By: Ayn Rand Publisher: Plume Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Plume Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 1200 Publication Date: August 01, 1999
Book Description: At last, Ayn Rand's masterpiece is available to her millions of loyal readers in trade paperback.
With this acclaimed work and its immortal query, "Who is John Galt?", Ayn Rand found the perfect artistic form to express her vision of existence. Atlas Shrugged made Rand not only one of the most popular novelists of the century, but one of its most influential thinkers.
Atlas Shrugged is the astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world--and did. Tremendous in scope, breathtaking in its suspense, Atlas Shrugged stretches the boundaries further than any book you have ever read. It is a mystery, not about the murder of a man's body, but about the murder--and rebirth--of man's spirit.
* Atlas Shrugged is the "second most influential book for Americans today" after the Bible, according to a joint survey conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club
Celebration of the individual There is something solid about a book where the story echoes in reality fifty years after it was written. It amazes me how I can see the story of Atlas Shrugged play out in today's world again and again with different characters filling the roles. In this book Ayn Rand has captured many of the truths of our world, many realities about the personalities that inhabit it and many unspoken rules about the way we interact. This book celebrates individual accomplishment and those who change the world through sheer personal will power.
In regard to some of the comments I have read - this book is not by any means conservative leaning, especially in today's political environment. It actually attacks both political ideologies of the major political parties here in the United States. If you didn't catch that then you really weren't reading close enough.
The book is very wordy and the ending isn't as moving as most of the book is. However, it is a great read for anyone regardless of ideology. Every person who thinks themselves open-minded should read this book. Afterward you will think twice about the laws that we have put in place.
Atlas Shrugged is definitely a classic and one of my favorite books, although very wordy. Few readers I have known have agreed with every part of objectivism but Atlas Shrugged has in at least some small way affected the way they look at life.
The philosophy makes the book work. The importance of this book rests in two areas. First, on a base level, are the characters. There is a clear divide between most of the life-affirming and destructive characters in the book: People like Dagny Taggart, Hank Rearden, Eddie Willers, and others on one side and sneaky characters like Jim Taggart, Dr. Ferris, and Orren Boyle on the other. They anchor the book. However, what makes the character list more interesting are those who you don't truly know on which side they will go, such as Dr. Stadler, Cheryl, and the "Wet Nurse." These are the most interesting to watch because they fall the most in the middle of character development, influenced heavily by both their attitudes and the worlds in which they live. For example, Stadler seems to want to be happy (as in watching the billy goat), but believes his course is stuck in one way and can't be changed (as seen with Project X).
More importantly, the philosophy divulged in the book is what makes it work. It's a book where the idea seems to be in existence and leaves it for the characters to discover or ignore, instead of the characters creating the ideas themselves. Thus, a good portion of the book is taken up with philosophical discussions and monologues. They can be a bit long, but they are very detailed and interesting to read. If there is anything on the philosophy with which I disagree, it's the route Rand takes to describe it. We should work for our own happiness, but I think that all lives are equal , and that the argument should have rested more on doing what makes our lives and the ones of those we love better. She makes allusions to this at times (most notably, in the discussion between Hank Rearden and Francisco D'Anconia at the steel mills), but I wish there had been more.
I have two issues. One is the descriptions she gives when discussing characters, especially in the romantic scenes. I hade heard about the forcefulness of the sex scenes, and I was a bit startled by it. I also believe that the language tends to read like a Fabio-like romance novel in its description in these sections. Also, Ayn Rand can be a bit preachy in discussing her beliefs. I stated earlier the thoroughness of the philosophical discussion, but there are times when she goes into overkill; the long monologue near the end of the novel (about 60 pages in this version) is a good example.
However, it is an engrossing novel and a very influential one. Every time I have read it (whether I agreed with sections or not), I feel invigorated and want to do something immediately afterwards. The influence comes from giving one the confidence and comfort to not be afraid to experience (as she states it) "the joy of existence" and not be afraid to succeed.
It's not great, but it isn't that horrible either Yes, Atlas Shrugged is pretty much a manifesto/dogma dressed up as story, kind of like the Bible. And yes, Ayn Rand's prose is a bit wordy and repetitive, like the Bible or the Koran, but the story at the heart of this quasi-religious cum philosophical work is interesting and entertaining. Unfortunately, Rand's lack of editing and pacing and poor characterization not only bog the book down in unneeded pages and plot development, but also get in the way of telling a good story.
As for philosophy, Rand's Objectivism has some good ideas, but its fundamentalism and extremism cannot be taken to encompass all of life. For one thing, I find it hard to believe that no one procreates in Ayn Rand's novels, except for one character and a minor one at that. Maybe if Rand had been a mother to anyone, she would have had a more balanced outlook on a moral capitalism that can be used and looked up to as a way of life instead of what she presents in this novel.
As with anything, take what is good from her system and toss out the rest that does not work.
I think altruism has its place, but not to the point that it violates the rights of another individual.
I feel that love does not have to be so dramatic and either stifling and indifferent or so violent and masochistic as it is in Rand's novels.
Everything is never as clear cut as it is in Ayn Rand's world, which makes her objectivism a flawed philosophy, just as Atlas Shrugged is a flawed piece of work.
Amazing book Easily the best book I've ever read. Don't let the length scare you off, it's well worth it.
South Park Inspired Me to Read Atlas Shrugged! An episode of South Park inspired me to read Atlas Shrugged. In the episode in which Officer Barbrady finally learned how to read (The Chicken Plucker, I believe) he ended the show on a note that the book he had chosen to read (Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand) was "garbage" and not worth the read. I had actually never heard of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand until I saw that episode. So, naturally, I decided I must find it and read it. Then I forgot all about it until I spied a like-new hard backed copy at the local library on the For Sale table for $1.00!! I bought it and started to regret the challenge when I looked at the tiny print and the 1168 pages. I sat it aside for a few weeks, thinking, "yeah, right, I'm going to read that". But, the challenge niggled at me and I began to read - and read - and read.
I understand that Ayn Rand's uptopia is peopled by those with a pragmatic objectivism philosophy, which some reviews consider to be selfishness. I didn't get the selfishness part as such. I interpreted her objective in writing this book as being AGAINST Socialism. I felt this was demonstrated by the entire society's falling apart by all those that had made it having to give all they had to all those that hadn't made it. As the thinkers and doers lost more and more of their livlihood to those contributing nothing at all and taking all that they could - these people formed a new society on the premise that you should do no work you do not love and you take absolutely nothing without paying for it in some way. Therefore, everyone contributes to their society and that society becomes strong. The original society was coming apart at the seams and eventually totally collapsed without the giants of industry to do everything for them. Individuals in the original society were not allowed to think, nor did they want to. I did NOT enjoy John Galt's Manifesto (Part 3, Chapter 7 "This is John Galt Speaking", pages 1000 - 1070 in my particular book). After reading the chapter in its entirity, I seriously would recommend skipping about 68 pages of that chapter. It's a drone and you'll get the point in the first 2 or 3 pages of that chapter, anyway!
This book seemed overwhelming in length and breadth, initially. But, I am glad that I read Atlas Shrugged, because it really does make one think. Think about things such as we have been under a President for almost 8 years that doesn't seem to want to think and our country and even the world seems to be in a really sorry shape. I kept thinking, as I was reading the book, that perhaps the current administration had read this book and were trying out for the parts of the political system described within. Heaven Help US!
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
