the recommendation I needed – it went to the top of my Kindle reading list.
I read it the other night in a jet lagged haze on my couch. I was wide awake at 2am without the book, but it had me consumed for a few hours. The author, Donald Luskin, is polarizing, as evidenced by his wikipedia page and entertaining conflict with Paul Krugman (who he skewers in the book).
If you aren’t an Atlas Shrugged fan, this book isn’t for you. But if you are, go grab it now – you’ll love it. Luskin does the biography of the following nine men by lining them up with characters in Atlas Shrugged. He does a magnificent job of deconstructing the people in the context of the Altas Shrugged character, while writing an original narrative on the character and biography on the person being referenced.
- Steve Jobs – Howard Roark
- Paul Krugman – Ellsworth Toohey
- John Allison – John Galt
- Angelo Mozilo – James Taggart
- Bill Gates – Henry Rearden
- Barney Frank – Wesley Mouch
- T.J. Rodgers – Francisco d’Anconia
- Alan Greenspan – Robert Stadler
- Milton Friedman – Hugh Akston
My only disappointment was that he didn’t tackle a character for Dagny Taggart.