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| Atlas Shrugged (Centennial Ed. HC) | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 43 reviews)
Sales Rank: 1021
Category: Book
Author: Ayn Rand
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Studio: Dutton Adult
Manufacturer: Dutton Adult
Label: Dutton Adult
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 1192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.3
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.3 x 2.2
ISBN: 0525948929
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780525948926
ASIN: 0525948929
Publication Date: April 21, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 38 more reviews...
 Rand goes to extremes so that we don't have to November 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
`Atlas Shrugged' follows the lives of great Americans as their country deteriorates from a capitalist democracy into a socialist communism. It is not a joy ride. In fact, it is a grueling, plodding process, filled with convolutions, and ultimately ending in a chaotic mess. But the story shows us how such a disaster might occur and thus grants us a tool for avoiding it. Meanwhile, the book plunges headfirst into man's all-time greatest political, cultural, and spiritual challenges, offering a fascinating look at each if not quite resolving any of them.
The central challenge focuses on where virtue is lodged. Is it in the Self or in Society as a whole? It is a staggering question when one really thinks about it and Rand sets up scenario after scenario to help us think about it, pitting a troop of protagonists for the Self against an army of antagonists for the Society.
Of course, Rand has reached her conclusion before we sink our teeth into the question. Those for the Self are confident, logical, productive, and industrious while those for Society are pathetic, lazy, tetchy, and smarmy. There really is no question about which is right when you look at it through these characters and so there really is no conflict.
This is unfortunate because people on both sides have good, well-founded arguments. Simply writing off all socialists as crass nincompoops may feel right to the capitalist, but it does nothing to resolve the differences between the two sides and certainly doesn't help the case for self-interested industrialism. Nor can one say that all capitalists have the virtuous motives that Dagny and Rearden maintain. There are those who support the free market and industrialism for the wrong reasons, and neglecting that fact limits the effectiveness of the argument. In the end, a conflict between two reasonable foes is much more entertaining than a conflict between a master and a fool anyway.
Rand sees things characteristically in black and white; there are no shades of gray. At least, the grays that do pop up in this book are cut down by one of the two sides of the conflict. Such absoluteness defies modern standards of literature and many a grain of salt must be consumed while reading `Atlas'.
Granting it is in the Classical style, one can really enjoy the book for what it is. And it is Classical in every sense of the word. The story is heroic--you can take your pick among her many heroes and heroines although only one stands out as the flawless kind. Like a good Homeric epic, the narrative is long-winded and repetitive. One walks away with useful if silly cliches--`who is John Galt?', `looters', `A is A'. Actions are deliberate and spelled out for the reader and every action is related to the lesson being told with nothing irrelevant coming into view. And finally, the characters are very one-dimensional with no development or change whatever. These are charming aspects that can be appreciated by those willing.
Less forgivable are the inconsistencies that arise in the philosophy. Rand is making a case for self-interest, but throughout the book one will find instances where the protagonists seek validation from others, often to the deprecation of the self. The most notable example of this is in the romantic relationships. The two love each other and will do anything for the other person even if that means becoming vulgar animals and sacrificing the integrity of one's work. The couple receives selfish pleasure from the affair, but it comes at the expense of self-dignity.
Rand eliminates the only true way to resolve this inconsistency (is it a contradiction?) by rejecting the ultimate reason for romantic relationships: procreation and raising a family (completely absent from the book). This is the inevitable consequence of fusing self-interest with atheism. When there is nothing to strive for but material gain, the world necessarily becomes a contradiction. One fights the immoral with immorality and gains the respect of others by denigrating them.
The latter is actually a central theme in `Atlas'. Indeed, the protagonists who despise the masses require their patronage to be successful. Industry in general is worth-while only if there are other people willing to buy the product and enough people to make it useful. Even when it is not explicit, the need for validation is present. The driving force of the book, the strike, is designed to force other people to behave properly so that the protagonists can succeed. John Galt's speech is accusatory and insulting, underscoring the negative tone of the book. His purpose (as is Rand's) is to crush the looting society, which is rational because of the burden it places on the producers. But in the end, that purpose relies on there to be a society to crush--it relies on other people.
By the time Rand endorses coercion in the most direct manner (use of guns and killing) toward the end of the book, thus completely contradicting her libertarian argument, the reader is willing to give up on her completely. But the extremes to which she takes her story should not undermine the insight she lends on man's great challenges. Indeed, it is her willingness to identify the faults in society and rhetorically crush them that frees us to be constructive and wholly creative.
Despite its major flaws, `Atlas Shrugged' is possibly the only fictional work that addresses the kind of challenges it does. You will need to work for this book, but it will be worth it. Read it and discuss as they might have done in Aristotle's day.
This item is delectable November 2, 2008
"Atlas shrugged" is second to nothing!You cannot criticize it, you cannot find anything wrong about it.....You just sit down and read it.
You will see one and the same world in different ways.This is Ayn Rand's masterpiece!
One of the finest books written in the modern era. October 29, 2008
Should be read by every one. I first read it as a teenager and thought it was THE BOOK to end all books. After 8 more readings and 7 decades of life, this is still an excellent read. The book should be thought of as a belief process that should be balanced with the pragmatism of daily life.
Solla Sollew October 17, 2008
Wanna hear my favorite Chuck Berry story?
Later.
I appreciate the delicious irony of me, former Barry Stoller, reading and appreciating Atlas Shrugged. It was I ~ card-carrying communist, Leninist debater from McSpotlight, publisher of ProletarianNews and author of "Objectivism For Dummies" ~ who espoused behaviorism, egalitarianism and socialism so fervidly for so many years. Well, I sure got what I deserved when I finally arrived at Twin Oaks: proof in real time that socialism don't work. Why work when there's so little incentive? Overtime, overquota? Not worth a red cent. Excellence in craftsmanship? Same value as calling in sick. Leadership abilities? Worth less than seducing hippie chicks. Delicious how bad I wanted this fate. Debtor's prison. The adversary she found herself forced to fight was not worth matching or beating; it was not a superior ability which she would have found honor in challenging; it was ineptitude ~ a gray spread of cotton that seemed soft and shapeless, that could offer no resistance to anything or anybody, yet managed to be a barrier in her way. Utopia!
The coolest trick is Rand writes her stuff in the classic Soviet 'realist' style. But better. Stalin NEVER wrote anything sexy.
But, anyway. Chuck Berry.
In the late 60's, he was coasting on his 1950's hits, played by the Beatles and Stones, acknowledged as the true father of rock & roll, and playing gigs for a firm $1,000 a show. When asked when or if he planned to retire, Berry said, "The day some punk promoter offers me only $900 a show, I'll shake his hand and say, 'Kid, you just retired the legendary Chuck Berry, congratulations'."
Mollusks.
Atlas Shrugged September 30, 2008
This, I think, is Ayn Rand's best. I love this book. You do have to get past some of the 'preachy' areas but the philosophy is spot on. There are some parts that get a little windy (as in long-winded) but a must read anyway.
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