Atlas Shrugged

Best book I have ever read.

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. "

Started with this book but the font size is way too small ( may be owing to the book big size) . Don't know if it becomes double in size (2000 pgs) if the font size increased.

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.

heard about this book from a friend, as i don't really read, many 1000+ page books, so I kind of started half heartily and initially around 100 pages it didn't seem very great as it was building the background for the book, a sort of fictional world (for me at-least, it may be relevant at the time when it was written). But after that, just book is just awesome, it explains why we should try to work hard and for WHOM we work when we open a factory or invent a new machine. Also it gives a biggest message that HAVING MONEY IS NOT BAD AT ALL and if you have put your heart in something you deserve to be paid for that. When you see publication time of this was novel, you will realize, around the world, nothing has changed at all. I will recommend this book to anyone who holds a job, in any field, after reading this book, you will definitely learn a thing or two.

Very very bad binding . Need to improve .

Atlas Shrugged is a fiction novel by Ayn Rand based on her philosophy of Objectivism. She says, “My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.” Based on her philosophy, this novel strongly advocates the capitalists’ economy completely disregarding any other form as necessary or good for the society. I liked the novel as a work of fiction and the way she has created the characters to preach her philosophy throughout the book. The book is too long – more than 1000 pages and the preaching gets repetitive at many places! I had glanced through many pages to catch up with the actual story. The plot consists of the struggle of major industrialists, scientists and men of action of the USA to survive severe restrictions forced by the corrupt bureaucrats in the name of the social good. As the story progresses, the twists & turns makes reader wonder and anxious at many places. I liked all her characters – the heroes as well as the villains. She has described them with minute details and I could feel these peculiarities in them while reading the book. However, I was slightly disappointed the way Ayn Rand chose to finish the novel. The heroic victory over evil would have been something different for me and not the way it happened in this novel. Secondly, her characters are depicted to be extremes at either end – if a capitalist then 100% hero otherwise a 100% villain – but that’s her philosophy and that’s her novel. I don’t subscribe to her philosophy in full because the human societies/cultures across the world have failed, for centuries, to offer everyone equal right to the opportunities by birth and hence requiring government control on distribution in some cases. However, in cases where no discrimination prevailed, her argument for merit & reason to be the only base for reward & consideration strongly appeals to the mind. Ayn Rand completed writing this fiction in 1957. She died in 1982. However, the philosophy and characters of this novel are still relevant, fresh. A very good book!

I bought the expensive Hardcopy centennial edition of Atlas Shrugged on Amazon but it feels like a cheap copy. Paper is dark and thin and font is dull too. See attached comparison with Hardcopy centennial edition of The Fountainhead. Unfortunately no returns allowed.