This was really, really thought-provoking.

I'll come right out and say it: I am, in fact, a capitalist. So this book didn't challenge my ideology so much as confirm it, although I don't agree with much of Rand's objectivism. In fact, I have a great many bones to pick with her ideology, but I don't really want to go into a ton of that here.

I think this book falls into two categories: the story and the philosophy. The story is the conductor for the philosophy, but they're still somewhat separate elements, even if the story could not exist without the philosophy. So...I'll deal with them both as separate elements xD

STORY:
The story is deeply complex and vast in scope. We've got Dagny Taggart, our heroine, a whip-smart business executive who runs a train company and has horrible taste in men. We've got Hank Rearden, the steel tycoon who's only loosely based on John D. Rockefeller and who really isn't as sympathetic as he seems at the beginning. We've got Eddie Willers, the only decent man in this story in terms of morality, who's really just trying to do his job. Then there's Jim Taggart, who's a horrible, horrible person and needs to die. Lillian Rearden was my least favorite character in the whole book--while I could have felt bad for her if she'd let herself be the victim, the way she played everyone else was infuriating and I honestly completely understood why Hank hated her. The cast of both heroes and villains was vast. I loved that.

In terms of plot: this honestly read a lot like your average YA dystopian. We've got Special Snowflake Girl Dagny, who's completely unaware that she's sort of the driving force of a revolution even as she opposes it. There's four separate guys who are in love with her; this kind of drove me crazy. Every one of those guys (except for one, who was my favorite character overall because he was just Plain Nice) is the aggressive alpha male type guy who has a creepily strong sex drive and feels the need to act on his rush of feelings long before he actually states his love. The sexuality in this novel was entirely of one nature, and I hated it, if I'm being frank, which is part of the reason for the deducted star. Faaaar too much on-screen sex and the attitude of the characters toward it...I was quite uncomfortable with that whole thing. xD So...definitely can't recommend on that count.

The story was a negative arc, honestly. It starts out with the pinnacle of big businesses and only proceeds to spiral downward from them. I hated that. I hated it more than I could say. But not in a stars-deducted way--in a fury at the characters sort of way. The emotion of this story was expertly written, especially for a story that is supposed to not deal with emotions and only be about the mind. So...points for that.

The ending was another negative point for me. I felt it was remarkably weak, but that's to be expected with a story this long and detailed. How do you land a 1,100 page novel dealing with so many social issues? I don't know, and Rand doesn't seem to either. It was an okay ending in the context of the story, but I would have liked to see a different ending. Not sure what...but I digress xD

Dagny was a very compelling heroine, even if I hated her decisions as regarded men. I started out liking Hank, very quickly learned to hate him, and then had sort-of forgiven him by the end of the story. John...oh, what to say? Who is John Galt? Much of the rest of the cast ran together, although their roles are very iconic (a philosopher pirate? A copper baron playboy? A Cinderella story that ends in utter tragedy?) It's well done and I genuinely enjoyed this purely as a novel. Was it infuriating? Was it annoying? Was it aggravating? Yes to all of that. But...I liked it at the same time. I liked it a lot. I was addicted. xD

Now for:

THE PHILOSOPHY
This book gave two sorts of cautionary tales: one regarding the state of the economy when the government takes over, and one regarding the fact that when man lives without God, man's depravity will unconditionally take over.

The anti-capitalism presented in this story was terrifying. I dislike socialism and I'm not afraid to admit that, but the view of it presented by Rand horrified me. I was especially riveted by Jeff Allen's description of the Twentieth Century Motor Factory; here the ideal of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" was put into practice on a small scale, and oh, what a concept this book gave of it. After all, how can we really decide what a man's "ability" and "need" are? Rand's answer--men vote on it, and use it to throw their fellow men under the bus. It's dangerous. It's a dangerous notion and a dangerous act to put into practice.

Yeah, I'm a capitalist, and I'm proud to admit it xD

But in terms of the depravity...oh, such depravity.

That's why I'm not going to embrace objectivism. Rand is unapologetically an atheist and her characters are too, and there is no kindness or love in their hearts. "I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine" is the mantra of the man characters...and I have a problem with that. Kindness is not weakness. Selflessness is not weakness. Giving to others does not reduce you in esteem. And oh, what horrific things were done by even the good characters. They don't need God, for they are their own gods...and that is a terrible thing for man to embrace.

Who is John Galt? That is the question this massive tome undertakes to answer, and while it takes forever to get there, it does answer it. In detail, great detail. It's fascinating. It's riveting. It's addicting. And oh, it's troubling.

4 stars.

2023-01-23? Finished reading this Kindle edition. Excellent. Hard to recommend more strongly, it is such a powerful, insightful, important, and potentially life-changing book. I updated my review of another edition already, I believe, so I don't want to repeat too much here. I will note however that I have highlighted many parts of the book and commented on many too and posted them on Goodreads, so feel free to check them out if interested.

This book stands up VERY well over time. Truly a classic that is loved by many millions and hated by many others, who feel incredibly threatened by the truth Rand speaks about the lies they live by.

The book/author are far from perfect. I have very real and well-grounded objections and questions about some of the ideas, characterizations, ideals, etc. portrayed in the book. But they pale compared to the important things described in the book about the dangers of altruism, socialism/communism, cronyism, as well as the positive things stated about money, capitalism, entrepreneurship, creators/producers vs. moochers, etc.

2022-12-07 Started rereading (the Kindle edition of) this book in earnest about a month ago, after about 45 years or so since I first read it. Am about 20% into it now and LOVING it. Simply amazing book. That does not mean that I don't see some strange stuff that I can't explain or that I don't disagree with in the book - I certainly do.

I have been using the "share" function on my Kindle to highlight for folks a few choice short parts on Goodreads. Not getting any feedback on those, but a few simple "likes" along the way.

What a book for the times. Sure wish more folks took this it seriously, since the issues Rand discusses are so timeless and her perspective is so clear and enlightening on most of them.

2022-05-29 I found out about this book in college. Several student friends of mine who I respected greatly, highly recommended it, one via his review in the student newspaper. I had read Rand's "Anthem" novella freshman year, since a girlfriend recommended it and it was very short. But unfortunately, I was not sufficiently impressed, since it dealt with such fundamental ideas as individuality, I vs. we, totalitarian dystopia, etc. and not the burning issues of the day (in my mind) that would motivate me to be willing to take the big leap to a ~1200 page novel. I am a very slow reader, and the prospect of committing ~60+ hours to such a project was just way too much then.

But after:
- I graduated,
- I read Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
- I read some key works by Ludwig Mises who was the absolute best and most important economist of the century
- I read The Fountainhead,
- I found more new friends who I really respected who had read, loved and highly recommended Atlas

I then did devote the time and was RICHLY rewarded.

This is probably the best, most important philosophical novel of the 20th century.
One can read it on many levels, or for many purposes:
- A passionate love story
- A Science Fiction thriller
- A powerful philosophical system very much in touch with reality
- A future-history with lots of economics, sociology, psychology and philosophy
- A Cassandra tale of warning
- An ideological screed
- A stilted attack on leftist/statist ideas, personalities, outcomes, etc.
- A clarion call for people of principle to stand up and fight for themselves and what is right
Yup - it has all of that and more...
Pick the thing(s) you are looking for and check it out.
Ignore it at your own, and society's cost.

And as my wife keeps telling me, and my head nods, "we are living in Atlas Shrugged..."

PS - After carefully reading, hearing, watching critiques of Ayn Rand and particularly of this book, over a 40+ year period, it is abundantly clear to me that most of the people who have problems with it - who typically excoriate her for one reason or the other are using made-up reasons. I strongly encourage you to look at the evidence they present about what they say Ayn Rand said in this book or her other books, speeches, etc. Typically, they are NOT accurately portraying what she actually wrote or said, but rather caricaturing it to look bad.

That said, Ayn Rand was not perfect. She is not a god (except to some). She was human. She made mistakes, had lapses, overstated her case, etc. etc. But gosh, NOTHING like what most critics have said about her.

Recently my 18 year-old son convinced me to give Ayn Rand's literary classic "Atlas Shrugged" another go. I think this is 3rd (and probably the last time) I try reading it but couldn't bring myself to finish it, so I feel like a let him down a little bit :(.

I of course, shouldn't be surprised that the author's style of writing as well as her philosophy and politics are not my cup of tea, but found it interesting that my son was so intrigued by it.

Although I know many adults have enjoyed this novel, there's perhaps something that young adults and teens find enlightening and irresistible about this story with its unapologetic, vehement defense of individualism and it denouncement and outrage of collectivism.

After we debated some of Rand's ideology for a while, I let my son know that I feel proud that he's a person with his own values and political views, that many times differed from mine.

I didn't say this out loud, but I also thought to myself, let's discuss this book again in 10 years and let's see how much you agree with Rand's views then!. Then again perhaps I am the one whose perspective will change in another 10 years...

The best way to understand Rand's message in this book is to simply close it, and beat yourself over the head with it as hard as possible. This is essentially what Rand does throughout it's ridiculous length. I see no reason that a book with a strong lesson can't also have decent character development, natural dialog, and a believable plot. Of course, I also think that you can establish a theme with subtlety, and trust that your reader will figure it out. Ayn Rand writes as if the elements of fiction get in the way of her message, and that reader's skull's are extraordinarily thick and require a firm beating over the head to absorb the theme. Countless philosophers have said the same thing better (and quicker).

I realize that I offend many atheists, agnostics and free thinkers by writing this, but as one myself, I have to say that a passionate love of Ayn Rand is not required for membership in that particular club. Save yourself a headache, and pick up the much shorter Anthem. It's just as overdone, but weighing it at ounces rather than pounds, it'll leave a smaller dent in your head.

Oh, and if you're only reading it to answer the question on geeky bumper sticker "Who is John Galt?" He's the hero and a symbol of the capitalism in it's conflict over what Rand saw as the oppressive and ultimately destructive forces of large government type societies (you, know. . .socialism, fascism, etc.). It's usually stuck on the butt end of a car to express general disenchantment with big government, and a lack of heroes. Now you know, so go read something worthwhile, and if you insist on reading Ayn Rand, hit her non-fiction. Stripped of an attempt at storytelling, she doesn't do half bad.

I read this about 20 years ago, and if I'm honest I can recall very little about it.

At the time I didn't know anything about Ayn Rand, nor was I aware that the book had a heavy political / philosophical agenda, or that culture wars washed around it.

I think I was prompted into reading it when seeing it in a store a day or two after seeing Officer Barbrady's critique on South Park - a review that didn't tell me much as it was in a left-leaning cartoon but from an authoritarian character:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j56I...

I did, of course, notice the politics of the thing at work whilst reading it. I wasn't, and still am not, a political reader and such messages have to be particularly heavy handed to be noticed, even more so to distract me from the story.

As a scientist I had a natural sympathy for our hero who appeared to be standing up for intellect, reason, and clear thinking against a sea of red tape, vested interests, and resistance to change. However, even with the powerful following wind of being in the protagonist's head and seeing everything through their lens, the point of view pushed by the narrative did grow less and less palatable. The bias grew so thick as to stray into parody. Everyone in our hero's way was a useless moocher seeking to rob the earnings he had made with his own two hands. Everyone who disagreed with him was a lentil-farming hippy or a self-absorbed oxygen sink who refused all opportunity to help themselves.

I recall that the story remained mildly interesting and I did make it to the end. I had a libertarian friend who, some years later, became teary eyed when describing the John Galt speech as the best piece of literature in the history of writing... I didn't admit to him that I had grown so bored with that part that I skipped to the end of it.

It's a long book, and the story (as far as I recall it) is far from terrible. However, the thickly applied lectures on libertarian philosophy - which felt to me deeply selfish, amoral, and as empty as they are shallow - all while describing everyone else as selfish, greedy thieves ... grated on this usually oblivious reader to a point where the potential enjoyment was heavily eroded.



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I started reading this book eight years ago. Today, I finally finished it. Eight years! This book had been haunting me for eight years. It just sat there on the shelf, taunting me, saying: "oh no, dear reader, you dare not pick me up again. You know how boring I am. You know how tediously overwrought I am throughout, and you fear me! You fear me, don't you, Mr. Reader?"

And now I can finally turn around that hallucinogenic monstrosity, and say: "No, Book! I fear you no longer!" Because somehow, in a fit of immense willpower, I managed to finally force myself through the last several hundred pages of Atlas Shrugged this afternoon.

This is certainly the most overwritten book that I've ever read. In fact, I'd be inclined to nominate it for most overwritten book ever written. Reading it is like running a marathon, except you are only allowed to slowly walk during this marathon, and after the first two miles of the marathon, the scenery disappears as you are directed into a narrow room, wherein the walls contain the same repeated texture over and over again for the rest of your seemingly endless journey. Ayn Rand is not a subtle writer. This book batters you over the head with her philosophy again and again and again and again and again and again. And for those who have not gotten their head around her philosophical ideas by close to the end, there is an infamous seventy (!!) page speech explaining them all again. For me, it was infuriating.

I don't even take issue with Ayn Rand's philosophy. I disagree with it (quite strongly), sure. But it doesn't offend me in a powerful way like it offends so many people. Instead, this book offends me. I only really finished it to say that I had. It's a detestable reading experience, and I recommend it only to people seeking to serve some kind of penance.

A few good points:
+I actually came to care much more about railroad management than I expected I would. The first part, where the focus is mostly on railroad management, is probably the best part of the book. I don't really know what it says about the rest of the book though, when its most entertaining portion concerns rail logistics.
+The sense of decline over the course of the novel is palpable. I did feel like a great deal changed over the course of the story - but Rand did spend over a thousand pages creating this sense of change. Like literally every other element of the novel, this could still have been streamlined.
+Eddie Willers is a sweetheart.

BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD:
-THE MANY HOURS OF MY LIFE I SPENT READING THIS THAT I WILL NEVER GET BACK.

This review probably lacks nuance, but I'm so glad to have finally finished this book. If you're interested in Ayn Rand's philosophy, there must must must be better ways to explore it than by reading Atlas Shrugged.

Once, a long time ago, my mother told me Atlas Shrugged was her favorite book. To this day I cannot reconcile this fact with reality: my mom is the meekest, kindest, most considerate little Presbyterian woman on the planet. She's about as far from a venture capitalist as you can get: she works in an infant daycare and makes peanuts by watching the children of working parents who go to their own high-paying, high-profile, high-stress jobs. So when I finally picked up a copy of this book, the year after I graduated college, I was confused. Was she serious? Maybe her telling me that was an elaborate test, to get me to read it and draw the actual conclusion she held which is that of humility and service to others. Or maybe she'd just seen me read big books (The Dragonlance Chronicles was a staple of my childhood) and was trying to bond by naming the longest that she'd ever read. Or maybe I've just completely misremembered the whole conversation. Whatever the case, my mother is the least likely to be called an Objectivist you can think of.

2 stars, in my personal rating scale, means a book that I personally do not enjoy but can see some value in or at least understand its appeal to others. There is some decent writing in this novel (though if you produce a volume this size there's bound to be at least one or two interesting sentences per the law of averages). It is certainly fodder for discussion of various philosophical and moral systems of thought. I wouldn't say it was a complete waste of time that I read it. But I am leery of anyone who says it has shaped their life, inspired them in some way, or is one of their favorites.

Except for mom, of course.

I read the first third of this massive book—1200 pages—and finished the rest as an audiobook on a road trip. Without the trip, I would not have bothered finishing it. The story lacks depth, with negligible character development. The protagonists, 'the producers,' are inherently good, while the antagonists, 'the looters,' are inherently bad. This deliberate literary device emphasises Rand's "Objectivist" philosophy but makes for a predictable and tedious reading experience. Readers interested in Rand's philosophy should focus on Part III Chapter VII, or Rand's non-fiction work, 'The Virtue of Selfishness,' which is a more succinct 170 pages.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand opened a whole new world for me. One of the best books I’ve read in a long time. The Earth Children’s Series by Jean Auel were my favorite books until reading this and now they both are. Picking up some of the classics to read on my list in Barnes & Noble, I ran into an older gentleman who worked there and noticed what I was perusing. He recommended Atlas Shrugged and I had never heard of it. When I realized it was the same person who wrote Fountainhead, I thought that it sounded vaguely familiar but I had not known of it or could remember anything I had heard about it. So, I bought the paperback with the tiny writing and over 1000 pages. I can not tell you how much I absolutely loved this book. It took me about 200 pages to get into it. I was never much on philosophy and didn’t know much about this Objectivism that Any Rand was writing about. But she used politics as an analogy, and threw in her beliefs about Capitalism which I very much agreed with, so after getting past the setup of the story, I was abruptly drawn in. Objectivism specializes in showing how all our motives are really just stem from selfishness or should be, leading up to the pursuit of one’s own happiness. She wraps this idea around a government in America in the 40’s who begin to embrace Socialism at its worst and follows it to its extreme. It reaffirmed everything I believed in concerning taxes, welfare, and monopolies. An economy that is forced over time to subject itself to extreme socialism eventually fails, and the book, in a nutshell, ends with all social structures collapsing, and NY growing dark for lack of energy being able to be piped to it. Meanwhile, in a little valley far away, the most intelligent, productive minds of the era, make plans for economy regrowth with plenty of new and innovative ideas thrown in. Ideas that they were not allowed to possess in the socialist economy. It also had some good romance thrown in for good measure. It was beautifully written and touched me deeply. I wanted to run around shouting yes! This is what will happen if we let Obama get his way with our health care! But since I don’t have a pulpit, only a car, I instead got a bumper sticker that said, Who is John Galt? Hopefully that might cause at least one person in this world to sit up and ask some questions, like I did. I already got an older copy of Fountainhead and added it to my list of must read classics. I also began acquiring any book written by or about Ayn Rand that I could find. She is a phenomenal writer. I absolutely loved this book and her writing is in such a class all its own, it is, it its own right, a classic.

Note: I think that even if someone doesn't agree with the ideologies of Rand, if they're honest, they have to at least admit her writing is amazing. I'm really not convinced that the people who wrote how awful this book is, aren't really attributing their dislike for Rand's opinions to her style of writing.

5 Stars for Atlas Shrugged (audiobook) Ayn Rand read by Scott Brick. This is such a epic story. I wonder about Ayn Rand’s life and what she went through to inspire such a book. This is the second time I’ve listened to this audiobook. I realized this time it’s an early dystopian novel. This book was written more than sixty years ago and many of the principles are still relevant today.
Scott Brick, the narrator, is such a pro. This couldn’t have been easy to record. He has the perfect tone for this story.

When my mother gave me this book and said, "I think you will like this; I read it over a vacation in a week when I was your age," I took one look at the massive text and couldn't believe it. She also said that I reminded her of the characters....a statement to this day I take pride in....
And that is exactly what I learned from this book: that pride is most beautiful thing, and to live on this earth means that one must understand its reality, and learn to use one's mind to make it what one wants it to be. It is about truly loving life and all that it means to 'live' it. It is the reason why I understand myself as a man who belongs on earth....

It is very long (almost 1200 pages), so get ready for an epic. I won't try to say it is great literature, though if the style fits the person who is reading it, it will certainly be an amazing read. It can be long-winded and wordy at times, but what philospher isn't? My advice: stick with it through the first half of the first section: it takes it bit to get going in the book, but once it starts, it is worth it....

To the proposition that we all have inside of us the inherent values to be heros: we just need to learn the virtues that will bring those values out of us...
C.S. Leary

Press 1 if you would like to wait on hold for 3 hours and 45 minutes for a representative. Press 2 if you would like to listen to a recording of our website. Press 3 if you are so disgusted with this process that you just want to give up.

Option 3 is more and more tempting these days…

Atlas Shrugged is on many college admission essays that I wonder how often this very review with be plagiarized. Hi, Harvard and Oxford!

Before I really get into this 1,000+ page tome, GoodReads, can you do me a favor and give out badges when we read 1,000+ page books?

Readings books of this size is like climbing Mount Everest, and it is an event worth celebrating. As an aside, I would also like to see a lifetime pages badge.

Anyways…

In some respects, Atlas Shrugged is more relevant today than when it was first authored. It speaks to the weariness of overachievers as they go about the world with so many people not doing a good job.

Why does it take 45 minutes to buy a single loaf of bread at the store?

About two years ago, I ordered a treadmill for under the desk. After meticulously following the instruction manual, the belt would jump forward then slide back. The situation was especially dangerous because there were no handrails. After spending 30 minutes on the phone, I was told that the product was sold by a third-party seller. Up came the chat box where the seller tried to get me to load the 300-pound treadmill into my car, drive it to UPS, haul it in on my bare shoulders, and pay at my expense to ship it back to China. Let’s just say that didn’t happen…

COVID is now the blanket excuse for everything. People now make TikToks about quiet quitting, brazenly describing with pride how they intentionally do a bad job.

Withdrawing completely from society is so tempting, hitting Option 3.

Another point raised in Atlas Shrugged is how the government, non-businesspeople who don’t really understand the situation are making the rules governing business. This really resonated with me but in a slightly different way.

Human genome-editing is banned in most countries. In the US, the FDA prohibits DNA-editing.

Sorry, you probably fell asleep. What am I talking about?

A bunch of scientists at the FDA in their gilded white towers decided that people with life threatening genetic conditions cannot be cured before they are born. It is easy to pass such a sentence onto other people.

Have they bothered asking the person who has had two heart surgeries, can’t control their left leg, is covered head-to-toe in rashes, takes 14 pills a day, spends 4 hours a week at the hospital, is told by the very same United States government that she can work with restrictions while her heart was stopped, literally dead, treated as a pariah by society with no support, and it all could have been avoided if just one gene, ALDH4A1, was tweaked before she was born? No. No, they haven’t.

There are so many parallels between gene editing and Rearden Metal.

However, Atlas Shrugged is deeply problematic.

This book needs to check its premises.

Ayn Rand subscribed to a philosophy known as Objectivism and referred to the poor as “takers” and “refuse.”

Only two women are overachievers in Atlas Shrugged: one is a wife of an overachiever and the other is the granddaughter of the company founder.

What if Dagny was born poor or of color? What if she had a major illness or accident?

How do I really feel about this book? Take my hand. Let’s go back in time…..

Once upon a time, there was a young but poor scholar who attended a snobby, expensive elite university.

The financial aid officer told the scholar that she would have to drop out because her parents could not help with tuition.

One day, the scholar took out her sharpened pencils and turned her notebook to a fresh, clean, crisp page, arriving early to her psychology class. Her classmates consisted of the uber-wealthy of America, the types who have summer houses and fathers who work as CEOs of global corporations.

As she waited for class to begin, raised voices broke the stillness of the classroom. Two distinct voices engaged in an argument, turning to shouting, and then escalated into threats of violence.

“I’m going to throw this book at you!”

The young scholar leapt to her feet and bolted out of the room, intent on helping, while the rich students were still giving each other awkward stares and shifting uncomfortably in their seats.

She quickly located the students in question, determined that they were merely playing, and high-tailed it back to class.

As the scholar returned to her seat, her rich classmates turned their attention to her, smothering her with the same question, “What happened?”

Before the scholar could respond, the psychology professor burst into the classroom, exuberant, an enormous smile crossing her face.

“Lisa is the first person in seven years to respond to this experiment.”

Is there room in these esteemed academic institutions for the virtuous?

You say who is John Galt. I say who is Lisa of Troy.

2025 Reading Schedule
JantA Town Like Alice
FebtBirdsong
MartCaptain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
AprtWar and Peace
MaytThe Woman in White
JuntAtonement
JultThe Shadow of the Wind
AugtJude the Obscure
SeptUlysses
OcttVanity Fair
NovtA Fine Balance
DectGerminal

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