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: Great Literature
Review: Extroidinary literature but may not be the place to start if you are not acquainted with Ayn Rand. Anyway, after reading many of the reviews, I have noticed that even the people who loved the book have an erroneous idea of what Ayn Rand was saying. First of all, ethically selfishness or self-interest means you have a right to your own life, that you own it and can dispose of it as you want, without imposing force on others. It does not mean you have the right TO DO ANYTHING YOU WANT OR TO IMPOSE YOURSELF ON OTHERS. It means you own your life, and are free to live it in the manner you deem right for yourself. In a political context, it means the government is prohibited from imposing itself on your life, by for example drafting you into the military, or prohibiting you from entering a certain career field. When Ayn Rand attacked altruism and its component part self-sacrifice SHE WAS NOT ATTACKING HELPING OTHERS, OR DOING GOOD THINGS FOR OTHERS, OR BENEVOLENTLY SPREADING GOOD WILL IN THE WORLD. What she was attacking was the fundamental principle of altruism that YOUR LIFE BELONGS TO OTHERS AND CAN BE DISPOSED OF WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT. We see the consequences of altruism all over the world. People living without the ability to own their lives. Cuba is a prime example. The communist party and Fidel Castro are the owners of everyone's life. They control and direct it with impunity. One has little or no control. Helping others and spreading good will is as much a part of successful living as living and breathing, but when people are FORCED to sacrifice their lives in the name of helping others, state coercion follows, and this is the evil, Ayn Rand so eloquently refers to in Atlas Shrugged and her other writing.
Rating:
Summary: New aspect on everything!!!
Review: I am only 17 and have read many classics in my life and this book in my eyes is the best book ever written, I have to admit that I did not really want to read it at first... only choosing to read it because of the eassy contest that was offerd as a reward to get through the 1,000 plus pages. I am normaly a fairly fast reader, finishing any book in a time faster then most.... But with reading Atlas Shrugged, that has been diffrent!!! I am still reading fairly fast, but only gaining 30-40 pages in an hour span, (which is faster then what my high school libarian is reading) Though this book is not the easyiest to get through, and at times it is a little hard to fully understand. I think that after finishing this book i have come our a better more understanding person on the diffrent things that happen and why they happen and what the consuquenses are going to be from out actions. My Senior english teacher thought i was nuts to take on a book that as she said was to high of a reading level for me, but now im laughing at her, because i have gaind the better aspect on life, that she hasnt gained yet for she is to foolish to understand that a student can exceed expectations.
Thank you Ayn Rand for such a wonderful book, you are now my fav. author!
Rating:
Summary: Power of Thought
Review: Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, presents a story about the struggle between good and evil. In doing so, an entire philosophy about business and life is developed. This philosophy teaches that the mind is the ultimate tool and power of civilization, and that reason is the world's only constant. Economics especially is highlighted by these ideas. Rational self interest and the pursuit of success are shown to be the only way people can achieve happiness. Rand uses brilliant, motivated industrialists as her protagonists in order to show the evils of charity and collectivism. Her book succeeds in getting across her points because of the way she employs logic, reason and intelligence into her characters and their actions.
Who is John Galt? This strange question eventually comes to represent the central themes and events in this incredible book. Atlas Shrugged is mystery about the significance of this phrase and what it truly means. Telling the story of a railroad tycoon, a steel industrialist, an overly wealthy playboy, and several other characters, this book shows how they all play a part in the unraveling of the mystery.
Many of the ideas presented by Atlas Shrugged focus on the central importance of the mind in human civilization. The protagonist of the book is Dagny Taggert, a young, brilliant railroad owner who succeeds because of the way she overcomes her problems through rational thought. Most of the other main characters are also extremely intelligent businessmen who have gained their place in life because of the way they use their minds. These characters are contrasted by the "looters", people who expect to be carried by the successful people and seek moral sympathy because of their positions in life. In one passage Rand writes, "Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce(806). This is shown by Rand as the only real evil of the world. Rand's ideas of the difference between right and wrong is very black and white in this book. Characters are either good or they are bad and this judgment is usually based on how they use their minds. This sharp contrast is helpful in the book because it makes the ideas presented clearer, however it also makes it seem a bit less realistic. Overall the book does well at showing that the mind is the most important aspect and also the driving force behind civilization.
Rand's economic principles shine through very brightly in Atlas Shrugged. Capitalism and free trade are shown as the tools of success and happiness. Many of her ideas about how people should act towards themselves and others in dealing with money are also explained through the story. Charity is viewed as evil and degrading. In one point in the book, Rearden, an extremely successful industrialist, is asked by his mother if he will give his incompetent younger brother a job, just because he is his brother. Rearden then says, "Are you asking me to stage a fraud of that kind? I don't know what it is that you call morality. If I gave Philip a job, I wouldn't be able to face any competent man who needed work and deserved it(196-197)." In this book, personal achievement and self-interest are stressed as the right way to live while thinking of or giving to others is viewed as the root of evil. John Galt says at one point, "I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine(622). Rand believes people have no obligation towards others, except to not impede on their rights of free will and self interest. In this way, selfish behavior is shown as a virtue, while giving to the undeserving is blamed as the source of many of society's problems. This idea is very different from what is normally taught and its uniqueness makes it interesting. Even though it may go against certain beliefs and moral values, the teachings of this book are hard not to share because of the reason and intelligence that Rand gives them.
Atlas Shrugged is well worth reading, even at 1100 pages, because of its intelligence and unique outlook on life. Everything in this book makes sense and is logical, even if you don't agree with it. Views and opinions are explained and backed up using the story as a guide. The way this book is written does not allow for someone to be neutral on what is put forth. Either you agree strongly with what is being said or you disagree strongly. Either way, Rand's writing is gripping and interesting. It forces you to think about what she is saying and form your own opinion about it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read something that will make them use their intelligence.
Rating: 
Summary: Abominable
Review: Abominable selfishness posing as a philosophy, perhaps from the very same demonic muse that infected/possessed Nietzche.
I couldn't even get into the actual prose, so hideous was the author's hatred toward her fellow people.
Rand's philosophy was a mixture of cartoonishness and arrogance--the kind of stuff usually seen only in straighjacketed philosophers or totalitarian dictators.
By the way: IF ANYBODY WOULD LIKE TO ENCOUNTER A QUAINT, SIMPLE, YET UTTERLY RUTHLESS DESTRUCTION OF RAND'S PHILOSOPHY, READ "OLD SCHOOL" BY TOBIAS WOLFF. Wolff destroys Rand in one fell swoop, and does it through the voice of a near child.
Rating: 
Summary: Objectionablism
Review: I don't get it - if Anne Rant wanted people to buy her "philosophy" of irrational selfishism, why didn't she give it a more marketable title than objectionablism? I mean, that's gonna put people off right there. My hats off to the brave souls who slugged through 1200 pages to justify what everyone basically believes out of the shell - that we are the center of the world, that the world owes us whatever we want, that we are masters of the planet, etc. A lesser person would selfishly say that their selfishism requires no defense or justification. The fall of Communism sure proved Anne's point. I mean, there was a society of non-selfishists, and look where it got them! Ha, those idiots!
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: Powerful Ideas Matter
Review: I first read Atlas Shrugged 42 years ago, and have read it 4 or 5 times more over the decades following. I found it to be a powerful influence on my life, probably more than any single other book I have read. I recognize as well as anyone its shortcomings and imperfections, but see through them to a powerful message that has been a rock for me. It is something like this: the world is real, and your ideas about how it functions matter, and influence the sort of life you will live. That heroes, producers and achievers are more worthy of admiration than victims; that moochers and mystics, quacks and charlatans are only to be scorned; that to believe in the salvation of a sky god is nothing but superstition; that a hard-headed, objective point of view is superior to a fuzzy sentimentality and that hard work is a virtue that eventually leads to a better life than one that concentrates on satisfying the whims and indulgences of the moment. While Ayn Rand's prose style never approaches that of another hero of mine, H. L. Mencken, it is certainly respectable enough to produce a novel of great originality and is, for many people, very difficult to put down once well started. It is well suited to her primary goal to communicate a coherent world view, an epistemology, and a derived ethic that can actually be lived. A mathematician struggling after a theorem hardly uses humor as a tool, and Rand has no room here for it either. As for Rand's analysis of Capitalism, I find it superior to Marx's. But I know that economics is complicated, and hardly a science yet, so her appreciation of the laissez faire variety is probably a bit of an oversimplification. And a naive libertarianism, much influenced by her objectivism, while hardly sweeping the world for now, has something to contribute too. Her biggest failure to me, though, is the problem of race, which she never discusses. It is no easy task to apply her approach to such a difficult problem, and I am not aware of any. The alternative basis in a hard-headed sociobiology, though, would probably have been quite comfortable for her, had it been available then. Rand's message is powerful and a positive contribution to the progress of the world. Take a look--I doubt you will be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Pure genius, must read.
Review: This is the most outstanding artistic work of the modern age. Ayn Rand is a genius. She expresses her phiolosophy lucidly, elegantly and grippingly. Does idiocy drive you crazy? There is not one morsel of it in this book. It is pure, unsullied beauty. If you think you're intelligent, read this. If you don't understand the world, read this. If you love life, read this.
Rating: 
Summary: ehhh
Review: There are a few reasons for which I will regard this text as lowly as I do. Yes it is influential, and it is most certainly engaging. I have always believed that Ayn Rand should have stayed a novelist, she had talent there. It is in the realm of philosophy that she faltered so greatly. I would be the first to praise Fountainhead, but unfortunately Atlas Shrugged amounts to little more than propaganda writing. I know that this is a word that is far too often misused so I will clarify what I mean. I do not believe an artist or writer or creator of any sort should have the theme and meaning of a work in mind at the start of the work. The result is usually a heavyhanded and overbearing expression of that theme. It is never more apparent than in this book. Every industrialist is a noble, brilliant creature who fights against all odds to make what they have. Conversely, every one who opposes them is an ignorant peon who should be grateful for what they have. In life dichotomies are never this clean, and here it is a little too blatantly flawed. Aren't there industrialists who just inhereted there father's hard work and do nothing? Aren't there noble workers who are just trying to get fair treatment? The truth is much more ambiguous than it is being painted here. She (and I know she would hate me for saying this) mirrors the communist pamphlet writers that she hates so much when she approaches her epic tome as she has. Every character serves only to reinforce the theme she is trying to shove down her readers throats. My other huge problem is that all this heavyhanded propaganda is being served up for so-called objectivism. I don't completely disagree with her beliefs. I first and foremost absolutely disagree that she named them at all. She gave her philosophy as if these philosophical tenets are original or somehow different that what came before. They are not, at all. Her basic core consists that there is an objective nature to everything and that logic is man's great tool. Okay, and countless philosophers from Heraclitus to Plato to the analytics believed these very same ideas and expressed them much clearer than Rand ever did. I am repulsed that her and her followers pretended that she was breaking new ground when she was just restating an old idea just not as well. Then her main belief of everyone being free and independent. Paraphrasing Galt's Creed, I will live in freedom where I depend on no one and no one depends on me. That's great Ms. Rand, try reading Thus Spake Zarathustra, Nietzsche's expression of this is much better. Not to mention that every existentialist and phenomenoligist had this view point. It doesn't bother me that Rand did, just that she had the nerve to declare it a new school of philosophy. The problem is, the second branch, i.e. the rabid individualism, completely contradicts the first, the objective nature to everything. If everyone is a complete autonomous unit unto themselves, this lends itself to view of extreme subjectivity. Note Nietzsche, Sartre, Heidegger, Camus and so forth. My larger point is that this book is overrated and her philosophy is both extraordinarily unoriginal and deeply flawed. Let's just say that there are a great many reasons why the only school in the country, nay the world, that teaches Objectivism is the Ayn Rand institute. The fact that the this novel is impossible to separate from her philosophical ideals is ultimately its downfall. Yes it can make one feel empowered, but a rather forced and shallow empowerment it is. Read the Fountainhead, but her egoism is not worth the trip of this epic faillure.
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