Rating: 
Summary: The Proof in the Pudding
Review: Can you follow logical arguments? Do you like to think for yourself? Do you feel that maybe nothing is getting fixed in this world?Atlas Shrugged is a book that takes life and puts in in high speed. Not because it is a thrilling novel (which it is) but because it lets trends that would otherwise take decades to form occur more quickly. This is not a negative thing. Its point is to show, COMPLETELY, what IS wrong with the world. Its point is to show exactly what is wrong with "fair" treatment. Its point is to show what sort of landslide effect small steps can cause. This book is not for someone who thinks everything about America is great. This book is not for someone who just want to read pulp fiction. This book is for people who can be honest and look truth square in the eye. When you finish, maybe you, too, will say, "I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I shall live for no man, nor let another man live for me." Strong words.
Rating: 
Summary: An Objective Point of View
Review: The first time I read Atlas Shrugged I felt as if someone had explained (in a painfully long-winded way) how my mind has always worked. There is a lot of controversy about the cult-like aspects of Objectivism. However, the only way that Objectivism could ever be considered a cult is through a deep misunderstanding of the real basis of the philosophy-independent thought, logic, and reason. The connerstone of the whole philosophy is that no one should take anyone's word for anything: you must discover and know by your own mind. As much as I enjoyed the knowledge that this book led me to discover, I must admit that I am not a fan of Ayn Rand as a writer. Her style is lacking, and she seems to get bogged down in making the same point over and over. My differences with her style aside, I think that everyone should read something about Objectivism. Although Atlas Shrugged is not an "easy read" it is still a very enlightening and telling book with a message that should not be ignored or overlooked. If you are looking for an entertaining book to pass the time, skip Atlas Shrugged. If, however, you are interested in modern philosophy or would like a break from the nihilism of most ancient "thinkers" then enjoy. I recently read Atlas Shrugged for the second time, and I can say that there is more to learn from the text than I picked up the first time through. Ayn Rand has also written some strictly philosophical works that explore objectivism without the fiction framework. These books are probably better suited for the modern philosophy student.
Rating:
Summary: Prophetic, profound, astonishing, ingenius
Review: Words cannot do justice to this masterpiece, to say the least of the astounding heroine who wrote it. I cannot believe that a woman of this magnitude existed on this earth and wrote a book like this. I wish there were more like her, but what Ayn Rand was only happens once. However, a happening like her is more than enough to last an eternity. Thank you Ms. Rand.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting and life altering
Review: It took me three years to complete the book, not because I did not like it, but because for the majority of those years I did not understand the book. Once the book struck a chord that resonated with my life and my understanding, I stormed through the remainder of the pages and reread the beginning. The idealogy of the novel is very compelling. The book has confirmed the half-baked ideas I already had about how I wanted to live my life. Make decisions, live for your own happiness, and produce through your own efforts.
Rating: 
Summary: Self-inflicted reading pain...
Review: It would take an idealistic immigrant with no concept of the measures of checks and balances that our United States government has in place to come up with a far-fetched what-if scenario such as this one. Introducing the indomitable Hank Reardon: social recluse and business giant, devoted to the passion he has for manufacturing steel. He finds that sometimes entrepreneurial spirit and a good idea are some of the lesser requirements involved when it comes making it big in industry circles. He suddenly comes to realize that his government, who has chastised him for being rich, has now opted to nationalize his business and force him to comply with restricted production and price quotas. Meanwhile, his mistress, the veritable queen of the railroad, suffers along with him during a long-winded and most obnoxiously fictitious yarn. This was an extremely painfully boring book to read especially when I got to the portion that everyone warned me about... "The Speech." This consisted of sixty-pages of long-winded drivel that went on and on and on about nothing. Reading this book, I felt like a triathlon contestant, who in the final hours of the competition, questioned the need to finish the race. I give this story two stars only because it reminded me that our American government DOES have these measures of checks and balances in place to keep this sort of story from happening in real life. I also credit it for supporting my notion that social pressure for the insanely rich to "give back to community" is complete hogwash. Hank Reardon thumbs his nose at all those individuals and interest groups that insist that he should not be allowed to do what he wants with his own fortune... if he so chooses to do anything at all. Aside from these thoughts or "strengths" of "Atlas Shrugged," I'd advise that this story be skipped over unless you're into self-inflicted reading pain.
Rating: 
Summary: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Review: First of all, she rips off Aristotle. Aristotle! the idiot who kept women and men in chains for thousands of years. As if a slave has the opportunity to be selfish! She also misses the point of Adam Smith's invisible hand, that ethics and self motivation go hand in hand. Second, her "philosophy" is so mind numbingly shallow, and politically motivated (!) that you have to be the least read person on earth to think it thought provoking. Worst of all, she writes like doo doo. IF you can get through the 1,000 pages, and good luck, you are the all time attention span world champion. Rand probably isn't all that controversial, just insipid and dull. The characters stink! The revelation: The Government is bad! Take care of your own needs! Believe in yourself! Self Determinism (tell that to the slaves, Aristotle). Capitalism ROCKS. LEAD US AYN, WE ARE YOUR HUMBLE SERVANTS. We live in darkness without you. You'd be better off reading Kahlil Gibran...
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have ever read of the 20th century!
Review: I normally read things from science fiction, or things from the current era we live in. Just recently I saw "Atlas Shrugged" being voted as one of the best books of the 20th century and decided to read it. I could not put it down. It did take me forever to read (being that I do have a job and a life), but I was really able to get into it over the summer when I went on vacation for two weeks. It just kept getting more and more interesting. This story has it all: Adultery, sex, family quarrels, competition, and, of course, the steel industry. And once someone has read this book, they'll forever know who John Galt really is. This is the only Ayn Rand book I have read so far, but I intend to read the rest of her works later on. She may have written few novels, but she knew what she was writing. She had a gift for writing. If there's a book you're really looking for to read out there, this is the one I recommend to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Even if you disagree, you will THINK.
Review: No, it's not perfect. No, it's not the greatest novel ever written. True, the characters are one-dimensional. True, events are contrived to prove a point. True, it's hard to believe in such a "black and white", "good or bad" world with no gray areas. BUT...this book is the starting point for truly intellectual thought concerning the state of capitalism and the steady stealthy growth of socialism in the United States. If you find that Republicans and Democrats are confusing and unclear, Ayn Rand will explain it all to you. By the end of the 1000 pages you will understand her point very loud and very clear: individual liberty is being compromised and too many people are just letting it happen because they don't know any better. This book, though flawed, woke me up to the injustices of our "welfare state" and how the problem of poverty can really be solved. Ayn Rand is not right about everything. Having grown up in a totalitarian society, she developed very extreme views which do not all apply to the United States today. However, reading this book is a joy for the vivid picture it creates of a much too large government that, under the guise of "social justice", takes apart the most free nation in the world and impoverishes its people. Love it or hate it, it will make you THINK. (And you'll never watch the TV news the same way again.)
Rating:
Summary: Championing mindless greed
Review: Like the rest of Rand's work, this is an occasionally entertaining but sloppily reasoned diatribe promoting a surprisingly stilted and immature view of economics and society. Hers is a stridently simplistic and sophomoric philosophy, far removed from the kind of carefully reasoned discourse one expects from someone alleged to be a "great philosopher". Rand's plots are unctuously contrived to buttress her obsessively monochromatic portrait of human nature, one oblivious to life's true subtleties and uninformed by a deeper wisdom. Her characters are cardboard cutouts designed for little more than advancing her childish laissez-faire rhetoric, and seem utterly incapable of even thinking of the kind of insightful questions that could mar the author's heavy handed operatic themes. Perhaps most troubling for me personally are her paeans to reason, something I consider to be the foremost of human accomplishments, but which in Rand's clumsy hands devolves disgracefully into blind, uncritical adherence to her churlish libertarian dogma of unrestrained greed and reckless individualism. With such "friends", reason needs no enemies! One of the first reviewers on this site wondered why, if Rand is so thoroughly off-base, so many people so roundly criticize her work. This is a remarkably vapid observation, for one still routinely hears and reads much justifiable criticism of numerous historical figures who have helped to reverse human progress. Perhaps you can think of a few... To conclude, fans of this book, in my experience, seem to have been all-too-easily bamboozled by one-dimensional characters with no trace of nuance, profound-sounding but empty-headed sophistry, and all-out rhetorical sledgehammer blows wielded in the service of avarice. My advice to readers is to pick up some real philosophy or science or carefully reasoned economic work -- or even the latest thriller -- and to leave Ayn Rand's deluded, crackpot vision to the dustbin of history.
Rating:
Summary: warning: giving away the plot
Review: Whether you agree with it or not, this is a very readable book, 1000+ pages and all. This is a Great Russian Novel, and it is written in English. Apart from a few turgid multi-page lectures, it is, surprisingly, a real page-turner. Some elements of Ayn Rand's philosophy though haven't stood the test of time as well as the novel itself though, and seem a bit silly in the Clinton-Gates-Linux era. The novel is about what happens when entrepreneurs (the "prime movers" of the world) go on strike, protesting increasing government ("looter") interference in the boardroom, especially evil anti-monopoly laws. The end result is that the good-for-nothing looters can't run the world, and beg the entrepreneurs to come back. The broad moral is that rational selfishness is the highest form of virtue, and the heroes of the world are self-made people who selfishly use their superior intellect for their own benefit (generally ending up as the founder-CEOs of big monopolistic corporations). I find this a bit ridiculous when it is applied to real people, especially today. Consider that great moral hero of our epoch, Bill Gates. Suppose he decided to "go on strike" like the characters in the book, and let the world suffer without windows. I doubt that the world would collapse. Also comparing him with the Linux people, I wonder who is closer to Ayn Rand's ideal. Gates' speeches and books are all fuzzy hypocritical stuff about his vision for society's (not his) future, and his products are plainly based on stolen ideas. Nothing wrong with either of these things, IMHO, but hey, reality check time. Compare with the Linux people, a bunch of selfish individualists who selfishly create their software for their own use, not even for the market, and whose commitment to open software is because they know that this is the quickest way to get a superior product. I somehow doubt though that Ayn Rand would have approved of them. On the whole however, I myself strongly agree with the individualist creed of the book. One should view the characters as representatives of ideal types rather than complex real people. Dittoheads reading this book for the privilege of dittoing it should be aware that it violently attacks both Christianity and conventional family values.
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