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Summary: I wish this book was more like Jurassic Park
Review: Several of the following reviews compare Atlas Shrugged to other novels. Okay, I'll randomly pick a novel too. Lets see, dinosaurs are cool, so how about Jurassic Park?Just imagine, Dr. Ferris, applying non-reasoning scientific methodology, manages to clone several species of dinosaurs. James Taggart, in order get away from his wife, forms a charitable trust, the Central Park Cloning Committee who's laudable goal is to bring dinosaurs to society. Then we have Hank Rearden see, who stymied by those darned socialists, is unable to produce the metal necessary to properly build the tyrannosaur cage. Enter James Taggart who calls his buddy Orren Boyle to make the metal bars instead. Ah, if only this second-rate cage had a first-class electric fence. But no, because the committee doesn't have an atmospheric generator, the fence they manage to build is unreliable. Well you can guess what happens. While John Galt creates a Jurassic petting zoo in his hidden valley, Dagney Taggart must contend with tyrannosaurs interrupting her train schedule. Exploding oil fields and copper mines, phooey! I'm talking marauding dinosaurs baby! If my review seems trivial, take heed. There are others who wish this novel were different in some way too. Others may wish for more rounded characters, less philosophy, or shorter length, but wishing is still wishing. So what if their wishes are more esoteric than dinosaurs? My criticism for the blatant lack of dinosaurs in Atlas Shrugged makes just as much sense as many other ... ... The only difference between those reviews and mine is that not only am I the first who wishes that Ayn Rand included dinosaurs in this work, but I know what I'm asking for.
Rating: 
Summary: It's ok, I guess
Review: It's long, it has a nïave philosophy, and poorly uses the Nietzsche's theory of man and the superman, but for the life of me I could not put it down. Rand beautifully paints the personalities of all the protagonist, despite they being rather unrealistic characters. The book's irrevelance is heightened by our current state of a Post-Industrial society. It's still a nice read. But personally, I'd enjoy more Telemachus Sneezed, a silly imaginary book mentioned in The Illuminatus! Trilogy that made fun of Atlas Shrugged.
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Summary: An Important Work, Skillfully Read
Review: I'm one of those who, with the best of intentions, sets out to read a great book like Atlas Shrugged and stops about 200 pages into it and moves on. A bad habit to be sure. This tape set was great for someone like me - with a 30 minute commute to work each day, I was able to finish a tape a day. The overall impression I got from the work, as I heard it, was that, while Objectivism, the philosophy of Dagny Taggart, Francisco D'anconia, and others (including Ayn Rand) is so focused on self that it can be a dead-end and spiritually empty, perhaps a little more of it is needed in today's world. As examined in the book, the Best should rise as far as their talents and abilities can take them. Edward Herrmann's authoritative, crisp reading style was perfect for the work. His ability to change characters so quickly was impressive.
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Summary: brilliant work - terrible philosophy
Review: I am not going to bore you with details of the book. Many others have done so already. It is obvious, even to this so-called liberal, that Ayn Rand was a genius. Atlas Shrugged is a literary masterpiece. Just be sure to notice when you are being manipulated. I would fear a world in which the "looters" gained control. I would also fear a world controlled by Francisco, Dagny and Henry Rearden. A world the permits megalomania is not the one I wish to see.
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Summary: Flawed? Yes, but still an important read.
Review: Yes, the book has its obvious flaws. The philosophy also has flaws. However, there are some ideas within the book that can be used to create a middle ground between those of capitalist thought and those who prefer socialism. It is obvious to anyone with half a brain that those in charge of corporations are not the same as the heroic characters in this story. Perhaps, however, they should be--maybe this is an example for such people, to strive for excellence and long-term success instead of "drive up the stock and retire" attitudes of many CEOs. On the other hand, people looking for fair compensation for their hard work are neither evil or greedy. That, too, I think is obvious to most people. Her philosophy does require dissection, to be boiled down and refined perhaps. To discard all of these interesting ideas, however, would be a mistake. I recommend that people who are even vehemently opposed to her philosophy should read this book, if for not other reason, than to know what you are talking about when you bash it.
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Summary: Response to
Review: ...Atlas' main characters are black & white on purpose - so you get the point clearly. It is true that one may never encounter such a man as John Galt or such a woman as Dagny Taggart, that does not mean the characters are impossible (they were not infallible); but characters full of nothing but compromise, characters with no firm principles - philosophical drifters - will provide no firm philosophical ground, but rather quick sand - this is why Rand did not base Atlas around characters who were half & half. In a compromise between good and evil, it is only the evil that has anything to gain; life has nothing to gain from death. Hank Readen has nothing to gain from Orren Boyle. Rand wrote as a Romanticist, "not with things as they are, but with things as they might be and ought to be." --- Galt's speech is long, because it is meant to be a summary of the philosophy presented in the book, that which came to be the base of Objectivism. It is unlikely that a first time reader of Atlas will be able to digest and retain all the philosophical points made throughout the first 850 or so pages, and that is why the speech is there. One will have read the philosophical points in an understandable / demonstratable context presented in 'human situations' earlier in the book, and then with Galt's speech, be presented with the specific conceptualization of the situations. That is, many aspects of the philosophy presented in the first 850 pages, are presented through actions, Galt's speech puts the actions into words. It is essentially taking all the actions / human interactions / events / etc. and removing them, and taking the philosophical statements that those actions represented, and putting them into a speech. --- Someone previously stated that Rand regards most of humanity as a 'herd', this is completely false. Rand did not use collectivist terms, such as 'herd', to describe a number of individuals. She was an individualist, and as such, was strongly against collectivism and its many forms. --- As accurately stated by Leonard Peikoff: "Ayn Rand is to Aristotle what Kant is to Plato. Both sides of the perennial duel, in their pure form, have finally been made explicit. Kant's philosophy is Platonism without paganism. Ayn Rand's philosophy is Aristotelianism without Platonism." --- Regarding Atlas, many of the negative comments are about 'one dimensional' characters; I have yet to see a review explain exactly how the characters are one dimensional. There was also a comment that Rand's philosophy morphed from being 'about excellence' in The Fountainhead to being 'about making money' in Atlas. This implies that there need be some seperation between the two, this is false; if it were true, then only those who are financially successful could be mediocre, and only those who were financially unsuccessful could be brilliant. Atlas takes the individualist focus in The Fountainhead, and completely integrates it on a wider scale (to cover many characters, interacting with a focus on the economic system). Atlas is about business, capitalism (and thus freedom) vs socialism/collectivism/etc. The Fountainhead is about the oppression of individualism, Atlas is about the oppression of individualism with the display of the very wide ramifications of such. Howard Roark did not work without pay, he specifically wanted to be paid to do his excellent work. Henry Rearden did not want to produce / innovate *just* for money, he specifically wanted to create the best metal (it is shown that he loved his work, and strived toward the creation of the best product possible), knowing full well that if his product was the best (given the situation is a free market economy), it meant he had a tremendous opportunity to try and make money off of his product....
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Summary: The controversy is well-deserved
Review: A very good friend of mine gave me this book as a gift for Christmas. He was so eager for me to read it, saying that Rand was the best writer he had ever read. I had no context to understand his excitement about a book. Even though I am an avid reader, I have rarely encountered a book that embodies thought and form so well that I prefer its world to my own. Once I finished the first 20 pages of "Atlas Shrugged" I knew what he meant. Rand, like few other authors, is so passionately devoted to her vision of how things could be, that as a reader I became intoxicated with that vision. It is not unlike the attraction of religious fervor, which may explain the way many people respnd to Rand, both positively and negatively. Even though here book is extremely intellectual, there is a passion beneath that intellect that does not go ignored. Rand's goal is clear: to portray an individual so ideal, we should want to become him or her, if only we had the courage. Purely as a work of fiction, it is a wonderful narrative filled with love, mystery, intrigue, and epic adventure. At times Rand's voice is very heavy and didactic, especially toward the end of the book. The first two sections are far more engaging than the last, which mostly plays out all the events leading from the intrigue of the first two. The book has a few minor shortcomings, i.e., extended preachy sections and odd (and potentially harmful) ideas about the relationships between men and women. These can be overlooked largely due to the scope of the book. They end up feeling like tiny detours from the main purpose, which is to explain a philosophy through a novel. The didactic speeches are a symptom of how difficult this task is. As a philosophical treatise, this book is unparalleled in its daring and its approach to define Form through Function. The ideas Rand embodies in this book are just as relevant to the 21st Century as they were to her time, perhaps more so. As with all moments of intoxication, the feelings fade with time. The question is will the ideas remain as appealing to me the longer I am away from "Atlas Shrugged"? To some degree their appeal has already faded, but the work helped me further shape my knowledge of human nature in a way that could not have happened without Rand's help. And by the way beware of addiction. I plan to drink some more of Rand's tonic again soon, even though the book is 1100 pages long.
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Summary: Atlas Shrugged
Review: Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, is an incredible book about the most powerful railroad corporation in the world's dance at the brink of ruin and one woman's determination to revive it. Taggart Transcontinental was a pioneer in the railroading industry and owned the loin share of the market. It dominated the railroading business until mismanagement and rising competition threatened to bring it to its knees. Dagny Taggart, the strong willed, business minded vice president of Taggart (underneath her brother) fights against all odds and restores the railroad to its former grandeur, only to lose all her customers due to mysterious vanishings. The plot encompasses many powerful people, including Dagny, but in the end it is seen that the whole world revolves around one man, causing one to ask, "Who is John Galt?" Rand does an excellent job developing her characters, and why should she not...she has a thousand pages to fill. Rand goes into such depth describing her characters that one would never finish if they took time to read them all. Therefore, it is necessary to read as Ayn intended, skimming for ideas. One of her central characters, Henry Rearden, is portrayed as a harsh, immovable, steel-industry giant who expects nothing from others. If time was taken to read every word, Rearden's change might not be noticed. While skimming, however; an evolution is seen changing Rearden from a stoic gravatis man to a tender, caring, almost fatherly character when he falls in love with Dagny. Not just anyone can orchestrate such a change of direction. Only a literary master can cause the reader to hate a character for hundreds of pages and then make him or her turn around and cheer for that same character later in the book. Every book that Ms. Rand was written has definite purpose, and Atlas Shrugged is no exception. In the 1930's Ayn Rand developed a unique philosophy about human values and attitudes called Objectivism, and since then has worked that philosophy into all of her fiction works. Her Objectivism theme is evidenced by Dagny's reactions to various trials that life throws at her. In Dagny's mind the mission at hand must be fulfilled before all other things. Rand also like to incorporate the struggles and rewards of making money in her novels. In some of her novels, Rand writes from the anti-Capitalism perspective of Communism, only to praise capitalism as the communist worlds disintegrate. As her minion, Leonard Peikoff, once said "Objectivism and Capitalism go hand in hand." The plot of Atlas is tedious and almost non-existent to a reader who must absorb all the material on page. Like a Monet painting, Rand's art cannot be studied up close, rather one must stand back and look at the big pictures, and that means skimming for ideas. Rand also uses flashbacks to provide a background during the first half of the story. She describes Dagny's tortured relationship with the only man who could tame her, Fransisco D'Anconia, and the relationship's roots in their childhood. Although her flashbacks are exposed and necessary elements of her story, Rand's use of foreshadowing is less out in the open. The John Galt enigma (Who is John Galt?) tells the reader that this mysterious man will be made known, but it can be easily over looked. Similar is the situation with the disappearing industrial geniuses of the world. The deep brilliance of Rand's work has since inspired me in many facets of my life. It has helped me to argue points at Junior State of America meetings. It has embed the value and rewards of hard work into my character. I think the most important lesson it taught me was that anything is possible so long as I never surrender. There were many more lessons taught by Ms. Rand, but these three are the ones that changed me the most. I would recommend this book to anyone who can handle such a monumental work.
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Summary: The Free Market's Spokesman
Review: Ayn Rand dedicated her life to a very necessary task - providing a philosophical underpinning for capitalism. Any discussion of her work needs to take into account the fact that her then "radical" ideas in such areas as free markets and the primacy of the individual over the collective are now accepted as the Gospel in most parts of the world. Quite a bit of credit for this is due to Miss Rand - and if you think that's giving her too much credit, consider that Alan Greenspan used to sit at her feet (no doubt Mr. Greenspan would repudiate parts of her philosophy, as do I - no matter. You don't have to be in 100% agreement with someone to acknowledge their brilliance and influence). Atlas Shrugged was to be the summation of Objectivism, in which Ayn poured out all of her arguments in the form of a speech by her ideal man, John Galt. Did she succeed? Well, at last count, there were over 600 reviews submitted on this item - compare that with almost anything else on here. People will be loving and hating this book for as long as the printed word is around. To those that hate it because it can be a little flat in characterization, and because her love scenes are flawed, I ask that you give her credit for her courage in attempting to define a philosophy through a novel. To those that hate it precisely because of the philosophy, I will echo Miss Rand and say "check your premises" - a surprising number of her arguments remain impregnable to refutation, at least any logical refutation. This is the kind of book that can inspire 20-page reviews, but bottom line - you don't have to be a "true believer", nor blind to the sometimes flawed writing, to appreciate that Atlas Shrugged is a book about ideas, and it continues to challenge each new generation (and give quite a few people some renewed purpose in their lives).
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Summary: Inspiring.
Review: The best book I have ever read. In practical terms: it rekindles my spirit for living, which had unknowingly diminished over the years (I am 37 y.o.) - it helps me regain my original work ethic and explains why I allowed it diminish - it explains some of my marital...challenges - and it allows me, once again, to be unashamed of excelling. A good mystery, yes, but it is Ayn's original philosophy explained using concrete characters and events that sells this book.
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