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Summary: The best book I've ever read.
Review: "Atlas Shrugged" was life summed up in 1200 pages. This book is for a select audience, though, I would say. This book is not for people who lie to themselves. This book is not for people who choose to live their life for something other than their own life. No one else. This book is for those who don't mind reading 1200 pages. This book is FOR the person who wants to find out the truth about his/her life. This book is for OPEN-minded people. I would have to assume that those who would criticize this book are making the exact point Ayn Rand is stating, chapter by chapter. This book is what you put into it; you cannot lie to yourself anymore.
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Summary: THE book for all seasons, any century!
Review: Atlas Shrugged, is the one book that is a must to own and read if one wants to survive in the world. Period.
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Summary: Could not put it down
Review: Yes, I thought several aspects of the story just weren't realistic, but after all, it is a novel. For example, the book didn't explain why somehow, the Congress nor the President never got involved to stop the "beuracracy run amok," regardless how totalitarian Wesley Mouch became, and regardless how bad economically things got. I don't think Americans would just sit back and let the government assume that much control, and I don't think politicians considering re-election would let things go so far without intervening. But, then I'm an optimist. Despite these problems with the concept, the story is enjoyable as a novel, and also teaches the price everyone pays for not being politically aware, and the consequences of not taking personal responsibility for one's life. It was both a very intriguing and enlightening read, and I recommend it to anyone (even socialists and other leftist types who supposedly have an open mind anyway, right?) No need to be scared of a little truth...
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Summary: The bible of Western culture
Review: Rand's conception of humanity is at once cynical and uplifting. In Atlas Shrugged, Rand argues that man should take moral responsibility for his own existence, actions, and future. Few understand that Rand divides the world between people who live morally or immorally - those who live for themselves, and those who live for others, rather than between people inherently good or bad. In Rand's world, greatness is a choice, not a birthright. Rand is not narcissistic, she simply understands what constitutes a fulfilling life philosophy. Hers is not political deconstructionism, but the ultimate expression of self-determination, human dignity, and sustainable morality. At the end of Atlas Shrugged, one can only stand in awe of Rand's greatness as a philosopher, writer, and humanitarian. Rand is capitalism's best answer yet to Marx.
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Summary: The BEST book ever written
Review: This is the best book I have ever read. I know it's pretty thick, but she writes about things ordinary books never touch on. Eye opening, thought provoking, just simply the best I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely - the only book better than The Fountainhead
Review: There could be only one. If The Fountainhead moved you, you _must_ read this.
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Summary: Understandable to enriched minds ONLY!
Review: Atlas Shrugged is a highly complex novel for those who are, how do I say this nicely,ignorant. The ideas behind Rand's philosophy are the focal point of the novel. These theories are indeed difficult for the village idiot to understand. However, for those of you with a higher level of intelligence, you will be able to make an adamant opinion of its context. You will either love it or you'll hate it. There is no middle ground. If you live in a world where one man's goal is another man's happiness, this book is not for you. If you are more concerned with yourself above others, I suggest you read it. The idea of selfishness expresed in the book is often taken the wrong way. There for, you must decide the thickness of your skin. If you tend to see only what lies directly in front of you, you will find this book absurd only because it seems harsh. If you are a firm believer in "God", this book is not for you and I highly suggest you listen to that bit of advice. It will question your beliefs and few enjoy the denial of their reason to live. Atlas Shrugged is, in my mind, the greatest book I have ever read. It is not for everyone. If you read it and hate it, don't throw it away. It's words are the most precious I've heard or seen in my entire life. I'll gladly take it off your hands. I already own five copies and would be proud to own a hundred more.
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Summary: the most dynamic, thought-provoking, exciting book ever.
Review: Ayn Rand captures the readers attention at the outset of the story and never lets you go. Nearly impossible to put the book down. I have personally read the book 7 times and am looking forward to an eighth.
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Summary: A book for mediocre people
Review: I have written a review on this book three months ago. I am astonished to see that the mob still believes that anyone who does not like this book is a socialist. How awful mediocrity is. That is why I love Nietzsche. There is nobody who was more anti-socialist than he. I am completely anti-socialist, but there is one thing I loathe more than it: mediocrity. That is what Nietzsche most hated. Ayn Rand just wrote books for adolescents; books which can only impress people who have no literary education at all.
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Summary: Rubbish
Review: Ludwig von Mises demonstrated that socialism could not work because it made economic calculation impossible. He proved it by writing tremendous, carefully reasoned works of economic analysis, notably SOCIALISM and HUMAN ACTION. Ayn Rand says he was wrong: the reason socialism will not work is that it punishes the few Great Ones who are the only true benefactors of mankind and on whom all Progress depends. She "proves" it by writing an overblown novel - a work of *fiction* which by her own account (in her LETTERS) was intended as propaganda - in which the withdrawal of a handful of people causes an entire national economy to collapse and the "common man" (in the person of Eddie Willers), left to his own devices and initiative, is able to do nothing but wander off and die. Whom would you rather have on *your* side: the defender of the power of spontaneous cooperation, or the defender of the Special Few Who Run The World, Or Else? The economist who believes that all human action is 'rational' in an important respect, or the narcissistic novelist who believes that most human beings are obdurately irrational? The defender of a classical liberal culture in which every human being, acting as an entrepreneur, is made independent of anyone in particular by depending on everyone in general, or the defender of a watered-down Nietzscheanism who thinks the 'common man' must patiently await handouts from a handful of productive geniuses and receive them gratefully under threat of death? Which one, in short, defends a view of humanity more consonant with the nature of liberty and capitalism? It is high time someone pushed this narcissistic witch off her pedestal - in the name of the very reason and liberty she claimed to defend. Reason and liberty do not need her.
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