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Atlas Shrugged

Atlas Shrugged

List Price: $8.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A large and imposing slice of ham
Review: This novel is at its best when asserting the revolutionary power of rebellion, which it does with ringing authority about every eighty-two pages. In between, the book seems to get heavier and heavier with every page you turn, in ironic symmetry with the title (and the cover art). Lifting the book over your head is a terrible struggle, but it's worth it if you have done some working out, and have had a few of those carbo-loading carrot-and-celery drinks.

Reading this book at the beach can lead to very deep sunburn, if you do it in one sitting, although if you defy convention and assert the primacy of your individuality in order to get the sunburn, then it's OK. Even if nobody's looking.

Real Ayn Rand fans know to look for the secret messages embedded in the text every fortieth page (starting with page 6). If you gather together these messages and decode them properly, they reveal some amazing insights of Objectivist thinking, and likewise form a much more exciting novel than "Atlas Shrugged."

For all its charms, though, I still find this novel less readable than Wittgenstein's "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus."

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A deplorable romance novel and an empty philosophy
Review: I read this book for the first time at age 14, it thrilled me. Just finished listening to the Highbridge edition on cassette.
I think 14 was about the right age to read the book. My capsule review now is as follows:

An empty shell of a half-baked philosophy, borne along by a river of the worst sort of romance-novel prose and story structure.

The story was well-read by the narrator and entertaining enough on a long car trip. There are certainly better-fleshed-out versions of the philosophy espoused here, and the love story aspect is mushy and starry-eyed enough to make any post-teenager cringe. Ick.

Catherine Potter

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A receipe for living
Review: I have read this novel six times, first in 1972. It has taught me what is wrong with the world around us. The closer people follow this philosopy, the happier their lives become.
The "naysayers" of this philosopy are those who want to partake of unearned wealth and put their hands in my pocket.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: One star reviewer who DID read it
Review: I'll keep it short. The story is compelling, very compelling. The philosophy is disgusting. I found that I truly hated all of the characters that the reader is supposed to admire, and vice versa. As it has been 15 or so years since I've read it, the fact that I still remember as much of it as I do is a plus.
My one star grade is based solely on my distaste for Ms. Rand's philosophy of Objectivism and hedonistic, winner-take-all capitalism that is presented as though it were a religion.
Read it, but don't buy it. The best way to obtain this book, in keeping with Rand's world-view, would be to steal it from a homeless person who uses it as a pillow.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Amazing achievement. But..........
Review: If you don't have a conceptual mind, you will find this book boring, like most of the negative reviewers you will only focus on the events that happen throughout the book, (and it is a long book) instead of processing the ideas presented. And that's what this book is all about. I didn't find the story too good but keeping in mind that it serves as a vehicle for a great achievement (if not the highest) in the field of ideas makes it my favorite. A big mistake some people make when reading this book is that they compare it with the state of the world today, and will say it's too fictional, or if it's fiction how can it apply to our real lives?, it applies because the ideas in it are rational, logical (without contradicitions) and If you find a contradiction the problem is the premisses you have accepted, but not the book. this book tells you not how things are but the way they oughta be. If you have difficulty thinking on your own, this book will get you jump started in doing so.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A Prolonged Stabbing Sensation
Review: John Galt's radio address made me want to stab myself in the eyes. This desire was so powerful that I felt the need to tell you about it in an Amazon dot com review, so I guess the book must have some artistic merit.

Ultimately, it's an interesting book, whether or not you agree with the philosophy, it is just in desperate need of an editor. If you decide to read it, skip John Galt's radio address, that alone would put this book up to a 3.5/4 star level.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: don't read the one star reviews, they never read it
Review: I've read a bunch of bad reviews on this book, and I don't think any of them actually read the book. They just want to take a stab at her beliefs. I even read that the characters are completely one-dimensional. Not even close. It's an excellent book, one that will probably leave you mor einterested in Rand's other stuff too. A lot of the other reviews mention corporations and their "inherent evil," and it is as if the individual working in the corporation does not exist. This book shows that the individual does exist, and is the primary concern. We don't blame white america for John Gacy, why blame corporate america for kenneth lay? The only thng I did not like about this is that it is loooong. Some of the parts seem irrelevant too, but it isn't a sleeper by any means.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Life Changing Work
Review: For years I have put off reading Atlas Shrugged by the sheer size of the work. But after just completing Ms. Rand's masterpiece, I am sorry I waited so long.

Although I agree with her critics that her philosophical view can seem a little harsh (especially as to her observations about family), her commentary on the world and economics are right on.

I believe what makes a classic is its continued relevance throughout any period of history. Under this standard, Ann Rynd's masterpiece is a classic. In today's world where America is being criticized for its "go it alone" attitude and putting its self interest above the "collective good", the ghost of Ann Rynd can be heard. Her work is very relevant and is well worth the read.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: ambitiously ... pretentious
Review: You'll only be entertained if you agree with her philosophy wholesale or don't have one in ther first place, in which case you might want to kiss your free will goodbye. Lets be frank any philosophy that is based on a work of fiction can't be taken seriously.

The characters are profoundly UNimaginitive, they're all the same, and how they react to situations flies in the face of the realities of human psychology (a science she had a profound distrust in). Granted, these heros are supposed to be exceptional, but the only way they're exceptional is how exceptionally boring they are, and how readily they engage in conniving, manipulative behavior (or "rational self-interest" to objectivists).

The premise is flawed, too, since it rests on the mistaken assumption that if all the CEOs and captains of industry took off the world would just fall apart. Equating wealth with ability is the most obvious piece of fiction in her premise, wealthy people aren't exceptionally "able" so much as they are pathologically goal-oriented and opportunistic. Was rand naive or dishonest?

I might reccommend "the fountainhead" instead, as it is a better book and slightly less long-winded and pretentious that atlas, but a warning to the uninitiated: All of Rand's novels are a vehicle she uses to indoctrinate the unsuspecting. (the word propaganda comes to mind) They're all preachy to a degree, and her later books are the worst in this regard; it's not surprising she dispensed with the pretense and retired to the bully pulpit after writing atlas shrugged.

A proper career path would have been to formulate the philosophy FIRST and THEN write a book based on the philosophy. Doing the reverse just makes it look like you're, well, a loon. No wonder she was laughed at by academia. Sure, rand may have had a philosophy, but she hated people who disagreed with her, so she is disqualified as an intellectual, in my book. Even if some of her ideas had any merit (some did), she did them a disservice by not allowing them to undergo the academic scrutiny that ALL philisophical ideas undergo. If she had any confidence in her ideas, what did she have to fear? (yes, fear)

She couldn't present her ideas calmly, so what you have is the over-reaching, paranoid invective that is atlas shrugged.

Snap out of it, America, Rand was always just a writer of fiction of limited literary merit. It will be a cold day if you can find a reader who is NOT an objectivist say this is a literary masterpiece.

And yes, I read this book twice back when I didn't know better. I used to be a fan, but I grew out of it. Some call it loss of idealism, I call it maturity.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: an embarassment to libertarians
Review: Ayn Rand is probably the most embarassing figure to libertarians. Her works became less and less realistic over time, and many of her characters are as three-dimensional as cardboard. As for her "libertarian" philosophy, though somewhat consistent with rigorous libertarianism, it is infantile and incomplete.

Furthermore, no matter what she spoke of in her book, her actions say otherwise. Ayn Rand was a dictatorial snob who maintainer her own little cult, and kicked out anyone who so much as dared disagree with her. She alienated Murray N. Rothbard by demanding that he either divorce his wife or force her to become an atheist. Is this the action of a libertarian? I say no. I say this is the action of a despot.


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