Rating: 
Summary: Just. Read. The. Book.
Review: This is by far, my most beloved piece of literature around. However, the Audio CD version of it is absolutely horrible. I actually bought this version to share it with my friends who don't seem to have the time and patience to trudge through Rand's wordiness. My only recommendation is to pick up the book and read it. You will not be disappointed.The problem with the Audio CD version of this thing is that if you turn off your CD player before the disk is over, you have to "seek" within the CD to find where you were last. There is one track per CD. There is no logical pause between chapters. The narrator thinks he needs to put on some goofy Spanish accent when speaking as D'Anconia. Maybe some day the publishers of Audio versions of books will get it right and produce a product worth buying. Until that day, keep buying the paper, ink, & glue versions and happy reading, my friends.
Rating: 
Summary: A Dangerous Book
Review: It will change forever how you think about yourself and the world around you. Ayn Rand was a product of the industrial age - of frontiers and unlimited resources -and, though Atlas Shrugged is beginning to suffer from the advances of time and science, her philosophy remains unimpeachable. A must read guide for the road to mental freedom - as well as an engrossing novel.
Rating:
Summary: Nice touch
Review: I would say that this book was good. Its writing style in my opinion was fluid. If you read any other book you would definitely notice a difference in wording and general flow of the story. The chapters were all aptly titled and I enjoyed finding out exactly why Rand chose each name of the chapter by reading the chapter itself. The reference to Aristotle in the three books that compose the novel are also a nice touch. The only low points of the book are the seemingly incongrous setting characters. The main character Dagny Taggart will enter a normal setting like a diner and some homeless person will begin talking about how seciety is insane or evil. Typically homeless people are concerned with obtaining food or a place to sleep and not philosophical issues. All in all I will give this book five stars instead of four because the style was truly unique and Ayn Rand's philosophy was woven into the story and characters quite nicely.
Rating:
Summary: A surprisingly gripping and highly readable manifesto
Review: Atlas Shrugged has been selling well for nearly 50 years. It is easy to see why. Rand love Hollywood movies and she was also a philosopher. As a result, she is one of the very few philosophers who can write fantastically. This is one heck of a page turner. Peopled by two types, action driven doers and parasitical whiners, Atlas Shrugged details a final showdown between the moochers and the producers, the complainers and the thinkers, the doers in life and the observers. Written during the cold war in 1956, it is stunningly relevant to controversies we are engaged in and battling today such as affirmative action, religious terrorists, moral irresponsibility, etc. You may absolutely despise Rand's heros - they are arrogant, atheistic, self centered, disdainful of the weak and dim-witted - but you will find it difficult to keep from reading to the end. Rand can write up a storm - her pen blazes on each page because she cared deeply about what she was writing. But don't get the idea that this is some intellectual cold blooded affair - this is one heck of a novel - full of humor, insight, sex, adventure, etc. It is written on an epic scale with an eye for everything that encompassses life. Rand is a controversial figure - even an unlikable one - but I like her book - it is great. If a book is to be judged by its ability to pull you in and give you a great emotional and intellectual ride, then "Atlas Shrugged" scores big time.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly written..
Review: I was always curious to read Ayn Rand because I know she has had a powerful influence on many successful people. Now I can't comment on her philosophy because in all fairness I didn't read the entire novel. In fact I gave up on about page 200. I got a sense of what her philosphy is, and I was somewhat drawn to it. Her writing, however, I found to be atrocious. Where the heck was her editor? And here's a handy rule of thumb: anytime you come across characters named Dagny, Francisco and Orren, run, don't walk to the exit.
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't Quite Connect With It
Review: Not everyone likes the same music, the same movies or the same books - it's a matter of personal taste. For me, I just didn't connect with all those readers who have raised Atlas Shrugged to the rarified level of being "one of the greatest novels ever". The storyline was absorbing and the central characters of Dagny Taggart and John Galt were quite interesting. However, all of the supporting characters were either good and brilliant or evil, sheepish and dim-witted. I can understand why author Ayn Rand did this but that polarization became so extreme that the characters became ridiculous and thus greatly diminished her philosophical message. I also had difficulty buying into Ms Rand's premise that in a deteriorating society the individuals most capable of rectifying the problems would withdraw and allow the system to fail. Perhaps this was the result of Ms Rand's Eastern European experiences but this society has responded quite differently in that these captains of industry confronted and prevailed. I realize that Atlas Shrugged is a work of fiction but not buying into the premise made it difficult to enjoy to book. Finally, I had a real problem with Ms Rand's need to drive home certain points/philosophies/whatever by continually repeating them. The sheer number of these redundancies became somewhat tiresome and made no small contribution to the book's 1,168 pages. All of this is not to say that I disliked Atlas Shrugged. I did like it but I personally wouldn't raise it to the level of "great literature". But others do. It's just a matter of personal taste.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely ponderous, but thought provoking
Review: To state things "objectively" at the outset, I feel a rating should not be based on how much the reviwer agrees with the philosophy of the author; it should be based on its readability and the extent to which it provokes thoughts in the mind of the reader. And this book is extremely thought-provoking, especially to someone who has not read Rand's works before and is not familiar with her philosophy. At the same time, someone who is not in complete agreement with her viewpoint can get extremely frustrated (as happened with me) over her simplistic assumptions of life and people (especially painting people in black-and-white; the characters either completely follow her moral code or are in complete opposition to it; it follows that the negative characters are seldom able to make coherent and rational statements in response to the protagonists, which, in spite of all Rand says, CAN be made.).
I must admit that I was disappointed with this book, having read Fountainhead earlier (which I consider to be one of the best books I have ever read, even though I am not in complete agreement with what she says). As so many other reviewers have stated, her stubbornness in not letting the book be edited makes reading extremely ponderous. This is especially true of the later stages of the book, where all pretensions of telling a story are abandoned to promote objectivism, her philosophy. The characters tend to sermonize (and they are pretty long sermons, too, the longest one being 60 pages of John Galt's speech) at the slightest excuse, and these sermons are extremely repetitive in content; the characters seem to forget that they have had those same thoughts about a person and have made the same enlightened remarks about that person a few chapters before. That is the only reason why I take away one star from the rating.
Moral of the story: Ponderous though it may be, the book is a must read to get a different perspective of life.
Caution: Consider her philosophy carefully, but take it with more than a pinch of salt. Spend some time thinking about it and considering how it applies to your world, rather than converting to it 100%.
Rating:
Summary: Good for reading, but not for re-reading
Review: "Atlas Shrugged" boasts an intriguing plot, but suffers from a saturation of Rand's philosophy: Objectivism is first introduced subtly, gracefully into the narrative, then pounded relentlessly throughout the second and third chapters. The metaphors and symbolisms in the book are striking, but like the characters, are used for the single purpose of driving home the immorality of a society that demands self-sacrifice. Rand's writing would have benefited enormously from good editing; the book likely could have been trimmed down a few hundred pages without losing its impact. All in all, it's a good read, but read it again and you'll wish you hadn't: the philosophy, which seems novel and impregnable at first glance, becomes the main character of the novel, pushing back all the elements that should have made this a work of fiction. Still, if you want to see a future ravaged not by a nuclear holocaust, but by human incompetence and irresponsibility, if you want to see an uncanny breed of heroes, then by all means, read the book. But you've been warned.
Rating:
Summary: Some things to remember
Review: There are a couple threads that seem to run through most of the negative reviews of this book. One is that it's too long. The second is, the characters aren't like real people. The third is, it's unrealistic. I don't disagree with any of these points, but I'm giving it a positive review anyway. The one thing that people need to realize before reading this book, is that, obviously, it is more of a statement of a philsophy than a novel per se (a philosophy that she repeatedly hammers into your brain without mercy). The characters and the world of the novel are just allegorical embodiments of the elements of Rand's philosophy, which is, without a doubt, "extreme." Like any extreme philosophy, Rand's work inspires both adulation and hatred, with not much in between. The same is true of people like Marx. Personally, I don't think she got it 100% right. But I did find a lot of value in the book, not only in what I agreed with, but in thinking about what I disagreed with and why. Whatever your opinions, Rand forces you to be reflective, and, if you disagree with her, to seriously consider your reasons why. That, to me, is the mark of a great work of philosophy. And yes, it could have certainly been improved upon with some judicious editing.
Rating:
Summary: recommended reading
Review: I'll start with the negative. Yes, this book is a bit lengthy. Yes, Ayn Rand's smug tone can be grating at times. And yes, the characters are all drawn in unrealistic shades of black and white. BUT, this does not make it a bad or irrelevant book. There is much truth and insight here, and I think the best way to view it is as an allegory in which Rand sets up her characters and their actions as symbolic of different traits of humanity as a whole. She uses this contrived world to study the motivations behind different modes of human behavior, and I think she arrives at some very insightful conclusions. This book will make you think hard and question much conventional wisdom about work, love, religion, and morality. Even if you don't agree with any of it, it will stimulate your mind and help you clarify your values. On a literary level, despite the flaws mentioned above, I think this is Ayn Rand's greatest work. It's a surprising brisk read for its 1200 pages. The plot moves pretty fast and Rand's dynamic writing style keeps it from ever getting dull. The characters are memorable and I found myself growing quite attached to them over the course of the novel. Dagny is a great heroine, a vast improvement over the obnoxious Dominique from The Fountainhead. Hank Rearden is probably the character who is easiest to identify with, the man whose sense of justice blinds him to the advantage others are taking of him. Fransisco is a bit annoying but he becomes more human and likeable towards the end. I won't say much more, don't want to give away too much. But I highly recommend this novel to anyone.
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