Rating: 
Summary: The greatest philosopher, but not the greatest writer
Review: Ayn Rand is the most perceptive philosopher of our time (or any other). I can readily perceive why she has so many "followers" around the world. As a "tax refugee" from Europe, no one has to tell me how the "weak" feed upon the "strong" until nothing is left at all -- see Sweden. However, no matter how right she is or how passionate her cause, she is not the greatest writer and this is not the best book ever written. Ms. Rand can be "long-winded" (the central premise of this book could be fully articulated in a pamphlet) One character's speech runs an incredible 60 pages or more (depending on the edition). Ms. Rand not only beats the dead horse, she gives it riding lessons. She makes full use of the idea that truth=beauty=truth and that heroic figures (by definition) does not compromise. Ms Rand's female characters believe they will never submit to a man who is not strong enough to "overpower" them. These ideas did not originate with Rand (unless she is Greek and much older than she looks on the book jacket)but are widely used to criticise her books on the basis that she has a "master race" mentality or is a non-feminist. But, as a philosopher Ms. Rand has no peers. She completely eschews the idea that the acquistion of wealth must be atoned for by charity or austerity. I have never read a criticism of her philosophy that specifically pointed to flaws in her arguments. Most are personal attacks on Ms. Rand or the people who agree with her. I am still trying to understand how followers of the idea, "I will live for no man and ask no man to live for me" can be described as parasitic. Like Polonius, Ms. Rand says, "Neither a borrower or a lender be" only she extends this to every aspect of public and private life. The only other author I know who articulates this philosophy and is a much better writer is P.J. O'Rourke. However, Mr. O'Rourke's writings are often dimissed as humour (he is the funniest writer America ever produced) and his key arguments are easily lost by a lot of readers.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good, but her philosophy is kinda whack.
Review: I'm a thirteen year-old seventh grader and I got this book for my birthday. I thought that it was pretty good, and I agree with a lot of Rand's philosophy, but I disagree with a lot more. The storyline was great, but the speech kinda ruined it. I thought Dagny and Francisco should have ended up together. She thinks that every man should work to earn their money, not be given it by welfare. I totally agree. You shouldn't take hard-earned money from people who deserve it. But she also thinks that you shouldn't even help people, shouldn't mourn or care about them. That's whack. Even if you don't like someone, you should still respect them as having different views than you. Some of her beliefs on sacrifice are pretty odd too. Sometimes what she said on one page was totally contradicted on the next. She left the reader with a vague, unsatisfied feeling so that she could get people who didn't understand the book to believe what she said. Also she's very naive. She thinks that the prime movers are the only people that can do ANY work, and she thinks all prime movers are objectivist. Yeah right. Wouldn't it surprise her to know that Bill Gates, the richest man in the U.S., actually cares about public opinion, makes products for the public, and is a very nice guy? Also, Dagny had sex with about every man in the book that had time to take his clothes off and she didn't get pregnant, nor was the fact that she could have ever gotten pregnant ever confronted or given thought. But overall, I have to give the book four/five stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Rand's Commandment:See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil
Review: I would simply like to say that this book stinks. It's a long-winded and malicious treatise by a second-rate demagogue who was about as dense as her devoted followers. She considers the majority of people in this world to be parasites, but it is her self-centered philosophy that is truly parasitical. I would like to say this, but the pro-Rand forces might make enough of a stink with Amazon to censure me, just like they did many of their previous critics. Like Rand, it seems, the Objectivist notion of freedom applies only to the few they select.
Rating: 
Summary: 21st century ideas
Review: Every so often the reviews on this book fail to describe the book itself. Too bad, it's a great book whose theme is the role of intelligence in society. What happens when society gets "dumb and dumber," when reason is attacked, and morons take over? Industrial society falls apart. This book anticipates the exact condition of America today. Look at public schools, the Jerry Springer-types, and astroloy. AR's view of selfishness is novel. Unlike most people who have no conception of peaceful selfishness, Ayn Rand showed that this overlooked virtue is the essence of human progress and a peaceful civilization. When people forget that virtue, if they uphold sacrifice, the mind gets sacrificed, and then violent human sacrifice is unleashed. Isn't that the battle at work in the story--and in the world today? The inspiration of this book is that the good wins over the evil, peaceful selfishness wins over violent human sacrifice. Isn't such a victory what we all need to live? Well, that is the battle of capitalism over socialism, of reason over the irrational, the self-destructive, the parasitical. Too bad Bill Gates doesn't care about philosophy; he could use it to his advantage---as John Galt, the story's main protagonist, did to his.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing book, both as a novel and a philosophy
Review: Remember the Michael Douglas movie where GREED IS GOOD? Atlas Shrugged is a brilliant demonstration of how greed works for the good of society and how social welfare institutions can ruin a country's ability to sustain itself.The America that Rand depicts is startlingly similar to what happened to Soviet Russia under communism. When people don't get to reap the rewards of hard work or hard thinking -- then why bother to work or think hard? This is a great book. I loved it and can't stop thinking about it.
Rating:
Summary: KNOWLEDGE
Review: Amongst my friends and I this book is known simply as "THE KNOWLEDGE". Do yourself a favor and find out why.
Rating:
Summary: Each character is a little TOO blind to their cause
Review: I tremendously enjoyed the plot and development of the story of Atlas Shrugged. The Objectivist philosophy, though, so pervades and weighes down the book, that I get this sense of a bitter old woman who just wanted to someone to throw her a bone every so often. But handouts are not the way our capitalist society should maintain the survival of others. Sure, the heroes are good guys. Sure, the villians are bad guys. Sure, the system isn't perfect. I agree with her on the self-importance of personal achievenment idea. I do not agree with her values, which, left open and by themselves, include extramarital sex, suicide, rape, theft - and they all have to be justified; which obviously denotes some sort of counter-intention. The love affairs, for some reason or another, come off as being the by-product of something totally cerebral, leaving the glass half-full, but also, half-empty. Rand's greatest contribution in ideals from Atlas is really not economic, or social, or even satirical, though. It is in her utopic vision of a man whose weight is in that dollar sign he produces, and whose values they are measured by, regardless of his or her acts. If you can swallow this, you'll like Atlas. If you can't, take the idea of usefulness to be rich out, and why we still need the wealthy to become wealthier in this country.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: A must read for anyone who wonders what they're working for
Rating:
Summary: Typical Hollywood Sci-Fi Fair =-)
Review: I think of this book as a tale of good and evil, not unlike Star Wars. In Rand's book the Jedi Knights are engineers, while the "dark siders" are those who hold power but try not to think too much. In couching her ideas in terms of a sci-fi battle of good and evil, she made her beliefs much easier for me to understand. She also made trying to understand her ideas a lot of fun. For example, she has written some fairly explicit sexaul scenes. Well, like I argue...typical Hollywood.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting concepts intertwined with a compelling plot
Review: I heard about objectivism and the ideals of it and was skeptical of them before reading this book. After reading it however, it all fell into place. The book is one of the most thought provoking books I have ever read. Even though I feel there are some slight flaws within objectivism, the book is still definitely worth reading. The idea of having a philisophical utopia if everyone just acts in an individualistic, egoist way is quite absurd however. For one, you can never achieve this, and secondly people are not created equal. Some people are geniuses, while other are illiterate. Having an entire individualistic society would require that everyone can live as an individual, which is not so. If objectivism is to be viewed as black and white as Rand wishes us to, then we should not help the elderly or starving unless we have something personal to gain from it. Even though the book is long, I find the characters extremity intruiging as well as the story. Even though the philosophy reaches the extremes and sometimes goes over, it is definitely worth the read. Keep an open mind and read it as a story instead of trying to agree or disagree with everything on the way.
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