Atlas Shrugged 'Book Bomb' Scheduled for Mon., Feb. 2, 2009

Stuart K. Hayashi

On Facebook.Com, I made an Events page for the "book bomb" for the 1999 Plume edition of Atlas Shrugged, which is scheduled for Monday, February 2, 2009 (Ayn Rand's birthday).

My Facebook.Com page about the event is quoted on Objectivism Online over here. As you can see, not every poster is fond of the idea.

Now, I will pretty much restate -- mostly word-for-word -- what I said on the Facebook Events page.

Around Saturday, January 10, 2009, I noticed that the 1999 Plume edition of Atlas Shrugged had entered Amazon.Com's list of Top 100 bestsellers, as the 76th bestseller. In the three days that followed, it ascended that chart, at one point going as high as 29. For a few hours, it was even higher than Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope. As I publish this particular blog post, Atlas Shrugged is still #57 on Amazon's list.

There is something that can be done to make sure that it is in the Top 100 bestsellers list in February. It is a "Book Bomb." This would involve many people purchasing Atlas Shrugged on the same day -- Monday, February 2, 2009 (again, that is Ayn Rand's birthday).

You can read about an example of a book bomb over here.

Everyone around the globe is invited to participate. However, we prefer that these purchases be made specifically on the U.S. version of Amazon.Com. That's Amazon.Com; not Amazon.Ca or Amazon.Co.Uk.

The point of the book bomb would be civic activism. It is intended to send a message to the public.

Since the administrators who will be ruling Washington, D.C., throughout 2009 evidently plan to increase government power, the show of support for Atlas Shrugged will serve as a reminder to D.C. administrators who intend to go forward with their big-government designs. We want them to know that we are watching their political actions, and we strongly recommend that they heed the lessons of Atlas Shrugged before they further undermine economic productivity with their wasteful spending of tax dollars.

Just as Wyatt's Torch served as a reproach to the government administrators in the story, the book bomb effort may serve as a reproach to those in Washington who aim to expand government power in the next few years.

So mark your calendar. Monday, February 2, 2009, is the day to participate in the Atlas Shrugged Book Bomb.

Please promote this event on your blog and/or in your YouTube vlogs.

You may also be interested in joining the Facebook group "Read the news today? It's like 'Atlas Shrugged' is happening in real life."


Note that there are several different editions of Atlas Shrugged being sold on Amazon. I recommend specifically purchasing the 1999 Plume paperback edition, because that is the only edition that has made it into the Top 100, and so it is the most likely candidate to still be within the top 100 in February. That specific edition can be found here. The recommended one has a black cover with a golden Atlas on the cover; not the green cover with the red circle, or the white cover with the blue Atlas statue.

The correct one has a cover that looks like this:



These are the editions that are not recommended.





Again, please note that the spike in the book's sales began in mid-January, independent of this book bomb.