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Summary: Good??? Bad??? >.<
Review: I do think Atlas Shrugged is a good book although sometime I feel confusing. I feel tried and bored of that 1000 pages. Actually, I think some of the parts are useless and meaningless that we can ignore. I hate the frist few parts of the book, it's really a hard time. However, after I passing it, I feel the book is quite exciting.
The book contents a lot of political aspects. You won't feel bored of that because Ayn Rand does a good job in explaining them. Ayn Rand's philosophy is very special for me. What she said in the book is I never thought about. Her philosophy is contrary to ours, but I accept her points.
I do recommend people to read this book. It can open your mind. When I reading this book, it makes me think a lot. My mind is making agreement/disagreement with Ayn Rand during read the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Capitalism rules!
Review: If you like a long drawn-out story ending in a sudden burst of cheap romance and action resolving to a cheesy ending, this is the book for you! Other than that, this book explores Capitalism as the only way to save the world from the evils of Communism. It also provides an interesting view into economic and political viewpoints of the peroid between WWII and the 1950s.
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Summary: FYC English Atlas Shrugged Review
Review: Atlas Shrugged has very distinct views and beliefs. Beliefs that stem around the idea that in order to be happy you must be completely selfish. It tells an unrealistic, almost fantastical story of one man and his efforts to stop the motor of the world. Though many of the beliefs in Atlas Shrugged do not match my own, the beliefs were not presented abrasively and I found it enjoyable to read anyway.Though I did find many parts to be too long and unnecessary, as well did I find the book itself to be too long, over 1000 pages. I also found some of the content to be cluttered with big words that made it hard to follow what was happening. There was also a lot of political aspects to the novel which were often complicated and uninteresting. Would I recommend this book to others? Well this book is not for everyone. It is not for the slow, the close-minded or the humanitarian. It is for those who are open to other perspectives on life and who have an active imagination. Bottome line: If you believe brains should and do always win over braun then you will enjoy this book. If you have no particular view on the matter you will enjoy this book. If you are a man of the hands you will not like the way you are portrayed and therefore will most likely not enjoy this book. It is very long, very detailed, and often lost me in its words, but I enjoyed being opened up to a whole new perspective that I had never thought of. Though I do not completely agree with ever aspect of the perspective I did find some very practical. I would recommend this book and gave it a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.
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Summary: The greatest book ever written
Review: Ayn Rand's message is a poinient today as it was 40 years ago. Rand is truly a visionary as many of her ideas about the evils of the world are rearing their ugly heads today. I have yet to meet a liberal who hasn't had their entire value system turned on its head after reading this, or a conservative (like myself)who hasn't had their own values reinforced and built upon by this book. One of the people who reviewed this book said that she didn't understand Rand's message and really didn't care, she just enjoyed the story. While the story is epic in proportions and all engrossing, the story is the message. She seemed to understand the evils and virtues Rand espouses, so without actually knowing it she does understand the underlying themes. Objectivism is a philosophy which encompasses all aspects of life from politics, to economics, to sex and relationships. Whether you care about politics or not you can apply the philosophy of Objectivism espoused in this book to almost any aspect of your life. Rand truly is one of the greatest thinkers and writers of our time. Make no mistake about it the looters exist, their names are Teddy Kennedy, Tom Daschle, and Hillary Clinton. If you can make the claim "I swear by my life-and my love for it-that I shall never live for the sake of another. Nor ask another to live for mine." Then you are ready for Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, and you have already begun to grasp it. I would reccomend you begun with Anthem, move to The Fountainhead, and then read Atlas Shrugged if you are new to Rand. It will start you off slow and gradually prepare you for the magnitude of Atlas.
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Summary: Ayn Rand's Magnum Opus
Review: Ayn Rand's two most famous works, the Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, express her fervent belief in the dignity of individualism. While the Fountainhead is a book that shows "one man's story", that of the architect Howard Roark, Atlas Shruigged is written on a far broader philosophical canvas -- it shows what happens to the world when the few creative and talented individuals, led by the engineer, John Galt, decide to withhold their talent from an ungrateful society. The book is fascinating in that it celebrates the ambitious individuals who, for a sense of personal achievement or gain, decide to make the world better. These are the healthy ones. Those who try to redistribute wealth, who act out of a misguided sense of fairness, or who downplay the individual, are revealed for what they truly are: "looters", who are living off the work of the few. Rand's personal life experience, growing up in Russia during the communist revolution, gives her a first-hand legitimacy in denouncing communism and socialism; her work is unusually prescient -- communism implodes in the real world just as it does in the world of fiction. She also captures the arguments used by the looters perfectly, and the tone of the characters feels eerily like today's Democratic party -- one feels behind their professions of virtue the iron fist of the culturally bankrupt mob. Although I enjoyed the book, and feel it is an excellent work in showing the importance of capitalism; it does seem to me that Rand's philosophy is a little narrow. Western culture has three great underpinnings -- Christianity, representative democracy, and capitalism. Rand rejects the first of these as being from the same redistributive font as communism, rejects the second of these as hopelessly corrupt, and instead places her faith solely in capitalism. Nevertheless, she makes a wonderful argument about the achievement and dignity of the individual, and her place in history is secure because of it. Well worth reading.
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Summary: Life changing experience
Review: I'm not sure what has had a bigger impact in my life: my parents putting me through college or my mother introducing me to this work when I was 25yrs old. The beauty of this novel is its mere simplicity and that unlike other works on philosophy (which state only theory), Atlas is thoery and practice. The story, the actions of the vast amount of characters, is more than believable: it is a mirror image of yesterday and today's culture. Atlas proves that Objectivism is the only logical and moral philosophy for man to survive on earth.
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Summary: I'm never reading again.
Review: ... Actually, I very much did enjoy the novel. Its political (and social) philosophy seems to mesh well with my understanding of the world, particualarly in that, just like my world view, objectivism is overly simplistic, very contridictory, and generally anti-social. While getting into the novel -- maybe the first 50 pages -- is a little tough, overall it is a page turner . . . except for a few redundant passages of preaching, and one unnecessary chapter of absolute podium pounding. The novel's success seems due to characters that, while superhuman and at times two-dimensional, are strangely engaging, as well as a plot that is an interesting inversion of the usual; e.g., a focus on the oppression of the owners of the means of production. I hesitate to give the novel four stars because of its problems in readability, but three is too low on account of the presentation of the philosophy, specifically in its application of economic philosophy to personal and family relations. Therefore, I give _Atlas Shrugged_ 3.5 stars.
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Summary: Review of Atlas Shrugged
Review: Throughout the novel of Atlas Shrugged, I personally did not want to put the book down. I was continously interested in what was going to happen throughout the novel. I wanted to know if anything was going to happen to Dagny and who was she going to end up with at the end, thus even if she would. I wanted to know what would eventually happen to Jim Taggart and Taggart Transcontinental.
I believe that this book deserves four stars, yet if this book became a movie, I would probably be not as interested as watching the movie as I had been with the book. The book was not boring to me, but very interesting. I enjoyed Ayn Rand's contradiction especially on feminism yet, she did not make it a "chick's" type of book. It is quite suitable for both sexes.
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Summary: a "Must Read"
Review: This book is pretty good. A lot of Rand's "Objectivism" philosophy came through in it. If you don't dig her philosophy, you probably won't like the book because it comes through very strongly. Although I would suggest reading it at least to see the various themes on government, capitalism, and love. So if you agree with objectivism or just like to read something provocative, check it out. If you don't know a thing about objectivism, read a little bit about it and then read the book.
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Summary: Have No life, read Atlas Shrugged
Review: Basically this book sends the message that laisezz-faire and a free-market capitalist society are indeed the best and most moral systems of use, or at least in the eyes of Ayn Rand. Along with this idea through her writing critiques socialist and communist systems. Which makes sense, she having lived through the period. The philosophical aspects of the book are intriguing yet become too repetitious.
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