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Summary: I have lost all faith in Western Civilization
Review: Who is John Galt? Why do I care? Perhaps the postmodern confusion of my life combined with existential freedom will force me to make ethical decisions based on literary aesthetic rather than reasoned judgement. In such case I'd much rather live my life by "The Little Prince" than this piece of shallow trash.
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Summary: Murder mystery for philosophers: who kills the Mind of Man?
Review: Ayn Rand has written a novel like no other: a detective story of philosophy. The main character, a valiant railroad executive, Dagny Taggart, sees society crumbling before her eyes. In all fields, great thinkers are vanishing. Who is making them vanish and why? All joy in life seems to be evaporating. What invisible destroyer is doing this, and how? To solve the mystery, Dagny must correctly identify her allies and her enemies; discover their motives and their goals; and bring herself to understand the root philosophy defining and motivating them. The real hero of the book is the philosophy of reason (individualistic capitalism); the real villain, the philosophy of the irrational (collectivist socialism.) Atlas Shrugged is the only book which has ever attempted to depict every implication of philosophy, rational and irrational, capitalist and collectivist, in the form of a detective investigation. Every field of human endeavor is represented in various characters: industry, banking, music, literature, journalism, science, medicine, and philosophy. The logical consequences of both philosophies are drawn out exact and unblinking detail. Metaphysics, ethics, economics, aesthetics, epistemology are all vividly presented on stage. To perform this examination with pristine clarity and scientific rigor, Ayn Rand must present what an irrational society would be like without the rational elements present: in her fictional People's State of America, all the men of ability, the men of the mind (the capitalists), go on strike. For contrast, the rational society where no taint of the irrational is presented in Galt's Gulch, the Utopia of Greed. Reviewers who complain that life is not so simple, not so 'black and white' as this, have missed the point. Our society is a gray mix of liberty and tyranny, capitalism and socialism, wealth, poverty, progress, barbarism. The liberals and progressives have always claimed credit for (and even named themselves after) the liberty and progress. Capitalism has always been blamed for the poverty and barbarism. But which actually causes which? An analysis is needed. The act of analysis, by its very nature, reduces complexities to their elements. To criticize the act of analysis for being 'simplistic' is disingenuous. If you knew two tubes of paint, when mixed together, produced gray, you would, in order to find out which tube was actually white, squeeze each tube onto the palette separately, and see each pigment in its pure state. Once you have done that, and found out the tube on the left is producing pure black (and not the white it says on its label), it would be absurd for the pro-left apologist to claim that your test was too 'black and white'; or to say, 'but the end result mix is shades of gray! Pure white and pure black do not exist in nature!' Well, obviously; but so what? The end result mix is not what we are examining; we want to see which of the two tubes is to blame for the ever-darker shades. Again, those reviewers who complain that Ayn Rand heroes are tall and handsome and her villains are cowardly sniveling wretches, forget against what position Ayn Rand is arguing. The lovers of unreason in this world do not attempt to defend their philosophy with logic; they defend it by inducing their opponents into compromise. They defend it by Ad Hominem attacks against their accusers. They defend it by being ambiguous. Hence, any author bold enough to attack the lovers of unreason, must depict characters who are uncompromising. The characters must not be ambiguous. The characters must have integrity. For an artist, this integrity means even the character's outward appearance must reflect inward virtues. For Ayn Rand to have introduced a sympathetic villain, or an impure anti-hero, or even an ugly hero, would be as much as to deny the whole premise and purpose of the book, which is to show these things a beautiful and heroic. Ayn Rand would loose the debate by her own default (which is, by the way, the only way she says a hero can be made to loose.) As for the length of the speeches, remember we are dealing with a book about ideas, and the implications of ideas. Abstract ideas must be put across in speeches. As for the vehemence and repetitiveness with which Ayn Rand expresses herself, it must be excused on the ground that she is the only author in history ever to defend and praise the mind of man, fully, without compromise, in its every aspect and implication: let her say her defense more than once. It has never been said before, nor often enough since.
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Summary: 116 reviews proves it!
Review: This novel is wonderful. I won't bother with a summary because there is plenty of that in the other reviews except to say that its core themes are; individualism vs. collectivism, self-interest vs. sacrifice, rational vs. irrational etc. along a similar vein. Last year I was at my school library (Queen's University) and came across a book entitled Objectivism from A to Z. I thought, "Objectivism? what in the world is that?" I flipped through it an was utterly amazed at the congruence between Rand's thoughts and my own. Ever since I have read every one of her original works (fiction and non-fiction alike) and have a hearty respect for her and her philosophy. This is not to say that I accept every one of her views on life and work and love. For the most part I agree but when it comes to matters of morality there is a slight deviation; I believe that you can be charitable as long as it benefits you in the long run. I don't think anyone out there would disagree that helping a charity or something along similar lines does not give one a nice warm fuzzy feeling. This, to be sure, is a profoundly selfish benefit which, I think, ms. Rand ought to have touched upon. Anyhow, do yourself a favour and pick up her book. 116 reviews......and counting. This is obviously an important and life-changing work whether you agree or disagree with Rand, whether you love or hate her. But please, for the sake of intellectual honesty and respect for REAL criticism, read her work before you open your mouth and spew forth something like: it's just a cult, or a religion or something of the sort.
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Summary: Idealism aside...A Great Book!
Review: One of the all-time best. Don't let the ideals put you off
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Summary: Oh, the hype, oh the controversy!
Review: I think this is one of those books that has to be re-read every so often. Yes the characters are rather one-dimensional, yes the author is repetitive, yes the book is lengthy, but hey, it's still a good read! If you think about it this book has just about everything. It's a sci-fi mystery thriller romance with philosophy thrown in to boot. I can see where all the people who level charges at this book are coming from except for one. How can anyone say this book is boring? The fact that there is so much polemic generated in these review pages would seem to belie that, don't you think? Give it a read, it's engaging to say the least. For those of you who complained about its length, take it on a ten hour plane ride. You'll thank Ms. Rand for the 1000 plus pages. Oh yeah, by the way, after all these years I'm still in love with Dagny.
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Summary: Arrogant -- and Rand had no faith in her reader
Review: Rand's theory of how the most powerful among us should be give unlicensed power to run the world and be damned with the unfortunate among us is heartless and arrogant. In addition, I was offended by the little faith Rand has in us as readers. If we can read a book that's over 1,000 pages long, give us credit for understanding subtle metaphors; Rand has to spell everything out like we're mental midgets. I was in a bad mood the entire time I read this book.
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Summary: There wasn't an option for no stars.
Review: This inane and badly written book is like a broken record of a song you don't like to begin with. Aside from excruciating description of physical detail, this book is nothing but the repetition of a mantra--The good, strong, honest, industious, capable, intelligent people are forever plagued by the bad, weak, lying, lazy, incompetent, stupid people--how profound. Had this been an actual treatise, you would have found refutations of intelligent arguments, rather than the simplistic straw-man Ayn knocks down over and over and over and over.... Had this been an actual novel, there would have been interesting characters. Can anyone who loved this book point out a significant difference in the characters of Wesley Mouch, Orren Boyle, Jim Taggart, Paul Larkin, Dr. Ferris, etc. ad nauseum? Of course, there are the "romantic" scenes! If you like to mix guilt, shame, and violence with your sex, then you'll love Dagny's relationship with Hank Rearden! Ugh!
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Summary: Like the taste of fresh strawberries in winter
Review: Reading "Atlas Shrugged" is like an induction into a secret society. Stepping into an elevator with the book in hand, a man once told me, "I read that book every 5 years whether I need it or not." It has been 5 years, and I have re-read it. The man was right, I needed it. While each reader finds something different in Atlas, the discovery is unavoidable. In short, the discovery is Rand's gift to the reader. Moments of introspection are so rare in today's world. Accept this precious escape, allow the brain to free float. Regardless of the discovery, you have been shown a different way of thinking; and you will find something new in this work and in yourself the next time you read it. Thank you, Ayn, for giving me a moment of springtime in the midst of winter.
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Summary: This book changed my out look on life
Review: I have never spoken with anyone who has read this book who did not have an extreme reaction to it; either positive or negative. The world it presents is an allegory, the heroes and villians it presents are not people you will find walking down the streets. But the principle they live by are extremes of what we all believe. They are conscious manifestations of what we all believe in our subconscious.
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Summary: 150 pages through...my thoughts
Review: In my thinking, people always base reviews on their complete knowledge of a reviewed item, never realizing their thoughts while they're going through their task. Example: your child is in college, your memories are miscronstrued without a consise diary of your child's development and maturation. I have read 150 pages of Atlas Shrugged. My review of the 1/9th+ that I have read should be seen better than one who has completed the book and passed judgment on it. Firstly about the artistic scope. Ayn Rand is so far describing mental processes better than any author that I've had the pleasure of observing. Her theorums and analyses are akin to an interesting psychology textbook. A character (spoiler-proof :-) loses their virginity in the section before the section I'm in now. Rand explains the situation in excruciating mental detail, but refrains from using explicit language or tones. She designates complexities with simplistic ease and does it with a style that has you asking "HOW?" I shall continue this review when I continue furthur into the book. First 150 pages, 5 stars...
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