Atlas Shrugged

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Summary: Changed my life once and for all
Review: There was a survey done a few years ago asking what was the most infuential book you've ever read. 'Atlas Shrugged' ranked number two, second only to THE BIBLE! This says it all for me. Before I read this book, I was a flaming liberal with all kinds of ridiculous perspectives; now I am a staunch conservative and libertarian (and proud of it). If everyone read (and understood) this book, it could save our country and the world from the disasters we are heading for (if you don't know what I mean, you REALLY NEED to read this book!). I was amazed at the parallels to today's society present in this novel and find it hard to believe it was written some 40 years ago.

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Summary: This is the best book I've ever read, I couldn't put it down
Review: This book changed my life, it's just the greatest, I'm buying copies for everyone I know.

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Summary: A must read book for any college buisness major!
Review: This book is a book you can't put down. The book descrbes the perfect buisness woman. Mrs. Tagget is a character that you wish was real. The book is a mystery, love story, and a insperational book all in one. After I read this book, I lent it to my mother who hasn't read a book in about five years. She couldn't put it down either.

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Summary: Thought provoking
Review: This book will make you stop and think about your values and what if anything you can do for others through doing it for yourself. This book tells us that we live by societies rules whether we like it or not because we do not want to rock the boat! And when we choose to live like that, we become immune to the world around us. This book reminds me so much of how the government of the U.S.A. is working today. This is a must read for anyone who wants to live life the way we were meant to live it. Undoubtedly one of the best books I have ever read or listened to. I listened to this book on tape while driving back and forth to work, (I drive an hour each way)and I can tell you that I was at work or home before I knew it. There are 12 hours on 8 tapes. Ayn Rand had a unique quality in her storytelling and I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a good read to pass the time.

Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking
Review: This book will make you stop and think about your values and what if anything you can do for others through doing it for yourself. This book tells us that we live by societies rules whether we like it or not because we do not want to rock the boat! And when we choose to live like that, we become immune to the world around us. This book reminds me so much of how the government of the U.S.A. is working today. This is a must read for anyone who wants to live life the way we were meant to live it. Undoubtedly one of the best books I have ever read or listened to. I listened to this book on tape while driving back and forth to work, (I drive an hour each way)and I can tell you that I was at work or home before I knew it. There are 12 hours on 8 tapes. Ayn Rand had a unique quality in her storytelling and I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a good read to pass the time.

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Summary: thought - provoking philosophy of the virtues of Capitalism
Review: This is an excellent source for ideas to elevate the morality of capitalism. By encasing her philosophy of Objectivism in a fictional setting, Rand enables the reader to apply her ideals to a societal setting that is easily understood by the masses. This format creates reader empathy towards Rand's cause because her reader can easily sympathize with the heros' and heroines' struggles, while effectively provoking the hatred towards her intendeds. Even if the reader does not embrace her Objectivist's ideals, this is still an excellent book for those whose goal is to work for a purpose, strive for higher grounds, and whom do not compromise their integrity to the moment. Rand has created an effective tool for the continued development of any open - minded individual.

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Summary: An ideological revenge fantasy.
Review: This novel represents a regression from Rand's earlier fiction. "The Fountainhead" is suffused with some of the same fantasy elements that twist and turn this novel's plot (paranoia, absurd "villains", instant intimacy at first glance between heroes, "irrefutable" speeches, sharp repartee at dress-up galas, et cetera ad infinitum). Nevertheless, "The Fountainhead" has a richer feel for people and more solidity to the "world" created within it, even though all its characters tend to speak to one another as if in a 1940's movie or a modern prime-time soap opera. "Atlas Shrugged" lacks even these endearments -- the book is mainly filled with cartoon characters. They might as well be talking to one another with speech balloons. I can't say for sure which is worse, the heroes which chatter back and forth repeating the *exact same philosophy without a single variation* (this, in spite of the author's theoretical! exaltation of "individualism"), or the uniformly mealy-mouthed villains who have nothing whatsoever to do with their lives but attempt to destroy the heroes. You get two of these for the price of one in those scenes which pit a hero against a villain -- Rand devastates her opponents with clever turns of phrases that are the verbal equivalent of "Kapow!". The problem is simply that Rand has ceased to understand either human beings or real life -- everything is (either good or bad) ideology to her, and the poor robots in the novel must spout it incessantly. Sex, love, money, marriage, religion, cigarettes, a good-tasting hamburger, a train wreck -- all life is connected in a total system in her mind, all is reduced to "bare essentials", premises, syllogisms, and conclusions. This excludes all other factors and is root cause of the black-and-white drabness of the novel. "Atlas Shrugged" culminates in Rand's typical piece de resistance! , a speech which turns the plot on its ear by dumfounding a! ll the foes with its unassailable logic. If witty put-downs are the fists ("punch lines") of the novel, The Speech is an atom bomb which, by its simple proclamation, obliterates all opposing thoughts in its blast zone (in "The Fountainhead", this zone is a courtroom; in "Atlas Shrugged", by a plot trick, it is the whole world via radio). This is the "revenge" part of the fantasy -- Rand is smashing her ideological foes. Naturally, the stick-figure bad guys in the novel haven't got a chance after that, and they know instantly that they've been beaten by a master. The funny thing about a Rand novel is how everyone seems to agree in the end with her *entire* philosophy. First, there are the good guys; of these there are a) child prodigies who always knew it from age 9 and never lost sight of it and b) ninety-nine percenters who aren't too sure if they agree with *all* of it at the novel's start and whose complete conversion to the Trut! h is the novel's only character development. Then there are the bad guys; these are either a) those who already know the Truth and are fighting it with all their might because they want to crush the heroes and make mankind their slave, or b) those who stupidly oppose the Truth while being secretly afraid of it because they know, deep down, that its really True after all. Finally, there is the Common Man who, after The Speech has been delivered, has found voice for his inarticulate assent to the Truth at last, and who expresses a simple gratitude for his enlightenment to the one(s) who delivered it to him. He cannot hope the match the achievements of the heroes, but his spirit is one with theirs -- they have provided him with a firm foundation for life to come. In this last group we find Rand's fans. These are the ones who give copies of "Atlas Shrugged" to their teenage children in the feckless hope that it can serve as a substitute religion, i.e., a guide to hi! gher understanding and moral fortitude. Such is the fate o! f all-encompassing thought systems with ideals that lead, basically, nowhere. The parallel to Marxist-Leninism is most compelling -- Rand's overtly atheistic philosophy has become its own false god.

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Summary: A book that will change your life, and binds you to others.
Review: While one of the longest books I ever read, the year period which it took me to read it was very exciting. I wanted to savor every moment. This is a book which struck a moral cord in my life. My then boyfreind, and now husband, also loves Ayn Rand, and it is something that we have always shared. When you speak to others who have read Ayn Rand's masterpiece, you feel an instant conection to them. This to me is the mark of an extraordinary book