Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating--a life changing book
Review: This is my favorite book--has been ever since I first read it. The characters are captivating--the story grabs you and doesn't let you go. And it has, as the person who first reccommended it to me put it, "this bitchin' philosophy!"Whatever you've heard about Ayn Rand--that she was controversial, that she inspires fanatasicm, that she was a genius, even that her ideas inspire hatred from college professors (and others who don't know any better)--read this book. See for yourself. This book isn't just "good" or just "inspiring." Describing it as a classic isn't even enough. This story is an epic, an American legend. Read it--you'll like it, if you aren't a loser. ;)
Rating: 
Summary: A literary train wreck
Review: I finished Atlas Shrugged yesterday, and it seems to me that it is the worst book I've ever voluntarily read in my life. I read it based on a recommendation of a friend who had read the Fountainhead, but not Atlas Shrugged. One can only hope that Fountainhead has a redeeming quality. I will say little about objectivism as presented by Ayn Rand, other than to say that a philosophy that claims the slow death of millions of people by starvation and mob violence is okay, but paying a penny of income tax is vicious and evil is itself evil... Other reviewers have claimed that Rand's characterizations are actually accurate, and those who can't see it are blinded or deluded. Okay, so I'm to believe that 1. Ninety nine percent of corporate CEO's are actually practicing socialists, and dumb ones at that. 2. A few dozen men and women are all that separates worldwide civilization from anarchy. I must make a paragraph for my third point, which is actually two points concerning Ayn Rand's literary talent. She claims, somewhere in the middle, that a writer who inserts snide comments about businessmen in his plays deserves to die in a train disaster. Take a close look. Atlas shrugged is nothing but snide comments about anyone she disagrees with, which, as stated in Galt's speech, is anyone who is not an objectivist. And secondly, the Peikoff introduction says it all about her personality, though I doubt he realizes it. The character of Father Amadeus, who was dropped during writing because she honestly couldn't think of a way to make a character who truly wants to do good, but subscribes to the value of mercy and charity, sound realistic! None of her characters were realistic! Really!...The "heros" were one dimensional at best, and the villains would have to explode in a blast of chaos and complexity just to reach one dimensional. I read the intro last, as I usually do, and that paragraph summed it up perfectly: If you care about people you don't know, you are evil. Okay, I've ventured into her philosophy after saying I wouldn't. The useful story, though wrong headed, could have been done in three hundred pages. There was some genuine suspence concerning "The Destroyer", though I figured out the basics long before the truth was presented. At least it was easy reading, and not written in a modern 'literary' style. At eleven hundred pages, it wasn't as long as it looked. The suffering of reading the content was not compounded by a difficult style. I must mention Galt's speech near the end. I actually agreed with maybe a quarter of it. I read it nearly in real time, taking almost three hours, and only stopped before the end because it was late and I was very tired. It is the closest to intellectual honesty that Rand reaches in the book where she simply states, through Galt's mouth, what she thinks without recourse to fake characters. I consider it largely wrong, though I appreciate her advocation of reason and logic, but at least no one was spouting fake Bolshevik sayings. Let's face it, the only remote sympathy and empathy I had for the 'heros' was in contrast to the phony surroundings they had to put up with. The villains were NOT realistic. I'm a liberal and I've known many liberals. We do not seek death, and it seems to me that we wish to live more than any objectivist ever could. In summary Ayn Rand has done nearly everything wrong in Atlas Shrugged, but her intellectual dishonesty tops the list. I've encountered works that I disagree with more, like the bible, but none that used such a blatantly obvious ploy of ignoring what was inconvenient, like the truth, and placing fake sounding sayings into the mouths of the least likely people to utter them. To the Ayn Rand worshippers of the world, I can only say read a newspaper! Most western countries have lived under a "mixed economy" for nearly a century. The poor are less poor, the middle class is larger, and Bill Gates is richer than J.D. Rockefeller ever was, even after adjusting for inflation. John Galt is a pipe dream, a fantasy that's not so fantastic, and Ayn Rand really is a legend in her own mind.
Rating:
Summary: The longest dime store romance ever
Review: I'll keep it brief, which I heartily wish Ayn Rand had done in 'Atlas Shrugged'. This book is a perfect of example of every literary mistake conceivable. Although there are numerous characters in the book, there are truly only two: GOOD GUY and BAD GUY. Rand just shuffles the names around and gives them all the same party lines. The characters (both of them) are cardboard cliches with nothing compelling to recommend them. The philosophy is simple-minded and naive beyond belief. The 'real' men are hijacked directly out of a romance novel, and the requisite woman character is hopelessly dependent upon them in spite of her supposed independence and intelligence. If you like to read books by authors who present a story and let you form your own judgements of her characters, look elsewhere. Atlas Shrugged is an excellent door stop. I gave it one star because the system won't allow me to give it zero stars.
Rating:
Summary: yes, it is great
Review: I have noticed that many reviewers of this novel have attacked ayn rand's work, very obviously, merely because they disagree with her moral standings. The ideas advocated in a fictional novel should not be the ultimate measure of its greatness. The fact is ayn rand is one of the most brilliant writers of all time, as is Kafka, who would adamantly refute her arguments. I ask that future reviewers set aside their political convictions, and recognize Atlas Shrugged for what it is, a brilliant, captivating work of fiction.
Rating:
Summary: in response to elango ganesan
Review: Propoganda...not quite. Atlas Shrugged is simply a fictional book promulgating a principle: man's self-reliance. It was written as an entertaining act of defiance against society's increasing glorification of a parasitic life style. As do all fictional novels, it has a moral intwined in the plot. The theme is ayn rand's philosophy. The reason Mr. Ganesan has reacted so belligerently to this novel is that it does not advocate some "share with your neighbor" idiom so commonly found in novels. It advocates a philosophy grounded in reality, which does not attempt to create a utopia, but a free, individualistic, moral society. Now, Mr. Ganesan may have trouble comprehending the implications of this, it may actually imply the desocialization of the American economy. People may have to get off their Butt's and work a little bit.
As for the accusation that Ms. Rand spreads her philosophy by propaganda and not by the merits of her philosophy, what were you thinking, or not thinking. I must have forgotten how exemplifying a philosophy through a believable situation and believable characters and creating a plausible outcome is propaganda, not just a method of proving her point. Now i do not have time to recognize the blatant fallacy of the rest of Mr. Ganesan's arguments, but rest assure one can happily disregard them.
Rating:
Summary: Merits many more starts
Review: As an avid reader, I must say that this is possibly the greatest, and the most disturbing book I have ever read. Though published in 1957, concerns events that one can see in our everyday life. Should be required reading for every business and political science major.
Rating: 
Summary: Great novel, a little short on characterizations
Review: I truely liked this book and I recommend it to people I think are in for truely understanding the message. But I have to agree with others about the simple characterizations. The characters are either corrupt anti-capitalists or honorable, if not successful, capitalists. It seems there is no in between and just when a character is introduced that seems will not fit into one of the two molds, they inevitably do. John Galt's three hour speech is very hard to get through. It is typical of Rand's style. The reader eventually overcomes the rambling sentences and paragraphs after getting into the rhythm of Rand's writing style. I tend to think the Galt speech could be shortened. The weakness of the novel is when the anti-capitalists get a hold of Galt, the ultimate capitalist. I could have done without the amount of dramatization. But again, Rand grew up during the Communist Revolution in Russia, so this bit of drama is "inevitable" to Rand in an anti-capitalist regime. I appreciate the analogy. Reading reviews of others I feel I need to read Fountainhead and other Rand novels to fully appreciate the depth her charachters can acheive because Atlas Shrugged characters do not achieve a depth.
Rating:
Summary: Do yourself a favor...
Review: Liberals/Socialists/Communists/Marxists/Greens...do NOT buy this book. You will be shocked; You will be frightened; The truth can be a scary thing to face when you aren't prepared for it. Be warned...Your ideas WILL be confronted. Your philosophy WILL be challenged. It will be disected piece by piece, and eventually obliterated by Rand in this magnificent novel!
Now, for everyone else...For every open minded, level headed, patriotic, hard-working American...Do yourself a favor. Clear your schedule next weekend, take the time, and bury yourself in this masterpiece. Words can't describe the brilliance you will find in Atlas Shrugged. Unfortunately, many people in this country are all too willing to give up their personal freedoms out of a sense of guilt, and shame, for what they've achieved in life. Too many people are willing to sacrifice their time, their money, their energy, their freedom, and ultimately themselves, to the guilt-peddling predators in Washington...people who have made success a dirty word and dependency a virtue. These so-called "progressives" have taken our country down a very dangerous path. Ayn Rand exposes their agenda with incredible accuracy...She shows the philosophy of the left for what it really is...and for this, she is hated and despised worldwide. The truth will hurt many well-intentioned people on the left, people who follow their heart and not their brain...those who really don't know the ultimate intentions of their leaders. I'm sorry friends, but the pain is necessary. Some will reject the truth. They may try to ignore it, or brush it off...but they WILL learn it. Nearly every one of Rand's predictions from Atlas Shrugged has come true, and we can only hope someone turns things around before it's too late. This book will make you reconsider everything...and it's not an exaggeration to say it will change your outlook on life forever. A definite must read.
Rating:
Summary: Great Story!
Review: I can honestly say that this is the best book that I've ever read, and I have read quite a few. After being force-fed a lot of the books considered "classics" by schools, I was somewhat turned off to reading, but I first read this book after college and it renewed my faith in reading. I'm surprised that so many critics below are so vehemently opposed to the book and its author. I'm unsure as to whether they feel threatened by the ideas it presents, or just can't comprehend them, or what. The fact is that this is an excellent story. It was captivating, and despite its length very easy to read. The ideas in it also inspired thought like no other book I've ever read. I wish that this had been one of the books that was given to me by a teacher in school at one time or another. If I were going to be stranded on a desert island and could only bring one book with me - this would be the one. I envy anyone who hasn't read it - I would love to be able to read it again for the first time. I simply could not put it down. Get over to your local library and check it out!
Rating:
Summary: Not equal to the Fountainhead
Review: This is a great book, for all of its flaws. There are many things to recommend it, but Ms. Rand lost her ability to deal with characters in any terms but black and white. With The Fountainhead, the characters were all believable; only Roark and Toohey represented pure good and pure evil, respectively. Here no character was anything but an extreme. Worse, the many heroes all speak in the same "voice." Namely, Ms. Rand's voice. She hated collectives, having lived through the early days of Yusef V. Stalin's reign of terror; she was a champion of individualism, yet ironically all of her heroic characters are clones of herself and not individuals. Back to the Fountainhead: please compare Mike, Steve Mallory, Austen Heller, Roger Enright, Dominique Francon, and Gail Wynand, all of whom were Roark's close friends. These were portrayed as individuals bonded in friendship by one key quality (self-esteem) rather than a series of speech-makers. A previous reviewer pointed out, correctly, that the speeches were boring. I will say that the 3-hour speech by John Galt was the ONLY speech in the book that could not have been edited without damaging it. ALL others could have been amended or even eliminated. What is more, most of her ideas were repeated too many times.
Compared, however, to the strength of Ms. Rand's ideas, I cannot say this is a bad book; if not for her stumbling block of creating "straw men," making her heroes too great and her villains too rotten, this could have been a masterpiece complete. I could have awarded it 5 *'s. I can still give the book high praise, all of which would repeat what has been said previously; but if you can only read one Ayn Rand book, I recommend you read The Fountainhead instead. Furthermore, please consult Radzinsky's biography of Stalin to understand the reasons why Ms. Rand hated intellectuals who made excuses for terror, why she predicted "naked animal starvation" as the inevitable consequence of socialism, and in short why she despised Communism. Because Stalin was real, God help us all, this portrayal has so much more: actual history and an extreme sense of fear, with the ideas implied by the material more than preached. In general, those who tell the readers what conclusions to draw have a weak argument; keep that in mind in reading Atlas Shrugged and drawing thereby your own conclusions.
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