Atlas Shrugged

For the love of life, read this book! Its a literary masterpiece!! and this book brings you to the life. Dont attempt to read this book with a preconceived perception on Ayn Rand's works. To understand her philosophical thoughts of "Objectivism", you MUST read this book and read it twice or thrice.. Till that point, you might not be able to comprehend the concept of "objectivism". As some one said, "They have Ayn Rand. But we don't ". This book must be read by everyone during their graduation. That essentially adds and enriches your life with a code of Moral Values. And ofcourse, this has heightened my appreciation of my life!! my Employers!! my fellow human beings!! Here are few excerpts from the book which need to be inscribed on everybody's mind. At least, I did, after reading this book: What is Morality? "Judgement to distinguish right and wrong, Vision to see the truth, Courage to act upon it, Dedication to that which is good, Integrity to stand by the good at any price " "In order to live, man must act; in order to act, he must make choices; in order to make choices, he must define a code of values; in order to define a code of values, he must know what he is and where he is—i.e., he must know his own nature (including his means of knowledge) and the nature of the universe in which he acts—i.e., he needs metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, which means: philosophy. He cannot escape from this need; his only alternative is whether the philosophy guiding him is to be chosen by his mind or by chance." "Money is the barometer of the society's virtue. Money is so noble a medium that it does not compete with guns and it doesn't make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot. Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men's stupidity , but your talent to their reason; it demands that you buy , not the shoddiest they offer, but the best that your money can find " "To the glory of mankind, there was , for the first and only time in history, "a country of money"-- and I have no higher or more reverent tribute to pay to America,for this means: a country of reason, justice, freedom, production, achievement. For the first time, man's mind and money were set free, and there were no fortunes-by-conquest, but only fortunes-by-work, and instead of swordsmen and slaves, there appeared the real maker of wealth, the greatest worker, the highest type of human being--the self-made man--the American industrialist. If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose--because it contains all the others --the fact that they are the people who created the phrase 'to make money'. No other language or nation have ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity--to be seized , begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words 'to make money; holds the essence of human morality." "There is no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted--and you create a nation of lawbreakers --and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, that's the game. "

Best book I have ever read.

Book is in good condition yet there was a slight tear at the front cover at top. Though the book is 1070+ pages, it is not at all heavy and thick for its no. of pages. Font size is small but I'm used to it so not a problem to me. This review is for the signet edition mass market paperback. The paper quality is poor. When you turn pages, it gives impressions on the surface. It may tear if not handled properly. Don't buy it for keeping it as collection or for any other educational purposes. Best for pleasure reading, even useful for educational purpose only if u need to take notes on the pages. Go for penguin edition paperback if u need it for long time. If u just want to read it, better go to ur local book market coz it is easily available in roadside bookshops(used). Yet to read the book, hope it is good. Thankyou Amazon ❤️

One of the most prolific writers that I've read. Her philosophy, ideas and story telling leave the reader in awe and admiration of her work. Must read.

Very very bad binding . Need to improve .

You will LOVE this book if, 1. You respect your work 2. You respect others' work 3. You believe in capitalism 4. You are a producer/creator 5. You are happy in seeing you and the people you love progress in life You will HATE this book if, 1. You are comfortable relying on others 2. You would rather tear others down to your level rather than build yourself high 3. You don't understand capitalism and don't understand that it is the least dangerous economic system in the long run compared to others 4. You are indecisive 5. You don't like responsibilities but want accolades for something you never did.

Very small font size, strains eyes while reading

Non-libertarian here. Wow. This book took me 3 years (and one re-start 1/4 way in) to read. But it was worth it! I enjoy the forcefulness and certainty of Rand's writing, and the sheer scale of this book with its many characters and big ideas. Yes, this book does have many shallow 2-dimensional characters -- they're typically more "caricatures" than "characters," particularly the characters who stand for the type of people Rand clearly hated with almost vicious cynicism in the real world. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the decisiveness and conviction of the leads. It's refreshing, in fact, to have a book so hell-bent on its ideas and narrative without a hint of shades of gray, without any patience for human weakness or intellectual murkiness, and with endless joy and celebration of the drive and decisiveness that make some people so admirable. Rearden, Francisco, [kinda-obvious-but-still-a-spoiler character], and especially Dagny were people you could root for... assuming you're not one of the "looters" Rand has so much hate for. If you're a selfish, sneaky, dishonest, needy person, well, this book will be like a 1000-page whipping for you. That hatred of weak human beings is probably what I liked least about the book. Man, the hatred, it drips from the pages like a poison. The villains of this book aren't just dumb or misguided... They're portrayed as utterly hopeless and irredeemable in every way, useless lumps of flesh that are best destroyed under the wheels of their iron-willed betters. And in the real world, while the traits Rand hated exist in abundance and I understand and often share her dislike, people are not all such simple caricatures who should be discarded without any consideration for the qualities they DO have, or at least the potential they have. Rand seems to consciously ignore the idea that the world does "take all kinds" to function, and in doing so, misses out on some opportunities for her characters to find other ways to realize and express their intellectual and material values. You'll notice that nobody in this book has cancer. There are no children whom parents have to sacrifice for and love for no reason other than that the children are their own. There are no old men or women who are dying. The only children are Dagny and her friends who think like little adults, the only injuries are not terminal (i.e., minor injuries after airplane crash) and easily overcome with willpower and force of mind. Grappling with some of these things (like, I don't know, Dagny having leukemia) wouldn't necessarily have undermined Rand's philosophy (maybe); they could have made for some nuance to the way her characters' intellects and willpowers are exerted. People DO have a debt to others around them, whether it be someone stricken with a deadly disease being helped by their friends, or a toddler who needs protection and unpaid service from a parent. Again, these don't undermine Rand's philosophy necessarily, but she leaves a big gap for others to poke holes in her grand vision by not addressing such real-world issues. With a mind like hers, her narrative could have showed us how to make these things fit into her vision and philosophy, gave us some hint at an answer for how to deal with these things in a responsible way. She offers solutions to many things and maybe you can extrapolate some more... But for me, I don't see an answer to who will care for Dagny when she is old and feeble but still wants to be useful rather than shuttered, or who will clean toilets when everyone is trying to be a a fountain of intellect and creativity, or how the retarded and the simply dumb will find use for themselves in a world where everyone else is too busy pouring steel and being productive to notice. I wanted the book to provide some sense of these nuances, or at least express awareness that such nuance exists in real life, rather than just being a rally call to an absolute philosophy. Regardless, this is a grand book filled with things worth thinking about, whether you come to Rand's conclusions or not. I am not a libertarian or a conservative at all (and definitely didn't walk away thinking anything crazy like, "down with government! let the capitalists govern indirectly through their brilliance! Taxes are evil!"). Yet I still found much to admire and emulate in her characters, much to celebrate about the drive and power of people doing the things they are good at with conscious and determined effort. Many of us could learn a lot about how to work hard to best use our personal talents for our own good, and in so doing benefit everyone; many of us could learn a lot about the joy of working hard and being responsible for our own destinies. Don't read this book as a libertarian bible (a terrible misreading, I think), but instead...... Take it as a rally call for each of us to demand as little of one another as possible and instead demand as much from ourselves as possible, and have love for your own ability to do both of those things consciously. It's a powerful novel and I enjoyed even the parts that I consciously knew were attacks on societal systems I support in the real world. Come with an open mind and see the world from an absolute and infinitely self-assured perspective. I think you'll learn some good values even if Atlas Shrugged doesn't change your view of how to implement those values in your own life or society.

Fabulous Book However this copy font too small

This book has few merits in its own right. Weighing in well over 1,000 pages, it is clearly too long, and this is more the result of the author's brazen self-indulgence than any intricacy in the plot. As quickly becomes clear, the pages are weighed down by wooden monologues which seem more a statement of the author's own dogmatic views than an integral part of the novel. In fact, in many places this book seems more political propaganda masquerading as fiction. The style of writing is also inconsistent. In places it can be quite a page-turner, leaving the reader curious as to what is to come next. In others however, it degenerates into the boring or indeed the absurd (the tone of the latter part of the book is similar to the "Georgina goes to summer camp" many of us read when aged 7 or 8). It makes deeply flawed assumptions about business and economics. It assumes that businesses are only successful because of their leading figures: take them away and the business apparently collapses. When any state institution becomes involved in the management of business, or if the profit motive is subject to any constraints, in Rand's view the entire machinery of commerce will grind to a halt. Monopolists are apparently good, things like consumer safety will get sorted out by market forces, public intervention by definition creates inefficiency or destruction, and so on. In Rand's world, people apparently only get successful through hard work and innovation. Success is never a matter of luck, good connections or underhand behaviour. The world is divided into a tiny elite of innovators, then the moochers (the people we know as ordinary workers) and the looters (basically any public body that dares to interfere with the free market, or any person or official who supports such action). The innovators are inherently superior to others, as is evidenced by the sheer joy they take in work, including even menial or underpaid work; their sheer brilliance is assumed to be such that they will perform with excellence and rise to the top in any context. To give an example, Francisco d'Ancona is said to have bought his first steel mill from money earned whilst working part time in a mill (he was a university student at the time), which he saved up and invested wisely in the stock market; after reaping massive gains on the stock market, he bought the mill where he formerly worked - all whilst studying brilliantly at university! Had this book been slimmed down to say 300 or 400 pages, it would be much more accessible and much less boring in parts. But then again I'm not sure many sane people who read this stuff and think about it for more than 30 seconds will give any credence to most of the ideas in this book. This book left me feeling profoundly relieved that I live in a country where only a crazed minority believe in this garbage. However, important to read as people on the pro-business extreme right seem to look to Rand as something of a guru, so you can't really engage with them unless you've read this book.

Entstanden in der Mitte des letzten Jahrhunderts werden Zustände und Entwicklungen in einer fiktionalen Geschichte beschrieben, die aktueller nicht sein könnte. Eine bessere Erzählung über wirtschaftlichen Verfall durch überbordende Regulierung, zögernde und selbstgefällige Verantwortliche und überhöhte altruistische Moral wird man nicht finden. Sollte Pflichtlektüre für alle Schüler und Studenten sein. Unbedingt lesen! Und wen die 1.000 Seiten abschrecken: Gibt’s sicher auch als Hörbuch.

Don’t suggest buying this version, the font size is too small.