Rating: 
Summary: Required Reading for all
Review: This book easily fits into the category of timeless American Classics. Despite being written in 1957, Rand is masterful in not dating her work. I strongly recommend this to all Americans, as it clearly defines the road that awaits us if we allow socialist policies (championed by modern liberals) to hold sway. The book accelerates the process, and shows the absurdity of the logical extension of liberalism. I think anyone who considers themselves a liberal (or is a registered Democrat) should read this book to truly understand the deeper roots of their beliefs. I would strongly suggest this should be required reading for all students before graduating high school, however its length makes that untenable. This book was recommended to me by an extremely liberal professor (also a lawyer) who claimed she could not reconcile her beliefs with the persuasive arguments put forth by Rand. It truly shows that capitalism and the profit motive have been and continue to be the greatest forces for positive social change in the world.
Rating:
Summary: Killing a fly with a shotgun
Review: Wow, this is nasty! I have to admire a writer passionate enough to say what she really believes, with absolutely no consideration for political correctness or intellectual fads. It reminds you that there was once a time when it was OK to create dialogue with offense. It's crude, but it's fascinating. Now, you'll hate this book if you think the term 'conservative intellectual' is an oxymoron. That's basically it in a nutshell. If you think that, by definition, intellectuals MUST be open-minded, politically-correct, liberals you're gonna hate this. It's none of those things. If you can look beyond the fact that polemical writing is a legitimate literary device used by many of the world's finest writers and not just by 'pop philosphers', you may actually get something from this book. I challenge you to ignore the hackneyed claim from many a review that Rand is nothing more than a philosopher for teenagers and really THINK about what she is saying. You may find that it's possible to be conservative AND intellectual too, God forbid.And if you like this book, you'll also like the more arcane and subtle Czeslaw Milosz work called THE CAPTIVE MIND.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy the "hardcover"
Review: In the off-chance anybody reads this review (I see there are over 1,000 already), this review is of the actual physical book, not the story. I purchased the "hardcover" version only to receive a small paperback version glued in a hard cover. I was expecting higher quality paper and larger print normally associated with hardcover editions, but this was literally the same paperback version that's in my local library, but with a hard cover. It's outrageous to call that a "hardcover" in my opinion. If you're looking for a traditional hardcover edition, don't bother with this one, unless you want to spend $3.99 in return shipping for the pleasure of seeing the worst "hardcover" ever.
Rating: 
Summary: A lovely addition to any fire.
Review: Five stars, one star. Five stars, one star. Over and over the same pattern. Seems as humans, we're evenly divided into two camps: those who think everything is fundamentally simple, and those who think things are complex and interrelated. If you're a member of the former camp - the "right vs. wrong," "good vs. evil," "us vs. them" set - you'll probably enjoy Atlas Shrugged; you'll think Rand tells it like it is and you'll like her powerful writing style too. Thank you for reading my review, and enjoy the book. But if you're a member of the latter camp - if you value subtlety, insight, complex characters, a believable plot, and thought-provoking dialogue - then RUN from Ayn Rand. Unless you're researching how the "us vs. them" crowd thinks, in which case you should stock up on Tylenol first. To read Rand is to have the sensation of someone pounding on your forehead with a hammer. Penguin Putnam ought to attach a medal to the inside back cover as a reward to anyone who made it through the book. I know I wanted one. Full review follows: Non-ideologues and those attempting to read Atlas as literature and not as a political doctrine are almost certain to be disappointed by the book. It fails for sheer lack of merit. Its characters, while colorfully imagined, are not provided with distinctive voices. One sounds much like another - strident, tendentious, and monothematic. Sentences run on to become paragraphs, paragraphs run on to become chapters, and some characters' lines - most notably Galt's - run on to become full-blown speeches of fifty pages or more. If you've ever wondered how a writer could develop diarrhea of the pen and create a book four or five times longer than it needs to be, Atlas is a must-read. Any editor could have improved this book. We can almost hear Rand, fresh from her success with The Fountainhead, telling the publisher "you will print it exactly as is. Not one word changed, not one sentence deleted. Otherwise I will take it somewhere else." At 1,000-plus pages, Atlas is a monument to the writer's ego. And it reads it. There is no hint of Rand's humanity; she coldly kills off the bulk of the human race so that an ultra-talented, atheistic cabal can inherit the world. That one might not want to live in the resultant society of mass-murderers is never examined, because at the end of the book everyone is either capitalist or dead. I wonder how long it would be before the survivors started killing each other off as well - because hey, if I have what's yours as well as what's mine, that's twice as good. Without a system of ethics or morals to guide us, human society quickly degenerates to the tribal. Trust me, you don't want to go back to the jungle. Poor character development, strident tone, bad dialogue, wildly improbable plot, no examination of complex issues, no presentation of alternative or conflicting viewpoints, no sense of humanity, and an editor paid to vacation in Miami until after the book had come out. I give this book exactly one star.
Rating: 
Summary: A Truly Great Novel
Review: Atlas Shrugged is one of the most powerful novels ever written and when you consider that the major theme is about the relationship between the actions and consequenses of hundres of characters throughout every strata of society, it's an amazing feat. Rand's ability to weave a series of complex economic lessons into a compelling plot makes this book a superb tool for teaching lessaiz-faire economics in the guise of entertainment. That having been said, the book does have a couple of flaws. Rand's characters exist only to advance the plot. They are cyphers aside from the brief moments when they declaim their economic or philosophical positions and then act on them, to the advancement of the plot, but without making the characters anything more than chess pieces. Mind you, they're brilliantly manipulated chess pieces, but they remind the reader that this is ultimately less a novel than a morality play. The second flaw is the thirty pages of Galt's speech that ends the book. I've read Atlas Shrugged half a dozen times, and I've never gotten through that speech in one sitting. It kills the climax of the story. It's really unnecessary, as the rest of the novel more than makes her points.
Rating: 
Summary: Less Philosophy, more Art please
Review: Many of the reasons given by reviewers for liking this book, or not liking it, hinge around how reviewers feel about the philosophy that supposedly underpins it (Objectivism); thus it seems that a lot of negative assertions about the book are actually negative assertions about Rand as a person. I have to tell you that I started reading Rand before I ever heard of the philosophy, and the first story I read (as a kid) was Anthem- which I loved. There is very little "philsophy" qua philosophy in Anthem. So I moved then onto Atlas Shrugged. This book is not good- and not because of the views that it espouses, nor because Rand is a bad, wicked, or tasteless person. Baldly put, it is not good because it is poorly written. People do not speak in a realistic way, nor do they act, think or feel in a way that is believable. All of the caracthers are, in fact, carachitures. Is this allegory? If so, then it clings to much to modernist conventions; and if it is modernist, then it is too flatly sketched out. If I want to read objectivist philosophy, then I will pick up a non-fiction collection fo essays on that philosophy. When I read literature, I expect literature. Very badly done.
Rating:
Summary: For Thinkers Only
Review: If you are a "sheeple" who bahs along conforming to society, you will probably dislike this book. In short, I saw it as a story of what would happen to the world if all of the smart people went on strike. As you read this book, think about it, and you will see it is SCAREY how close it is to the world today. 'Each according to his ability, each according to his need.' I will admitt that the speech at the end is very loooooonnnnnggggg, I skimmed through it. Some of it was awesome, and some of it was ugh, yawn, lets get it over with.
Rating:
Summary: Kept me going when no one else could
Review: When I read this book as a young, "impressionable" female engineering student - I was looking for a role model in a field where frankly, there aren't many. Dagny inspired and motivated me so much that I feel silly saying my only hero in life is a fictional character. My grandmother even read this book as a young engineering student and likewise found comfort and inspiration in Dagny. I can only hope more girls read this book.
Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: Notice I didn't say "The best book I ever read," or "A classic," or any of the other usual comments? Reason: This is a fantastic book, unlike anything else ever written in history. It is vital. It is original. It is disturbing. It is riveting. But it is not a page turner, commercially successful, made for the masses-type of book. If you're looking for "The Da Vinci" code or "Bark of the Dogwood" types of reads, this isn't it. But if you're looking for a book that will change the way you look at society, make you think, disturb you, and hopefully change some habits, this is the one. My only real hesitation with the "work" is the lengthy speech at the end. Could have done without that. Otherwise, just great.
Rating:
Summary: Help to get Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Review: Hello everybody,
Iam a Nigerian need to get this Atlas Shrugged written by Ayn Rand but i have go to all the bookshop but I didn't find it. so with atmost good faith i plead to get this book.Even a used one or not. Pls anybody who can help me to get this book. I will be happy.
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