Going Galt: Tracking Atlas Shrugged Sales

I saw this over at Captain Capitalism's blog this morning. I had heard that sales of the book have been going through the roof as the Bush and now the Obama administrations put the pedal to the metal as we turned down the road toward socialism. And now The Economist has come out with a chart tracking those sales along with events that have inspired them.

The thing I like the most about this phenomenon, which this chart does not show, is that while the ups and downs displayed on this chart are sales, each of these sales is of a tome of ideas that is persistent and that people will share and discuss with each other. In other words, millions more people are being introduced to John Galt, and he will not be ignored.



From the original article:

Reviled in some circles and mocked in others, Rand’s 1957 novel of embattled capitalism is a favourite 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”. [emphasis added]

[Read the full article here]