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Summary: Understanding today's "liberal" (socialist) demands.
Review: If you have been confronted with today's socialist demands on your time, space and money, and have had no ready response to defend what you perceive is your own rights... If you hold an underlying guilt for trying to defend you rights, your property, and what you've worked for all your life, that you are being "selfish" and "don't care"... Ayn Rand, through the character of John Galt, will help you find those words, and help you understand why and HOW that guilt has been placed on your brain. Atlas Schrugged is one book that needs to be read slowly - but with an observer's eye of the overall scene being drawn by this artist. Don't stumble over trying to identify with the characters; try to perceive the bigger picture, the forethought and projection of the author's attempt to take you into the future... and see if it isn't coming into manifestation to a great degree today. Look at what is happening around you. After reading the book you may begin to see some of the characters from the book actually living and working right in your neighborhood, see them on TV and read about them in the newspapers. It is one of the greatest works I've found that helps one rise to the level of that of a reasoning soul or entity. Also, when very few books deal directly with values and morals, Atlas Schrugged is jam-packed with them; examples on both sides. There is a statement that 5% of the people think; 10% of the people think they think; and 85% of the people would rather die than think. This book shows that this statement if a fact. This is a book that actually digs deeply into the subject of "love" - all aspects - and may allow you to understand what love really is... and why that feeling of never finding it is so strong in many people; not knowing why. Additionally: read the strongly "negative" reviews of this book! You are actually hearing the mooching rotters from the book speak to you. They DON'T want you to read this book and will do anything they can to stop you. Why do they think they can succeed? Because they have! They have successfully halted you in your footsteps from thinking for yourself, with the help of their socialist cousins in the media, the universities and schools across our country and the churches. A final thought. How much "weight of the world" do you feel on your back?
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Summary: Thought provoking and energizing
Review: I've read this book so many times, the pages are starting to fall out. Amazingly insightful and complex with many levels of meaning.
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Summary: An influential book that annoys a lot of people.
Review: I'm always amazed by the fierce love and hate this book inspires. There seems to be a all too common thread whereby people who read this book in their teens - and love the themes of self-reliance and heroism at the time - decide later in life that their enthusiasm was something to be ashamed of, and affect a cynical, and often astonishingly harsh attitude to the book that once affected them so much. It's a shame, though I can't be sure I wouldn't have done the same myself. Luckily I discovered the book in my later years, when I couldn't fool myself that my admiration for the book was a fleeting phase of youth. It is one of the few books that made an impression that has stayed with me ever since, and it made me proud of some of the qualities in myself that for a time I sought to suppress. A brief glance through the shrieking tirades written here against this book says more about their authors than about Rand. The personal attacks are baffling; I care little whether the authors I read smoked too much or didn't tip the doorman. Their arguments against what they misrepresent as her philosophy range from simplistic distortions to outright lying; Rand was a hugely influential and innovative thinker, regardless of whether this fact pleases them or not. As ever, Atlas Shrugged - and Rand herself - seem to evoke fury or admiration, and very little in between. As far as I'm concerned that's always a good sign. A wonderful book. Enjoy it.
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Summary: Handle with caution...
Review: The beliefs put forth in AS will provide great grist for argument if you're so inclined - I know of a couple who nearly divorced after disagreeing on its premises. Although it has been many years since I read AS, I still have a few lingering impressions. It could have been written in about a third of its length. The Big Sermon toward the end became boringly repetitive - just how many more ways could she have explained her position? I recall that I wasn't crazy about any of the characters and found some of them pretty much cardboard. Mainly,I recall thinking that she makes no allowance for people simply born to conditions beyond their control. Not everyone is born an Einstein, or with the means to better their lives to any extent, something Rand fails to acknowlege. "Am I my brother's keeper?" is a point to which I heard from Rand a resounding "No", a response which I remember left me cold. I would not waste my time to read again. However, I have read "We the Living" three or four times and believe it has more to offer in an easier read.
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Summary: Deeply Flawed Thinking; Great Pulp
Review: I must say from the outset that I am not an Objectivist, but I do share many beliefs with objectivists, specifically regarding trade and markets. Atlas is a thoroughly enjoyable novel: it is not a work of philosophy, or economics, but a work of pulp that has many merits (Francisco d'Anconia's money speech, for example). That said, Objectivism is totally asinine and inept as a philosophy. For a far more intelligent discussion of the foundations and importance of free markets and private property, see F.A. Hayek, "The Constitution of Liberty" and Milton Friedman, "Capitalism and Freedom."
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Summary: Could have been shorter.
Review: And here's the short version. Q: Why did the non-Objectivist chicken cross the road? A: To mooch off the productive achievements of the Objectivist chickens who had shown the way to the other side. Fortunately, since A is A, the non-Objectivist chickens all died when a train tunnel collapsed on them.
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Summary: Hate-filled spew
Review: Over a thousand pages of Randian sputum, all of it aimed at anyone 'value-destructive' enough to believe that anyone has any sort of unchosen obligation to anyone else. 'There are no unchosen obligations', chants Rand, blanking out on the fact that a *chosen* obligation, on her own view of 'free will', is a straightforward contradiction. Anyone living in, and profiting from life in, human society has an obligation to help preserve the conditions that make society possible in the first place. Rand may not like it, but the basic obligation is *benevolence* - without which there is simply no reason for anyone to care about defining, let alone respecting, anyone else's 'rights'. But Rand assuredly does *not* like it. In effect she swallows Hobbes whole and goes him one better: she *prefers* the 'state of nature' and actually *wants* the lives of the less-than-supremely-competent to be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. How dare those 'second-handers' suggest that anyone's ultimate concern include anything but oneSELF SELF SELF SELF SELF . . . . ? This novel is pure revenge fantasy. Don't waste your time.
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Summary: Some Info for Readers of Ayn Rand's Works
Review: First, let me say that this is not a review of Atlas Shrugged but a short informational primer on who she was and why she wrote the way she did. It seems that many readers who have written critiques here know little or nothing about her and her life. If they did, some of the criticisms might have not been rendered and those that were would be either a) redundant or b) indicative of a lack of background. For those of you who don't know her, Ayn Rand came into the world while Czar Nicholas still ruled over Russia. She was born into an affluent Russian Jewish family that lost everything when the Bolsheviks took power in the October 1917 revolution. She received her university education in history in the early stages of the regime, when the Communists were attempting to re-educate everyone and create the next generation of collectivist thinkers. They failed with Rand. Ayn Rand emigrated to the US in 1926 via Chicago. She knew very little English. As she has said on several occasions, she had to learn the language first and then learn to think in English so that she could express her ideas. Think of her as a female version of Joseph Conrad in that sense because he developed his language skills by writing in a language that was foreign to him. Having witnessed first-hand the mind-numbing, demoralizing and dehumanizing nature of Soviet totalitarianism, Rand first offered the reading world "WE THE LIVING." While it tells the story of Kira Argounova as she deals with the state (or the collective). She does that again with Howard Roark in THE FOUNTAINHEAD and with all of her heroes in ATLAS SHRUGGED. I agree with some of the writers here who think that she was a study in contradictions. She did allow her students to become disciples and in many cases, they ceased thinking and acting for themselves. She also had very little tolerance when it came to people who disagreed with her. You either buy into her view of life and the world or you'd better find someone else to hang with. Rand, was like all of us, a flawed human being. But, to say that her writing was simplistic or flawed or not philosophical is a simplification in the extreme. I think her critics need to remember from whence she came, what motivated her and what she was trying to accomplish. It's true, she wasn't a businessman and she may not have taken a college level course in economics but she actually did have the ability to convey, in writing, the dangers free men everywhere faced at the hands of the collective (be it socialist, communist or fascist). When she described her characters (especially the ones she found heroic), she imbued them with qualities that the rest of us could only aspire to. One of the characters she seemed to admire in a left-handed way was also one of the most tragic. At the end of THE FOUNTAINHEAD, after Howard Roark is found not guilty for the destruction of Cortlandt Homes, he is contacted by Gail Wynand. Wynand, who had once been a friend, admirer and supporter of Howard Roark's unbridled individualism had turned on him when his board of directors demanded a change of editorial policy for Wynand's flagship paper, "The Banner." Wynand relents and denounces Roark. Despite the vilification of the press, Roark prevails when the jury exonerates him. Later, Wynand brings Roark to his office to commission him to design the Wynand building. As Wynand tells his former friend, "I wish to undertake the construction of the Wynand building at once. I wish it to be the tallest structure of the city. Do not discuss with me the question of whether this is timely or economically advisable. I wish it built. It will be used--which is all that concerns you. It will house THE CLARION and all of the offices of Wynand Enterprises now located in various parts of the city. The rest of the space will be rented. I have sufficient standing left to guarantee that. You have no fear of erecting a useless structure. I shall send you a written statement on all details and requirements. The rest will be up to you. You will design the building as you wish. Your decisions will be final. They will not require my approval. You will have full charge and complete authority. This is stated in the contract. But I wish it understood thatI shall not have to see you. There will be an agent to represent me in all financial and technical matters. You will deal with him. If you find it necessary to communicate with me, you will do so through my agent. You are not to expect or attempt to see me. Should you do so, you will be refused admittance. I do not wish to speak to you. I do not wish to ever see you again. If you are prepared to comply with these conditions, please read the contract and sign it." As readers know, Roark reached over and without reading the contract, signed it. Wynand commented on this but Roark said nothing. He also assured Roark that there was enough left of the financial empire to see the Wyand Building to completion but, he also told Roark that the Wynand empire would die with him. As Wynand goes on, he bitterly condemns mankind for its race toward collectivism but, Roark remains optimistic. He tells his former friend, "Mankind will never destroy itself, Mr. Wynand. Not so long as it does things such as this." "As what?" Wyand asked. "As the Wynand Building." Wynand tells Roark that dead things, such as THE BANNER are only the financial fertilizer that make such things (as the Wynand Building) possible. As the novel races toward its hopeful ending, Wynand finishes with Roark. He says, "I once told you that this building was to be a monument to my life. There is nothing to commemorate now. The Wyand Building will have nothing--except what you give it." Roark pays his last respects with a final bow. At the office door, Roark turns to look at his friend for what will be the last time. Wynand speaks a final time and says, "Build it as a monument to that spirit which is yours....and could have been mine." I really believe that Rand genuinely liked Wynand but she had to introduce the fatal flaw. In this case, he could not measure up to the standards that Roark lived by. Wynand knew that for all of his success, he was nothing when measured by the standards applied to him by Rand. It has been 56 years since THE FOUNTAINHEAD was first published and 41 since ATLAS SHRUGGED. In her heyday, it was all too easy to dismiss Rand's works as amateurish and insignificant. It should be remembered that most Americans, when asked what two books have impacted them most reply, 1) The Holy Bible and 2) ATLAS SHRUGGED. Too many people miss the point of her work. If it gets the reader to think, to consider the world around them, then she has achieved her goal. Whether you like her philosophy and writing style or not,she continues to have a following long after the novels were first published. What other author of the last half of the 20th century can make that claim? What other philosophy continues to draw new generations of students? She was a complex and contradictory person. But if one reads her works with an open-mind, I think it will become readily apparent that Ayn Rand was in fact, a brilliant author. I have read her works over and over again since I first discovered her 30 years ago. Her philisophy is just as relevant today as the day she completed the books that made her famous. Don't listen to the critics. Read these works because you want to and because you want to be introduced to one of the most original thinkers of the 20th century.
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Summary: Facile and sophomoric
Review: The reason Rand's 'philosophy' is hierarchical is that she has to make sure she's slanted your views on one level before she moves you on to the next. From the very beginning she loads her terminology so as to misrepresent nearly every philosopher - strike that; nearly every human being - who has ever lived. Egoism 'vs.' altruism, for example, simply makes no sense on her view that there are no legitimate conflicts of interest among reasonable persons; nor is her version of 'altruism' anything like the version of it defended by any other philosopher. (Her double-dealing on this point is how she manages to bar 'benevolence' from any important place in her 'philosophy'.) But once you've swallowed that false dichotomy, the rest is easy: the whole world comprises a few 'rational' folks (like YOU, of course!) and a whole lot of 'second-handers' and 'parasites' who are out to use you as a Sacrificial Animal. Don't permit it! Go on strike! Duhhhhh. Anyone who is really one of the 'men of the mind' will see through this malarkey in a New York minute. Don't surrender the title of 'reason' to this L. Ron Hubbard-like demagogue. Just shrug back.
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Summary: Compelling arguments. Courageous writing.
Review: You'll love it. Or you'll hate it. You'll feel exhaulted or you'll wish to strangle Ayn Rand and any & everyone who enjoys her writing. This is a book that will shake you.
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