Rating: 
Summary: Life Changing!
Review: My husband and I are voracious readers, and make it a point to buy a "classic" book, meaning a book we should have read in high school but didn't, on every trip to the book store. We have read some stinkers, and some total winners. Last year we chose Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead", and I was hooked. I bought "Atlas Shrugged" to take on a cruise, and our lives changed! This is the best book I have ever read, it was moving and really made you root for the characters, really made you feel for those who strive for the best, and really hate those hangers on! I loved Dagny and Reardon, and wanted so much for them to see the light, but understood why they couldn't surrender. I can't imagine how this book would have changed my life if I had read it in high school! It should be required reading for all 16 year olds. It is a long book, a commitment, but well worth the investment. Though it does start a little slow, once I was 100 pages in I couldn't put it down! I will say that I had a different view reading "The Fountainhead" first, while my husband read "Atlas Shrugged" first and was disappointed in "The Fountainhead". I agree, it is a lesser book, but if you read it first, the build up to "Atlas Shrugged" is terriffic! We are expecting our first child, and decided long ago that because we are readers, all of our children will have middle names to reflect our favorite authors. If this baby is a girl? Yep, you guessed it, her middle name will be Ayn. What a wonderful, meaningful, profound book! Who is John Galt? I think more important a question is where is our John Galt?
Rating: 
Summary: Trash,... just trash
Review: This book starts bad and ends worse. It's dull, preachy, and filled with flat charaters, who are either all good or all bad. At the end of the book she abandons the idea of writing a novel and just lectures on Objectivisms tennets for about 50 pages. Ultimately it just isn't worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" is possibly the best and longest book I've read. This book inspired me to reach deep down into myself and pull out the best of my ability I've kept down for years. "Atlas Shrugged" inspired me to stop with excuses, stop blaming people, politics, and corporations for my problems and start thinking. I went from a mediocre HS student to an over-average HS student.
Though there are some points of her philosophy I disagree, I do agree with her foundations. There three camps of Objectivism. ARI, TOC, Or ARH. ARH for An Rand Haters. After reading this book I can't but help but to look into the TOC. Doesn't matter if you don't agree with An Rand's philosophy, at least did what I did. Let some of the characters inspire you to be the best person you could ever be and to love yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Ayn Rand's Messiah
Review: I found Atlas Shrugged a thoroughly egaging and enjoyable, though somewhat disturbing book. I thought it is well paced and well written however, I assign it no more significance than a well written soap opera. Ms. Rand would have us believe that it is a commendable act to, like Nero, sit back while Rome burns and all the while pat youself on the back for doing so. Ms. Rand's hero is none other than John Gault, a man with a Messianic complex so towering that, I find it laughable that anyone could take seriously the ramblings given him by the author. He seems to revel in the fact that the fictional world Ms. Rand has envisioned will collapse without the miracle working capabilities of him, his deciples, and his own Mary Magdalin in the form of Miss Dagney Taggert. Ms. Rand's heroes are void of any compassion for anyone save themselves; it is unfortunate that the author apparently wishes the real world were like the one she created In Atlas Shrugged. If anything, Ms. Rand's philosophy is better catagorized as "egoism", nothing less and certainly nothing more. To give the book anymore importance than just a great read is a mistake.
Rating:
Summary: A Journey Of Growth
Review: The world of "Atlas" is a fictional America where the country's industrialists and geniuses are suddenly forced to serve the government without making a profit. When they choose to run rather than serve, this slowly undoes the country, city by city, town by town, person by person, until there is nothing left of America but chaos, starvation, and murder. It sent chills up my spine because this kind of thing CAN happen. I enjoyed the rich imagery she used--it was like reading a very, very good movie script. If you ever detested welfare mommies and people who think they deserve your money JUST because you have more of it, then you'll find a sympathetic voice in Ayn Rand's "Atlas." I took off one star only because the book is very extreme and often unrealistic in it's views. Otherwise, it is excellent.
Rating:
Summary: A Tome Worthy of Consideration
Review: This novel is a compelling commentary on the dangers of allowing politics to swing too far to either the left or the right. Dagny Taggart is a character any semi-ambitious individual can sympathize with, and readers of all political colors should be able to come away from this book with a greater respect for the democratic political process. Without spoiling the book, I can tell you it is about what happens when people who believe in being rewarded for hard work leave the utopian Communist world where laziness is rewarded. While some readers take the most superficial reading of the booka dn decide that Rand is eschewing decent treatment of fellow man, I believe that amore sophisticated reading will demonstrate that Rand is writing about her belief that it is indecent of you to allow your neighbor to get along on less than what he is able to accomplish. As in her novel The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand manages to highlight every aspect of the human condition, from the hero to the evil antagonist adn the rest of teh regular joes torn between the extremes. This book should definitely be required reading for students of political science, economics and sociology. Not a book for the hesitant reader, it is a tome of great philosophical weight.
Rating:
Summary: My advice
Review: This is a book you will either love or hate. Very few people have middle of the road feelings about Atlas. Personally I loved this book. It has always ranked in my list of 5 books I positivly HAVE to own at all times. Read it and decide for yourself. Even if you come away feeling that Rand's philosphy flawed you will have had the chance to at the very least ponder ideas that most people are simply not exposed to in such a complete and distilled manner. Love it or hate it, Atlas WILL make you think.
Rating:
Summary: I am not a sycophant...
Review: yet I say, without hesitation: this is The Greatest Novel Ever Written. Stop shuddering at the Randroid sycophants and the Anti-Rand children who say the book is one-dimensioned tripe. Both camps are silly, silly people. So listen to me, because I am cool. Read the book and decide for yourself. Why should you read Atlas Shrugged? Because its heroes are brilliant, sexy, and utterly heroic. Its plot is epic, in a very American sort of way. It is a masterfully written piece of literature. It will make you laugh and cry. It will make you question your ideas. It will change your life.
Rating:
Summary: This is not for everyone, and by the way, where is God?
Review: If you are going to read only one 1000 page book in your lifetime, I suggest this be the one. Although there is never a "Thanks be to God" reference, there are plenty of very worthy thought provoking ideas. "Money is not the root of all evil, evil is the root of all evil."
Rating:
Summary: Read This Book and Be Changed
Review: The world is full of Ayn Rand haters, lovers, worshipers, apologists, and everything in between. And then there are those few that honestly respect her. I am such a man, for of all people in the history of ideas, Ayn Rand is deserving of respect and admiration. The truth is that books like Atlas Shrugged demand quite a bit from their readers, more than most people can handle or give. But Ayn Rand never wanted to reach out to the masses. Rather, she focused her work towards the smallest minority on earth - the individual. If you have a working brain and you care about ideas then you must do yourself a monumental favor and read Atlas Shrugged. It is not easy nor is it simple. Everything that you know and believe may be questioned. But you will come away from the experience as either a better person or a furious one (or both, like me). Rand will hit you where it hurts with her passionate and truly brilliant story of what happens when the motor of the world stops. I owe Ayn Rand quite a bit so let me tell you that if you can properly integrate your life with her philosophy, it will be a good one - difficult or not (good does not always mean easy). Rand does not make life simple for her readers but she does give you the tools to live it well. Just remember two things. First - Don't try and "convert" your friends and loved ones to Rand's philosophy if they are not interested in hearing about it. You can better convince these people by allowing them to watch your own success in life. Many a friend has been lost by someone who couldn't reconcile their new found love of Ayn Rand with their old life. Judge your friends accordingly but also remember the value of benevolence when trying to deal with them. They can be swayed to better ideas with reason, and if not, you may just have to let them go - or accept them for the value that they bring you. After all, not all people accurately describe their values and ideas, yet many of them are worthy of praise and admiration nonetheless. Second - You don't need anyone's advice on integrating Rand's ideas. Do it on your own through books and introspection and live a happy life. Trying to please the 1000's of rand-fans and haters out there in the world will make you crazy. Ignore them. For the most part, Rand did too. Also read: Tai-Pan, Shogun and Noble House by James Clavell and Foundation by Issac Asimov.
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