Atlas Shrugged (Centennial Ed. HC) | Ayn Rand | One of the best books I have ever read.

Atlas Shrugged (Centennial Ed. HC) | Ayn Rand | Great edition for serious reader

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Atlas Shrugged (Ce...

	Atlas Shrugged (Centennial Ed. HC) Ayn Rand Dutton Adult, 2005 - 1192 pages average customer review:based on 38 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The year 2005 marks Ayn Rand?s Centennial Year.

The astounding story of a man that said that he would stop the motor of the world?and did. Tremendous in scope, breathtaking in its suspense, Atlas Shrugged is unlike any other book you have ever read.

?A writer of great power. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly.?
?The New York Times

One of the best books I have ever read.

Long book, but well worth the time to read. Very prophetic of where our country is heading now.

Great edition for serious reader

This edition is particularly useful in that the forward includes notes from the author's journal as to her thoughts as she planned to write this novel. It is mammoth is scope, and reads very well. Anyone who is serious about giving Ayn Rand's ideas a fair reading should consider buying this edition, as it is a well made hardcover with clear text, and will endure a great deal of physical handling.
Anyone who remembers the childhood tale of the little red hen can relate to Ayn Rand's ideas. The little red hen was the only animal in the barnyard who worked and provided for others, until she decided to go on strike to protest the laziness of the other animals. This novel is somewhat more sophisticated in the development of a similar theme.

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Inspirational

Ayn Rand is probably one of the finest authors I have ever read. She has amazing character development and explores issues that are incredibly hard to describe.

I love one of the many themes of this book -- how people who do their jobs well can get penalized by others who don't understand them.

Like an excellent wine, savor but do not overimbibe.

A sprawling novel of nearly 1200 pages, this book was first published in 1957 by the Russian immigrant, Ayn Rand, writing in English, a second language she had to learn. It has continued to be read, explained, interpreted, memorialized, and frequently reprinted over the last 50 years for its unapologetic defense of capitalism and its often overembellished, overdramatized lectures about Ms. Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. While very stilted and repetitive in the frequent monologues of its main characters, its profuse examples and unflinching conviction embolden it to worship the accumulation of wealth through the pursuit of capitalist ideals.

The book is divided into three sections, each with a concise, inarguable statement of logic as its title. Part I, "Non-Contradiction", shows a world in turmoil in which the opposing forces of selfishness and selflessness are colliding. In Part II, "Either-Or", she explains why the profiteers - the "movers" of the world, as she calls them - are withdrawing their knowledge and refusing to participate in the system that the rule-makers - the "looters" of the world, as she calls them - have created. In Part III, "A Is A", Ms. Rand unveils her Utopian ideals, buffered with an uninterrupted speech of 43 pages by John Galt, to show why Atlas has shrugged only to once again take a strong grip on the world which he then holds in balance.

The beauty of this book is in the clarity of its ideals and the certainty of its characters as they commit themselves to the necessity of living by Ms. Rand's objectivist philosophy. However, when reading it, you must also be prepared to skim parts because the same messages are continuously pounded into your head like a throbbing headache - greed is good, need is bad; self-reliance is good, self-dependence is bad; individualism will triumph, collectivism will fail.

Ms. Rand is certainly guilty of an excessive amount of simplification as she draws distinctions between ideas as large and somewhat nebulous as those of capitalism and socialism and, at her most insistent, seems oblivious to the essential role of government in providing roads, bridges, highways, courts, prisons, schools, libraries, parks, water and sewage systems, street lights, airports, harbors, tunnels, as well as the military, police, fire, postal, and hospital workers. Surely without that core of essential products and services provided by a collectivist, profitless government there could be no economic system of any kind, let alone the one she blesses so reverently. It also seems overly presumptive, I believe, to ignore the government created and enforced role of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and property ownership that play such an important role in a system of profiteering. Surely the abolition of these would topple a system of capitalism as quickly as it would take mobsters and racketeers to take over the role of adjudicating justice.

Nonetheless, this is an important book for anyone trying to grasp the big issues which confront our world economically. But, like an excellent wine, if you drink it too fast, you will lose some of its finer points, and if you drink too much, you will be numbed by its inebriating qualities. While Atlas Shrugged is certainly a book to be savored, it is also one not to be overimbibed.

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Words to live by

The appearance and physical quality of the book is wonderful. I first read this book many years ago. The 100 year re-print is a great reminder of the history of this classic.

While the pace and depth of this book may bore some readers used to Stephen King and other pop writers (I am a huge SK fan by the way...) it allows one to consider the author's philosophy and make your own judgement. Personally, I've read this book 3 or 4 times, and each time I experience it a bit difference depending on my current life situation and my willingess, need, desire, to examine my own beliefs.

Give this one a try, you may just find you see the world a bit differently.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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