Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged: A Philosophical and Literary Companion

Pros: Good fundamental ideas are expressed in 5% of the prose
Cons: Terrible sophomoric drivel comprises the other 95% of the book

Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand (1957) Ayn Rand (born Alisa Rosenbaum) was the foremost proponent of Objectivism - which, in my own estimation, is a political philosophy that states that individuals should pursue their rational self-interest in a ...

Pros: Classic novel with challenging moral and philosophical ideas.
Cons: 1084 pages of small type.

Once there was an episode of South Park in which we learned that Officer Bar Brady couldn’t read. The children helped him to learn how to read. He read happily, until he read Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. After that, he renounced reading.
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Pros: Interesting novel and setting; Thought provoking
Cons: 1100 pages to "flesh out" a single sentence philosophy

Few authors generate as much controversy as Ayn Rand. If you're not familiar with her work, that may well be a good thing...nothing can stir a conversation like two people who've read her stuff and come away with diametrically opposed attitudes about...

Pros: Some good scenes
Cons: Some awful prose, and bankrupt philosophy

I'm pretty sure that if I talked to Ayn Rand in real life at any time, she'd end the conversation shrieking at me about how I was "an anti-life leftist" or some such nonsense. This would be wrong - I'm not "anti-life", last time I checked, and I surely do ...

Pros: Excellent characters, Haunting Insight, Picturesque.
Cons: Often wordy descriptions a distraction from sub-plots.

Atlas Shrugged is the classic novel by Ayn Rand that many consider the conservative Bible.  I would suggest that this might hold true for fiscal conservatism.  I could see where religious conservatives might have issues with the ...

Pros: Thoroughly enjoyable and provoking.
Cons: Some ideas fall flat on their face.

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is the most thrilling, readable didactic novel ever written. The plot is thicker than Joe Brower Minnoch. The characters are more ideal and impossible than God. It's the highest-rated novel in American history, and the ...

Pros: great novel full of good ideas.
Cons: Sometimes wordy and preachy

Okay, I’m sure that the title go you going, so let me explain – if you’ve read Atlas Shrugged, you already know what I mean. If you haven’t, you need to read this story by a capitalist who would have made the Rockefeller’s seem tame.

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Pros: Some interesting ideas and concepts.
Cons: Long, boring, badly written, fascist overtones, and intellect insulting.

Many people find Ayn Rand to be one of the most important philosophers and writers in the 20th century. I find her to be boring and pretentious. I will more discuss the ideas and themes rather than the plot. It has been a while since I read this ...

Pros: Holds ones interest. Opens one's eyes to a new way of thinking.
Cons: Long. Very Long

A talented, ambitious, young engineer quits his job when his boss dies, leaving the company to his three grown children;the reason-they have imposed a new, commune-style, way of living and working("from each according to his abilities, to each according ...

Pros: Interesting ideas, wonderful characters, fantastic plot
Cons: Too much preaching, writing style only so-so, ideas become redundant

In a survey taken a few years ago, people ranked Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand as being one of the most ...

Pros: Interesting premise, good mystery story
Cons: Editing, redundancy, editing, redundancy, editing

This is a very big mystery story, with heavy philosophical overtones. The premise is that the capitalists and industrialists of this country get frustrated with the socialist policies that smother them, and go on strike by disappearing, thus robbing the ...

Pros: Good defense of capitalism, intriguing in parts
Cons: Turgid, bloated, humorless, unabating...

The title of this essay, of course, is derived from a remark in Whitaker Chambers's famous National Review essay on Atlas Shrugged back in 1957 or so, in which he savaged Ayn Rand's economic and philosophical tract that was cleverly ...

Pros: strong vivid characterization, interesting dialogue, fantastic underlying meanings, a political and moral fairy-tale
Cons: Perhaps unnecessarily lengthy in some parts and might induce you to forget to eat and sleep

Ouch. I'm still reeling from the 1168 pages of the theory-condensed Atlas Shrugged. Also reeling from the fact this is the third time i am attempting to write a review on it after being cut off mid-sentence by the server to find my work all...

Pros: Unique, interesting plot & philosophy
Cons: Wordy to the max

Atlas Shrugged is not for everybody. The ideal reader likes concrete detailed plots, as found in modern day thrillers, and dense non-fiction philosophy. Ayn Rand’s masterwork also combines the cardboard characters of those thrillers and the sedative...

Pros: An interesting, thought provoking novel
Cons: Better think hard!

Atlas Shrugged is a huge book, over a thousand pages, and none of it is excess padding. It's almost too much to review. Is this book about Dagny Taggart and her three lovers, a woman's journey of self discovery? Is it about the collapse of...