Atlas Shrugged book cover

Atlas Shrugged

Recession has had its effect in strangest of places. Economist has posted how in this turbulent time, college students approaching Ayn Rand’s legendary ‘Atlas Shrugged‘ novel. When biggest of the pillars of a highly relied upon system start crumbling, its natural for the new generation to have ideological shifts and their questioning of the earlier established philosophies.

THE ECONOMIST — Reviled in some circles and mocked in others, Rand’s 1957 novel of embattled capitalism is a favorite of libertarians and college students. Lately, though, its appeal has been growing. According to data from TitleZ, a firm that tracks bestseller rankings on Amazon, an online retailer, the book’s 30-day average Amazon rank was 127 on February 21st, well above its average over the past two years of 542. On January 13th the book’s ranking was 33, briefly besting President Barack Obama’s popular tome, “The Audacity of Hope.”

Economic news vs Atlas Shrugged sales

Economic news vs Atlas Shrugged sales

Furthermore, says The Economist, data from TitleZ.com show recent sales spikes of the book coinciding with major political events, such as the passing of the stimulus plan (see image).

The spikes, The Economist surmises, happen when people (including a handful of bloggers, politicians, and economists) notice the eerie similarities between real-life events — like the recent spate of sea pirate attacks — and the scenarios Rand described in her book.

Hmm… interesting! But there is more…

Have a look at the Google trends, we had a first spike in its search when New York Post talk about the rumor that  Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie may team up for ‘Atlas Shrugged’ movie. Even if novel’s sale is rising, it means there has been a rise in information about novel. But am curious to know, how much of it was by word of mouth and that too in context of philosophy and not the movie etc.

And wind up the post here is a surprise – Google trends reports that after US, it was people from India who searched the term most! Howzzat?

Note: I dont know about others but, yes, I myself am reading this very novel these days!

See related Freakonomics post and Carpe Diem post.