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Atlas Shrugged

Ayn Rand,

Leonard Peikoff (Goodreads Author) (Introduction),

Jan de Voogt (Translator)

3.69 · Rating details · 373,365 ratings · 18,755 reviews

This is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world and did. Was he a destroyer or the greatest of liberators?

Why did he have to fight his battle, not against his enemies, but against those who needed him most, and his hardest battle against the woman he loved? What is the world’s motor — and the motive power of every man? You will know the answer ...more

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Paperback, 1168 pages

Published August 1st 1999 by Plume (first published October 10th 1957)

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Apr 10, 2011 Jason rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: for-kindle, reviewed, 2011, flames-on-the-side-of-my-face

Ayn Rand makes my eyes hurt. She does this, not by the length of her six hundred thousand word diatribe, but rather by the frequency with which she causes me to roll them. Do you want to know what I’ve learned after spending nearly two months reading Ayn Rand’s crap? Here’s a brief rundown, Breakfast of Champions style.

Socialists are scary. Socialists are frightening creatures who lurk in corners, waiting to pounce on you. They are unpredictable, they have curvature of the spine, and they often Ayn Rand makes my eyes hurt. She does this, not by the length of her six hundred thousand word diatribe, but rather by the frequency with which she causes me to roll them. Do you want to know what I’ve learned after spending nearly two months reading Ayn Rand’s crap? Here’s a brief rundown, Breakfast of Champions style.

Socialists are scary. Socialists are frightening creatures who lurk in corners, waiting to pounce on you. They are unpredictable, they have curvature of the spine, and they often foam at the mouth.

This is a socialist:

Capitalists, on the other hand, are calm and rational beings who never lose their tempers. You can always trust a capitalist. And they are super easy to spot, too—just look for the hummingbirds who sew their clothes for them.

This is a capitalist:

Ayn Rand’s characters come in only two flavors, and which kind you get depends solely on the extent to which they embody her philosophical ideals. The capitalists (the “good guys”) are the moral heroes of the story, the ones who fight back against economic regulation. This regulation is seen as unwanted intervention, the government essentially trespassing on one’s property rights by means of unfair (unfair to the capitalists, I might point out) legislation. The “bad guys” are, of course, represented by the socialists—the ones passing the legislation, although Rand does a good job of throwing anyone else into this category who, while not active participants in passing these laws, may not be totally opposed to them, either.

The problem with all of this is the fact that her characters are not at all believable. They are robots who mechanically spew forth her inane drivel or, if they are of the other flavor, behave in a manner so utterly ridiculous as to demonstrate the rationality of the capitalist over the vicious, gun-toting socialist who’s come to rob your house, rape your Ma, and shoot your Pa. Rand is so egregious in the maltreatment of her antithetic characters that it’s almost laughable. Beyond that, the narrative itself is monotonous and repetitive. This is not exactly a beach read.

But even if I were to put all of that aside, I still wouldn’t be able to get over the fact that Rand’s argument here is to put an end to social collectivism of every form. That means: no social security, no unemployment insurance, no federally funded health care, no public roads, no public housing, no public education, no income taxes, no property taxes—does this not sound insane?! I get the whole “ooh” and “aah” aspect of libertarian freedoms, but I’m betting there wouldn’t be a lot of volunteers willing to relinquish their adequately funded public services on the basis of a free market economy. And ultimately, this is the fundamental principle on which Rand and I disagree. Although I do believe, and strongly, that the government should have no authority to interfere in the private lives of its citizens, do I think the government should also abstain from interfering in the regulation of the economy? Hellz, no! I want those corporate mother fuckers taxed and if that means Ima start foaming at the mouth, then so be it.

Ultimately, this novel is more absurdist fiction than dystopian fiction. Rand takes an all-in-or-all-out approach to problem solving; there can be no moral ambiguity—either you’re with her or you’re not, and I’m not. But what does she care? Rand is an unabashed admirer of the wealthy industrialist and it is for him that she bats her eyes and licks her lips, not for me. ...more

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Feb 01, 2008 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Jennifer by: Lou Lendi

This book really makes you take a good hard look at yourself and your behavior, which is why I think a lot of people don't like this book. It's a lecture and most people don't like to get lectured. I loved it. It gave me a good swift kick in the ass. While I've never been a "looter," I have made several irrational decisions in my life, which this 1000+ page lecture has helped me to stop doing. It teaches you to think with your mind, rather than your heart. It doesn't make you an uncaring person. This book really makes you take a good hard look at yourself and your behavior, which is why I think a lot of people don't like this book. It's a lecture and most people don't like to get lectured. I loved it. It gave me a good swift kick in the ass. While I've never been a "looter," I have made several irrational decisions in my life, which this 1000+ page lecture has helped me to stop doing. It teaches you to think with your mind, rather than your heart. It doesn't make you an uncaring person. You still feel with your heart, but you think with your mind. Use your mind instead of expecting to get the rewards of others who do all the thinking. If everyone did this, the world would be perfect - that is the idea behind Ayn's story. Of course, this will never happen. Ayn knew that. She just wrote a story about her ideal world. A lot of authors do that. No need to get pissed off at her because of it.

Yes, the book is wordy, but her words are genius in my opinion. I loved the long radio speech. Skip it if you are hating the book or better yet, stop reading it. Go out and smell the flowers instead. Is the story black and white? Definitely. Authors have different styles - people complain. If every author wrote in the same style, people would complain.

I can't tell you how many co-workers I've met who complain about how the CEO is making so much money and they should get some of that money. Well, go to college, get a business degree and work you're way up the corporate ladder if you want the CEO's salary. Don't sit around and expect those kinds of rewards because you work in accounts payable. You know what it takes, so do it and shut up. If it wasn't for the person who created this company, you wouldn't even have a job. I'm an administrative assistant making less money than the people complaing about wanting more money. It just makes me sick. But the people in Ayn's story didn't work for money. They loved their jobs. And she wasn't saying you had to be a rich, corporate big shot to hold the world up. There were teachers and stay at home moms in her little world in the mountains.

Ayn has extremely valuable points and if you are someone who is constantly looking for something to criticize in every book, then don't read it. If you can't handle looking at your imperfections, don't read it. If you have an open mind and are willing to learn something from every book and experience you have and grow as a person, then you will benefit from reading this book. ...more

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Jul 30, 2007 Richard rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: assholes seeking rationalizations for their terrible ideas

Ayn Rand's characters are almost completely defined by the extent to which they embrace her beliefs. A good guy by definition is someone who agrees with her; a bad guy someone who dares to have a different point of view. For all the lip-service Rand pays to individualism, she brooks no dissent from her heroes; none of her so-called individualists ever expresses a point of view significantly different from hers.

To illustrate the gulf between Rand's characters and human reality, consider this beha Ayn Rand's characters are almost completely defined by the extent to which they embrace her beliefs. A good guy by definition is someone who agrees with her; a bad guy someone who dares to have a different point of view. For all the lip-service Rand pays to individualism, she brooks no dissent from her heroes; none of her so-called individualists ever expresses a point of view significantly different from hers.

To illustrate the gulf between Rand's characters and human reality, consider this behavior. When Dagny Taggart meets Hank Rearden, she dutifully becomes his property, for no other reason than that he's the most Randian male around. When John Galt arrives, ownership of the prize female transfers from Rearden to Galt, because Galt is the more Randian of the two. Does it ever occur to Hank to be resentful or jealous? Does Taggart experience loyalty or regret? Might Taggart love Rearden despite his lesser Randness? No, those are all things that human beings might feel.

(In a related departure from reality, sex in Randland is more or less indistinguishable from rape. Foreplay? Romance? Capitalists don't have time for that commie nonsense.)

The real focus of Atlas Shrugged is to extoll Rand's philosophy. (Not to debate it, since no one in Randland with any any intelligence or competence could have a different point of view.) About Rand's philosophy I'll just make two points (which I'm not going to bother providing evidence for at the moment).

The first is that, like most social Darwinists, Rand fell short in her understanding of natural selection. Her philosophy was largely based on the false belief that nature invariably favors individual selfishness. In reality, evolution has made homo sapiens a social animal; cooperation and compassion are very human traits. More importantly, even if cold selfishness were man's nature in the wild, it would not necessarily follow that that would be the best way for us to behave in our semi-civilized modern condition.

The second point is that, contrary to Rand's belief, pure laissez-faire capitalism never works; it invariably leads to exploitation of the poor and middle class and to environmental catastrophe. The best economic system that has ever been devised -- so far -- is a mixture of capitalism and socialism. ...more

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Apr 17, 2007 deanna rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: the unsubtle

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 fi ...more

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Feb 12, 2008 Christopher rated it it was amazing

As Ayn Rand's immortal opus, Atlas Shrugged, stands as a tome to a philosophy that is relevant today as it was in her time. Basically, the major moral theme is that there are two types of people in the world: the Creators and the Leeches.

The Creators are the innovators who use the power of their will and intelligence to better humanity. The first person to create fire is often referenced as the paradigm for these people. In the book, each of the major protagonists also represent Creators improvi As Ayn Rand's immortal opus, Atlas Shrugged, stands as a tome to a philosophy that is relevant today as it was in her time. Basically, the major moral theme is that there are two types of people in the world: the Creators and the Leeches.

The Creators are the innovators who use the power of their will and intelligence to better humanity. The first person to create fire is often referenced as the paradigm for these people. In the book, each of the major protagonists also represent Creators improving the human condition with their force of will.

The Leeches (my word) are the people who create nothing, but thrive off feeding on the Creators. In Rand's view, they are the bureaucrats, politicos, regulators, etc. Throughout human history she tells us, these people have benefited through no ingenuity of their own, but merely from piggybacking on - and often fettering - the success of the Creators.

Where the conflict in this book arises is when the Creators decide they have had enough and revolt. I won't spoil the book by describing specifics, but let's just say it causes quite the societal drama. For Leeches can't feed where there's no blood.

All that is fairly significant and involved and worth the read to begin with, but where this book really stimulates me is in the fact that it is still relevant. Today we have Creators and we have Leeches. Some titans of industry and technology move our culture forward and others hold it back to their own benefit. I work in Silicon Valley and I see this all the time. That's why in many ways I consider this voluminous novel to be as important to a business education as Art of War.

To cite other readers' posts, you don't have to agree with what Rand is extolling, but I think you'd be foolish to try and deny the existence of this struggle since it is ingrained in humanity. Yes, Ayn does get long winded and arrogant in parts as she draws the battle lines, but I don't think an author could have crafted such a powerful conflict without copious quantities of ego to accentuate the differences. ...more

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Jul 09, 2007 Jason Pettus rated it liked it

Shelves: classic, late-modernism, character-heavy

Would you like to hear the only joke I've ever written? Q: "How many Objectivists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" A: (Pause, then disdainfully) "Uh...one!" And thus it is that so many of us have such a complicated relationship with the work of Ayn Rand; unabashed admirers at the age of 19, unabashedly horrified by 25, after hanging out with some actual Objectivists and witnessing what a--holes they actually are, and also realizing that Rand and her cronies were one of the guiltiest partie ...more

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Jun 05, 2007 Seth rated it did not like it · review of another edition

This book, as much as I detest it, is actually rather useful. Those who have read it tend to be those whom I most especially desire to avoid. Because those who have read it are invariably proud of the fact--ostentatiously so--it is even easier for me to keep my life free and clear of delusional egomaniacs. Thank you Ayn Rand.

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Sep 08, 2007 Simon rated it did not like it

Absolutely terrible.
Imagine an analogous situation:
A white supremacist writes a book in which all the white characters are great and all the black characters are awful. If you were to read that book and as a result buy into white supremacy; that would make you an utter utter fool.

And yet, Rand writes a book where anyone who is a raging capitalist is a veritable super-hero and anyone who pauses for half a second to consider that maybe such a system is sub-optimal is a sniveling lunatic - and lo, ...more

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Jul 10, 2008 Meredith Holley rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: soviets

Recommended to Meredith by: PC library

Shelves: utopia-dystopia, reviewed, motherless-daughters, classic-or-cannonical, girls-rule

I was visiting an old friend for the past few days, and she showed me this cover of Atlas Shrugged I made for her when we lived in Ukraine:

[image error]

side view showing how beat up the binding is

side view showing how beat up the binding is

It was a necessary repair, but it pretty much proves I should be a cover designer.
_____________________________________________

Original review:

I think Francisco D’Aconia is absolutely a dream boat. This book’s like blah blah blah engineering, blah blah blah John Galt, blah blah blah no altruistic act, blah bla- HE-llo, Francisco D’Aconia, you gro ...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Richard Derus rated it did not like it

Pretentious poseur writes pseudophilosophical apologia for being a sociopath. Distasteful in the extreme.

Appealing to narcissists since 1949...unappealing to properly emotionally constituted adults since then, too. ...more

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Apr 10, 2012 s.penkevich rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: There are much better books out there

Shelves: politik, the_worst, people_still_read_this

Honestly this book isn’t even worth talking about. Here’s my old review I guess:

Recently someone told me this was their favorite novel. I believe they referred to it as 'the greatest book ever written.' I find a lot wrong with that statement. Because who cares about Ulysses, right? No, that won't do, I'm going to have to drink and rant for a moment. I refrained from commenting to the customer, because I'm sure it is typically for political reasons that people like this book and, whatever, some ...more

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Nov 20, 2008 Manny rated it really liked it

Shelves: too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts, blame-jordan-if-you-like, science-fiction

In some ways, this is a very bad book. The style is stiff and clunky, and the world-view she is trying to sell you has holes you could drive a train through. There is a nice putdown in One Fat Englishman. The main character has just been given a precis of Objectivism. He says "I bet I'm at least as selfish as you. But I don't why I need to turn that into a philosophy". Thank you, Kingsley Amis.

But on the plus side, the book is a page-turner; it does a great job of helping people brought up in a ...more

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Mar 30, 2020 Mario the lone bookwolf rated it did not like it

Shelves: facepalm-trash-bin

The premise: Everyone is stupid except the faith and ideology I want to spread with awkward, bad writing and glorifying sociopathy with a touch of ethical thoughts to make it not look even more inhuman.

Imagine the book with a different plot instead of good capitalist vs evil socialist/communist.
Let´s say
Intelligent, friendly believers of one faith vs the barbaric, cannibalistic tribe members of a sect.
Great, beautiful misogynist vs ugly women.
Any kind of wonderful fascism-, eugenic-, master rac ...more

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Jun 06, 2007 Christopher Stephen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favoritesofalltime

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 ...more

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Jan 03, 2009 Stephen rated it liked it

Shelves: polly-sighs-and-pubic-policy, classics, world-in-the-shitter, literature, classics-americas, epic, audiobook, philosophy, 1954-1969, science-fiction

COMING….NEXT…. SUMMER….EXCLUSIVELY TO GOODREADS……

A review so ambitious, so controversial, so staggeringly ~~over-hyped~~ unique that it has to be seen in order to be read. A review many minutes in the writing (and several hours in the photo finding). A review so important that one Dr. Hyperbole had this to say upon seeing it....

This is the review most people didn’t even know they wanted to read. A review of one of the most talked about and polarizing classics of the 20th century…ATLAS SHRU ...more

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Mar 09, 2008 David rated it did not like it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. “Check your premises” the major characters are told. Well let’s check the premises of Ms. Rand’s story.

The first (false) premise is that there are only a dozen or so people in the country who are worth a damn. They have well above-average intelligence, have worked hard and have been lucky enough that their work has paid off in oodles of money (which they don’t enjoy or even care about because they are too busy working). But they can’t bear the thought of paying taxes to support the services they “Check your premises” the major characters are told. Well let’s check the premises of Ms. Rand’s story.

The first (false) premise is that there are only a dozen or so people in the country who are worth a damn. They have well above-average intelligence, have worked hard and have been lucky enough that their work has paid off in oodles of money (which they don’t enjoy or even care about because they are too busy working). But they can’t bear the thought of paying taxes to support the services they receive and depend upon.

The second (false) premise is that every government employee is a lazy no-good who has nothing on his mind but pillaging the bank accounts of the lucky dozen. But beyond that, the government is inherently evil, to the point of passing laws that inflict major economic damage and suffering on virtually everyone in the country with the exception of the privileged government leaders. This evil government is all-powerful and has total control over every newspaper, television and radio station. Fat chance. Obviously the author’s image of government derives from her formative years in the USSR. She has no concept that other governments have not tolerated the oppression that she found there.

The third (false) premise is that the rest of the people of the U.S. are mostly a bunch of lazy morons who blindly accept the statements of the evil government and their patsy press. Further, they have no ability or process to provoke change. They wander around like a bunch of sheep being led to the slaughter. If only they were weren’t so stupid and lazy they would all be as rich as the “lucky dozen elite”. Since they didn’t have the ability (or intensity or luck) to become one of the elite, they all think that the elite should support them so they don’t have to work. The country has a middle class composed of about 24 people who are the trusted, loyal assistants of the elite. They are good enough to do everything their masters ask, but not good enough to join their masters in “Atlantis”. When the elite disappear (on strike), their trusted assistants are left behind to bear the misfortune of the rest of the poor slobs.

This is all set on a stage of poor science fiction, which includes such things as a magic “motor” generating vast amounts of energy out of nothing. The author doesn’t seem to know the difference between a motor and a generator and uses the terms interchangeably. Then there is a magic “ray” that makes large areas of land invisible, powered, of course, by the magic “motor”. These magic things were, of course, invented by the intelligent elite who use them to help wreak havoc and despair on the rest of the 200 million people of the country in order to punish the evil government.

Then there’s the (obligatory) sex. Dagny Taggart, the heroine and only intelligent woman in the universe, has sex with three of the elite. She dumps the only real relationship (with Rearden) in favor of the demi-god John Galt (who she barely knows) along the lines of a teenage girl throwing herself at one of the Beatles. Her favorite encounters are sado-masochistic.

In the end, after they have succeeded in destroying the economy of the world and most everyone’s life, the elite magnanimously plan to sashay back into the real world and rebuild the hundred years of technology that they just destroyed. Isn’t that a brilliant idea? They think the only path to change is to take their football and go home. You have to wonder how brilliant these people really are.

The author spends great quantities of print describing and re-describing thoughts and feelings of the characters ad nauseum. The redundancy is overwhelming.

This poor attempt at science fiction with a supposed moral message demonstrates how a 350 page book can be padded to become a 1200 page behemoth. Elitists, libertarians and others paranoid about the government will undoubtedly enjoy this book. Paramilitary groups will love it. Most of the rest of us will ask ourselves “What the hell was she was thinking?”
...more

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Sep 28, 2011 Nandakishore Mridula rated it did not like it

Shelves: general-fiction

I read this book as a teenager while recovering from a long bout of viral fever which had left me bedridden for almost a month: I had exhausted all my other books and forced to rummage through old shelves in my house. (Ironically, I read The Grapes of Wrath also at the same time.) My teenage mind was captivated by the "dangerous" ideas proposed by Ayn Rand. At that time, India was having an inefficient "mixed" economy comprising all the negative aspects of capitalism and socialism, and Ms. Rand ...more

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Apr 13, 2007 Monica MizMiz rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Any reader interested in philosophy or just a good story

Shelves: favoritesforpleasurereading

The Concept: Rand follows the lives of society's movers and shakers (first-handers, in her words, and business men, scientists, inventors, and artists in her novel) as they resist the societal pull to become second-handers and to remain true to themselves and their live's work. Meanwhile, something is happening that is shaking the very foundation of society.

After reading The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand in 2005-2006, my life has been changed for the better. Applying Rand's ideas t ...more

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May 30, 2007 Ken rated it did not like it

Shelves: masochism, fiction

This book was the most overrated piece of crap of the twentieth century. It spars only with Dianetics and in its absolute absurdity.

The characters are absolutely idealized 'heroes of capitalism' action figures. I wonder if Rand imagined some of these great barons of industry coming to her rescue when she immigrated away from the vile pit of communism that she left behind. You know, during the time where she forged her citizenship papers and depended on the generocity and kindness of a liberal, o ...more

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Feb 23, 2011 Ian "Marvin" Graye rated it liked it

"Shagged at Last (The Sequel)"

Written while she was still alive, but published posthumously after her death in 1982, "Shagged At Last" is the posthumous sequel to Ayn Rand's greatest achievement and last work of fiction, "Atlas Shrugged" (not counting "Shagged At Last").

In this novel, she dramatizes the shortcomings of her unique Objectivist philosophy through an intellectual mystery story and magical mystery tour that intertwines sex, ethics, sex, metaphysics, sex, epistemology, sex, politics, ...more

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Jul 03, 2011 Lyn rated it liked it

Atlas Shrugged is a flawed epic, strident with a swaggering ambition, yet almost fable-like in its overly simplistic social and economic criticisms.

This is more of a philosophical, social commentary than a literary monument. The characterization is where it fails; Rand draws stick figures for antagonists: caricatures, strawmen to act as foil to her politico-economic-social vehicle. This is the book that made everyone mad in the late fifties: progressive liberals were spurned due to its vitrioli ...more

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Oct 30, 2021 Trevor rated it did not like it

Shelves: philosophy, literature

I didn’t know what to expect from this book when I started reading, but it is fair to say that I wouldn’t have guessed it would prove to be anything like it ended up. This is pure and simple melodrama starring various iterations of Nietzschean Supermen wrapped up tight in Hayek’s Road to Serfdom – so, essentially, this is three of my least favourite things all slammed together in one endlessly, endlessly long book. In fact, if you were to read The Road to Serfdom and to say at the end of each ch I didn’t know what to expect from this book when I started reading, but it is fair to say that I wouldn’t have guessed it would prove to be anything like it ended up. This is pure and simple melodrama starring various iterations of Nietzschean Supermen wrapped up tight in Hayek’s Road to Serfdom – so, essentially, this is three of my least favourite things all slammed together in one endlessly, endlessly long book. In fact, if you were to read The Road to Serfdom and to say at the end of each chapter, “oh, yes, yes, take me, take me in your strong arms, no, no, don’t ask, just take me, take me here, here on my desk, here, oh yes, yes, let my body sing against your unbridled and determined will, please, please, let me submit to your manly desire, oh, yes, god, oh, yes, yes, yes.” You would pretty much have the novel down pat and would have saved yourself a week or so of reading.

About a year ago I read a book, written in the 1880s, called ‘The Melbourne Riots’. It was written by a kind of agrarian Socialist, I guess. In the book he shows how grossly unfair the current social situation is and proposes a utopian village where people will be able to live in a kind of commune, where each person will contribute to the common labour of the village, and will be rewarded according to the work that they do. I thought as I was reading it that it was interesting how these sorts of novels really had had their time at the end of the 19th century – with their Owen-like visions of brave new worlds. Do people write novels about socialist utopias now? Do people still go off to Paraguay to set up communes?

Well, this book is a right wing version of these utopian communes. It is a vision where the great and best among us go on strike and leave the rest of us to our misery – leaving us as Nietzsche’s botched and bungled – for us to fend for ourselves, catastrophically for ourselves, until we realise the error of our ways and beg for the thinkers, the men of action to return to once again have their way with us.

In this sense the novel is also a reworking of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata – where the women of Greece go on a strike denying men sex until they end the Peloponnesian War. It is just in this case it is the businessmen and the great scientists who go on strike until they are allowed to finally be rewarded according to the true worth of their contribute to society. This is a book of inversions and strawmen.

The main strawman is a caricature of Marx, particularly his ‘from each according to their ability, to each according to their need’. This is repeated throughout the novel, maybe 20 times, you are certainly not meant to have missed it – but it is always used as an excuse by those with a death mentality so as to excuse the fact that they live from the appropriated productivity, brilliance and wisdom of the supermen industrialists. The fact that Marx believed work was the highest human virtue, that he said those who do not work should not eat, that his conception of morality was that people create the world through their labour and that this is the sole source of all value, moral and physical, in the world – none of this is mentioned in the strawman that is built. And Marx is not the only strawmen. The only Christians that could feel comfortable reading this book would be that particularly US version, the Prosperity Christian.

In the world of this book, humanity is divided into two distinct groups. One group is the great mass of us, and we are mostly parasites. We are, and will always remain, Nietzsche’s sheep. We are good at following orders, but only because we refuse to think for ourselves. When confronted by a new or novel problem that is not contained within a standard protocol we have learnt or can refer to, we are immediately crushed and incapable of any form of action and particularly not risk taking. This is what divides us from our betters, the Supermen. They would rather act than be delayed for a moment in their grand desire to transform the world in their own image. They are the great artists – the world is their canvas – the will to power is the creative gesture that they deploy and make the rest of us gape upon in wonderment. Where a challenge stops the rest of us in our tracks, risk is but another obstacle on the path to their foretold greatness.

And this world would be fine, except that we cannot be contented with allowing these gods among us to exercise their greatness. No, instead we have created life draining moral precepts to keep these gods in their place and to force them to dedicate their lives to meeting our needs and our wants at their expense. This is all straight Nietzsche, of course.

It is hard to know if you are meant to read this novel as a work of political philosophy or as a kind of cheap novel. As a novel it is breathless soap opera. “Oh, alack, it would have been impossible for me to finish building my railroad if I had 9 months, but now, now I have only 6 to do it in – I will just have to dedicate myself to this greatest of achievements and focus my will…” You might think I’m exaggerating – but read 20 pages of this and you see, in fact, I’ve toned it down.

At the start it becomes fairly clear that many of the Supermen are what we would today call ‘on the spectrum’. They are socially inept, trapped in loveless marriages and with families who do not understand them, or even try to understand them. They are unable to understand why they are expected to meet various obligations that they are otherwise completely uninterested in. But if the main characters are incapable of empathy, this reflects the lack of empathy the author struggles with for anyone that is not one of her supermen. The only slightly three-dimensional characters in the book are these supermen – everyone else is a two-dimensional cartoon character who are only in the book for what they represent – which is invariably an obstacle placed in the way of the Supermen to help them learn both their own true nature and the true nature of the society they need to tear down and rebuild anew.

I don’t want to spoil this for you, well, any more than I already have, but I do need to say that towards the end of this the main Superman gives a radio speech to the world. He says later, in a conversation about the speech that it went for three hours – it certainly felt like it as I was reading it. An endless harangue, putting all of us in our place, explaining morality, economic theory, the author’s great men of history theory, and so much else, felt like it was never going to end. I kept thinking, can she really believe this would convince anyone? I mean, beyond the total lack of verisimilitude in such a long speech, I kept hearing the audience of the supposed radio program saying, ‘can’t you turn this shit off?’ In no sense could this be called ‘show, don’t tell’. In fact, the whole book is a kind of exercise in tell, don’t show. There are no debates in this book – there is no discussion. There is the truth and lies – and each speaks past the other. This is a book of certainty.

I need to come back to sex. Each of the Supermen want to have sex with the sole Superwoman in the book, our main character in the novel. And each does have sex with her. But the sex is always initiated by the men while she submits, a passive receptacle of his desire and his lust. Look, I know it was written in the 1950s, but for someone calling for the revaluation of all values, this passive female sexuality clearly wasn’t one of the values she had in mind as needing re-evaluation. There is even a scene where the female lead is lying in a bed, in the room next to the man she wants to screw next, but although she is nearly driven insane by desire, she remains lying on her bed, her hands pressed deep into the mattress to stop herself rushing to the object of her desire, struggling to contain her overwhelming passion. The purple prose in this book is, I have to say, nothing if not amusing.

As someone who doesn’t agree with the ideology pushed here, I was always going to struggle with this book. But I was curious to see what a novel written by someone pushing these ideas might look like. And now I know. The best of ideological fiction generally contains characters that are complex and interesting – there’s not a single character here that is truly interesting. The good guys are superheroes – flying planes into impossible landings, sticking it to the man, fixing the unfixable, knowing when to take risks and for those risks always to pay off. The bad guys are infinitely bad, and invariably reduced to silence by the least word from one of these Supermen. Still, the melodrama is turned up to eleven here, and the whole way through, every damn page. In fact, I kept wondering how there could still be so much left in this book when crisis after crisis seemed to imply we would need to be nearly at the end, surely, nearly at the end now.

This is a capitalist utopia of aggressive selfishness – who could have guessed that could become the basis of an entire, very, very long novel? ...more

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May 06, 2008 Amy rated it it was amazing

After working on this book for several months, I finally finished it and loved it. I've learned that I rate a book highly when it forces me to think and broadens my perspective. Rand definitely accomplishes this in Atlas Shrugged and earns five stars. I am amazed at the depth of her philosophy, her intelligence, and her ability to write and communicate her ideas through strong, entertaining fictional characters.

In Atlas Shrugged, she shares her philosophy which she calls Objectivism, which in a After working on this book for several months, I finally finished it and loved it. I've learned that I rate a book highly when it forces me to think and broadens my perspective. Rand definitely accomplishes this in Atlas Shrugged and earns five stars. I am amazed at the depth of her philosophy, her intelligence, and her ability to write and communicate her ideas through strong, entertaining fictional characters.

In Atlas Shrugged, she shares her philosophy which she calls Objectivism, which in a word is a system of justice. Before reading this book, I always viewed justice as cold, distant, and inferior to mercy, but Rand helps me view the essentiality and virtues of justice. In a few other words, Rand is an advocate of reason, logic, accountability, production, capitalism, agency, human ability, and she believes that working for one's happiness is essential and each person's personal responsilibity. She is against pity, mediocrity, taxation, seizing wealth and production from those who produce to redistribute to those who are unwilling to work hard. In the story, she illustrates what would happen to the world if incentive to produce is removed from the intelligent and able - the motor of the world would stop.

I love how Rand's character Dagny Taggart is such an example of intelligence and ability. She will move heaven and earth to accomplish her purposes and she approaches life with such passion. She runs the leading transcontinental railroad in the country, and Rand created this character in the 1950's!

Despite my love of the book, there were a few drawbacks for me. Rand believes that one's professional work, what he is able to produce, is THE purpose of life, definitely a "live to work" approach. Also, I didn't find any thread of mercy in her philosophy, which makes me wonder her view on caring for those who cannot care for themselves. Rand also has a sexual theme that emerges several times in the book which I didn't know I was in for when I began the book. Be forewarned that it's there, and she has a strong theory on sexuality that you'll be exposed to in reading the book.

Reading Atlas Shrugged reminded and empowered me to work hard for what I want in life, to stop making excuses, and to hold myself accountable and responsible for what I do or don't acoomplish. ...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Whitaker marked it as never-ever-to-read-ever

A Modest Proposal

I'd give this book 10 stars, but it only gets five, because really, Ayn didn't have the courage of her convictions. She wussed out at the end and gave in to EVIL Liberal Blackmail. The problem with Atlas Shrugged is that it doesn't go far enough. And so, to correct that, here's an addendum, a modest proposal to supplement Ayn's book.

We're taxing the wrong people. Why are we taxing rich people more than poor people? Rich people don't need government services. If they want a hig ...more

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Jun 30, 2007 Rob rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: playa haters

If you're into sprawling, barely coherent I-are-mighty anti-Communist rants then this is for you. I suppose in our moments of weakness, we can look to Ayn Rand's philosophy to bring out our inner-super-humans. Except that really it's just a polarized response to Marx and Lenin (whom I have found equally unpalatable).

What's that? You want me to separate the aesthetic elements from the philosophy? Sure thing. This book reads like an instruction manual for drawing right angles.

----

See also:
• http:/ ...more

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Aug 12, 2014 Duane rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed-books, rated-books

Who is John Galt? Actually, I think he may be alive and well, and residing in the US Senate this very minute. I hate to accuse anyone directly, but I think he may even be from my own state. Metaphorically speaking of course, because he has many imitators around the world. When I read a book I usually try to seperate the writers personal views and opinions from the novel and read it for what it is, a work of fiction. That's hard to do with Ayn Rand, especially this book, because she hammers you w ...more

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Feb 07, 2017 Terence M rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-as-paper-book-only, owned-before-joining-gr

I read this book in about 1961. It was the must read book of the day among my group of quasi-whatever we were (not intellectuals of any persuasion I might add) and I struggled through it to the bitter end, telling anyone who would listen that it was the most important book of the century. Yeah, like I would know this at the tender age of 20?!

What it was, was BIG - 1100 and something pages - and while I was quite adept at posing with book in hand and able to quote some John Galt verbatim, I reall ...more

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Jan 15, 2013 J.G. Keely marked it as to-avoid

Based on everything I've heard about Rand, in conversation and online, from her supporters and her detractors, or in interviews with the author or articles by her, I feel there is no reason to believe that this book or any of her others contain anything that is worth reading, not even as 'cautionary example'. Nothing about it sounds the least bit appealing or reasoned.

Watching interviews of Rand, herself, I wonder if she wasn't somewhere on the autism spectrum--her entire Objectivist philosophy Based on everything I've heard about Rand, in conversation and online, from her supporters and her detractors, or in interviews with the author or articles by her, I feel there is no reason to believe that this book or any of her others contain anything that is worth reading, not even as 'cautionary example'. Nothing about it sounds the least bit appealing or reasoned.

Watching interviews of Rand, herself, I wonder if she wasn't somewhere on the autism spectrum--her entire Objectivist philosophy seems like the sort of approach autistic people have to develop to deal with a world full of emotions, sympathies, and signals they cannot recognize or comprehend. The fact that this philosophy has since been picked up by Silicon Valley culture, itself notorious for high levels of autism, seems logically to follow.

Likewise, it would have an appeal for certain types of sociopaths, who also do not feel strong sympathy or emotional connection. Objectivism can thus be seen as a kind of justification for the lives they choose to leave: isolating themselves, putting work and financial achievement above social life, using others to get ahead, then blaming them for being emotionally open, and hence susceptible to manipulation.

It's unfortunate that Rand's method focuses on brutalizing, blaming, and denying people who are unlike her, instead of working with them and trying to understand them--recognizing and cherishing those differences, the fact that a society requires many different types of people to run effectively.

But then, looking at her life, and her inner circle--the isolation, disappointment, depression, and awkward love affairs as depicted in something like Adam Curtis' Documentary All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace , one sees a Rand who is wounded, alienated, and fragile--a far cry from the philosophy of power and dominance she wrapped around herself like armor--so of course she would lash out at the world and blame it.

There is also a curious parallel between her representation of the world and the moral certitude and will to power of modern fantasy novels. She seems to engage in the same sort of 'worldbuilding', where characters and events are structured to uplift a certain philosophy of life, where the story is abandoned for long passages to explain in minute detail the finer points of the constructed world.

As such, it's not surprising that she attracts a similar fanbase with her doorstop novels: a group of privileged middle class white folks who feel disaffected and are looking for a mythology structured around them and their struggles, which justifies their biases, privilege, and preferred way of life.

So, as nothing about any of her works has ever sounded appealing or interesting to me, and since my goal here is to read as many good books as possible and to do my best to avoid bad ones, it seems best to give Rand a wide berth. ...more

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Sep 09, 2021 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it

Shelves: business, politics, russia, science, 20th-century, dystopia, novels, literature, russian-born-american, fiction

Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

Atlas Shrugged includes elements of science fiction, mystery, and romance, and it contains Rand's most extensive statement of Objectivism in any of her works of fiction.

The theme of Atlas Shrugged, as Rand described it, is "the role of man's mind in existence".

The book explores a number of philosophical themes from which Rand would subsequently develop Objectivism.

In doing so, it expresses the advocacy of reason, individualism, and capitalism, and depicts what Rand saw Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

Atlas Shrugged includes elements of science fiction, mystery, and romance, and it contains Rand's most extensive statement of Objectivism in any of her works of fiction.

The theme of Atlas Shrugged, as Rand described it, is "the role of man's mind in existence".

The book explores a number of philosophical themes from which Rand would subsequently develop Objectivism.

In doing so, it expresses the advocacy of reason, individualism, and capitalism, and depicts what Rand saw to be the failures of governmental coercion.

Dagny Taggart, the operating vice-president of Taggart Transcontinental railroad, keeps the company going amid a sustained economic depression. ..

تاریخ نخستین خوانش

عنوان: ‏‫رهایی از بار گران (اطلس شانه انداخت)؛ نویسنده: آین رند‮‬؛ ‏‫مترجم: مينا شريفی‌ثابت؛ تهران، فرهنگ جاوید؛ 1399؛ در 1787ص؛ شابک9786227004175؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان روس تبار ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 20م‮‬

داستان «اطلس شانه بالا انداخت (شانه باز زد یا اطلس شورید)»، رمانی اثر «آین رند (آلیسا زینوفیِونا روزنبام) روس تبار آمریکایی» است، که نخستین بار در سال 1957میلادی در «ایالات متحده آمریکا» منتشر شد، این کتاب چهارمین و آخرین رمان «آین رند»، و بلندترین اثر ایشان نیز هست، که در حوزه ی ادبیات داستانی، شاهکار ایشان دانسته شده؛ «اطلس شراگد» دارای عناصر علمی تخیلی، رازآمیز، و رمانتیک است، و مفصل‌ترین بیانیه ی هدفمند «آین رند» در بین همگی آثار داستانی ایشانست؛ در این داستان بسیاری از شهروندان، از پرداخت مالیات‌ها، و هزینه‌های مالی و فرهنگی روزافزون حکومت، سرباز می‌زنند، و مقررات سنگین دولتی را رد کرده، و از آن شانه خالی می‌کنند، و با دریغ کردن مهارت، استعدادها، و خلاقیت خویش، صنایع حیاتی کشور را نابود، و تعطیل می‌کنند؛ نویسنده در این نوشتار به ذهن خوانشگر می‌رساند که «اطلس اسطوره‌ ای» اگر از حمل، و بالا نگاه داشتن آسمان، سر باز می‌زد، چه رخ می‌داد؛ گویا «جان گالت (فیلسوف و مخترع خیالی کتاب)» است که آنان را رهبری می‌کند؛ «گالت» این محو شدن‌ها، و خود کنار کشیدنها را، «متوقف کردن موتور دنیا»، موتور پوینده و حیاتی دنیا، به وسیله ی خود حذفی، و عقب نشستن مردمانی توصیف می‌کند، که باید جامعه ی خویش را بارور کنند و به پیش برانند

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 19/06/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی ...more

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Apr 28, 2011 aPriL does feral sometimes rated it did not like it

Shelves: why-does-everyone-love-this-ick-ick

I heard about Ayn Rand for years. Now I've finally read The Famous Book. 'Atlas Shrugged' is SO ridiculous on EVERY level. It's a poorly written shrill operatic infomercial written by an evangelical fool suffering from Jerusalem Syndrome with an idea she hopes will bring on the cleansing apocalypse. Why does America elevate these well-dressed haters of humanity? Can't people see the nihilism, the suicidal self-hatred underlying her ideas?

I can't believe she has any fans. Those who adore this bo I heard about Ayn Rand for years. Now I've finally read The Famous Book. 'Atlas Shrugged' is SO ridiculous on EVERY level. It's a poorly written shrill operatic infomercial written by an evangelical fool suffering from Jerusalem Syndrome with an idea she hopes will bring on the cleansing apocalypse. Why does America elevate these well-dressed haters of humanity? Can't people see the nihilism, the suicidal self-hatred underlying her ideas?

I can't believe she has any fans. Those who adore this book seem mesmerized by her simplistic and ignorant ideas of economics, politics and history. But the tone-deaf psychology, scapegoating and witch-burning, and the engineer(ed) sex by blueprint-chart efficiency are particularly repellent and disgusting. The fact people believe anything really effective or constructive can be derived from the utterly falsified representations for class rage in this book is a fantasy. That the book is felt by many to be articulating: 1. a righteous path to what is essentially a philosophical justification for eugenics-like cures for the ills of Humanity; or 2. that the causes of the ills of Humanity is only from an underlying laziness/gullibility of certain social classes of people combined with a jealous greed for wealth without earning it; and 3. a complete silence on the actual causes of social class dissatisfaction/distress - a lack of access to resources which would level the playing field, a lopsided distribution of wealth and labor, and social/religious prejudices, is appalling.

Rand demonizes the less gifted and the underclasses simply because they want the benefits of extreme wealth the same as the wealthy enjoy, too. She does not acknowledge any of the actual resource inequalities between classes which dampen/make impossible ambition for people other than the fictional scenarios she dramatizes. Rand would clearly despise babies on philosophical grounds because they are weak and do not take care of themselves, and keeping pets would be indefensible.

I'm so depressed. ...more

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About Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand

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Alisa Rosenbaum was born in pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg to a prosperous Jewish family. When the Bolsheviks requisitioned the pharmacy owned by her father, Fronz, the Rosenbaums fled to the Crimea. Alisa returned to the city (renamed Leningrad) to attend the university, but in 1926 relatives who had already settled in America offered her the chance of joining them there. With money from the sa ...more

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Quotes from Atlas Shrugged

“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it's yours.” — 7778 likes

“If you don't know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.” — 3704 likes

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