Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Atlas Shrugged
Book Review: "Be a filter, not a sponge"
Summary: 3 Stars
READ THIS BOOK, BUT...
I'm quoting Stephen Chbosky in the review title, although when he mentioned Ayn Rand in his book he was referring to her other popular novel, The Fountainhead. He has a good point.
Opinionated people of all political and social types will tell you that Ayn Rand must be loved or hated, believed or disbelieved, revered or loathed. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Ayn Rand is very much an extremist, with a talent for (purposefully or not) persuading others to agree with her. In fact, such persuasion goes against some of her own principles: that the human being must depend upon HIS OWN reason to exist. Read the book with this in mind, and you will get far--agree or disagree, but do so based on your own logic and experience, not on some misguided belief that the author must be taken "all or nothing".
Since this is the type of book that infuriates people, it should be read. This is my opinion. It is important to know the beliefs of the loudest extremists in order to be well-informed and so accurately find your own position somewhere in the middle. Ayn Rand and Noam Chomsky and Marx and Voltaire cannot, any of them, be taken indiscriminately. That would be a plagiarism of opinion, which I think is a basic sin. But all of these authors should be read. If one is going to aspire to the title of intellectual, or even if he simply wants to think about issues, he must be exposed to all ends of the spectrum.
Remember (this seems to get lost in all the debate)--Atlas Shrugged is a NOVEL, not a work of nonfiction. Ideas completely aside, this is an amazing book and a milestone in modern American literature. The writing is superb; the characters well-thought-out and INTERESTING (though I am inclined to think people like these cannot exist; Rand actually counters this, somewhat unconvincingly, in the Forward); the dialogue, description, plot and language are very powerful. Maturing writers could do worse than read Ayn Rand simply for her writing. (This is particularly impressive since English is Rand's second language.) The quality of the writing makes reading the (lengthy) book a worthwhile use of time whether or not the reader agrees with the ideas presented in it. Just don't let Rand's agreeable fluency alone sway you to her way of thinking.
Read this book. It is fascinating and well worth your time, and as I have mentioned the writing is fantastic. Go into it with an open mind. But be a filter, not a sponge.
Book Review: "Philosophy" for the Stupid
Summary: 1 Stars
Now as a serious student of Philosophy, I look back at the experience of reading "Atlas Shrugged" in my honors senior literature class in high school as the pinnacle of suffering. At the time, I thought that the book was an extremely dull expose of the "evils" of Socialism. Well, it is. Only, you should save yourself a lot of time and energy reading 1984 instead.
First and foremost, this book is an insult to anyone who ever studied or wrote philosophy. Ayn Rand herself has been quoted in several of her works as completely dismissing the works of much more intelligent and educated philosophers before her. I find it extremely ironic that she attempts to malevolently critique Hume and Nietzsche, and then bases a good portion of her material on their ideas. Equating this junk to philosophy is like calling Palmistry science.
The ultimate irony is that she tries desperately to distance herself from "anarchists" and miserably fails. The book preys on the selfishness of its readers, justifying their reluctance to do things such as pay taxes or think of anyone but themselves. I would highly recommend that anyone reading this review simply ignore the cultish ramblings of most of those who give this book a high rating.
Philosophically, as stated above, the book preys on human selfishness to self-validate itself. The logic, when it is present at all, is circular and based on unproven axioms. If you are looking for a good look into the mind of Greenspan and Trump, look no further. This work of "literature" is nothing more than over 1000 pages of literary self-pleasure, masking its immature and silly "philosophic" claims in complicated syntax. If you ever wondered what happened to the 13 year-olds that threw tantrums in the face of authority simply for the pleasure of resisting, look no further. To discover a cult worse than anarchism, please read this book. This is what anti-statists and anarchists become when they receive their first paycheck.
The book also mocks religion, implying that it is the faith of the weak. Interestingly, Rand then titles one of her chapters "A is A" implying that believing that anything is anything else than what is evident by the senses stupid. The book completely rejects skepticism and Rand herself has remarked, "I am not primarily an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism, and I am not primarily an advocate of egoism, but of reason. If one recognizes the supremacy of reason and applies it consistently, all the rest follows." She also denies the existence of a priori knowledge, as first exposed by Descartes. Examination of the provided quote reveals this childish attempt at justification of this hypocrisy: faith is a lie, but everything she says must be true if we accept her silly supposition. That sounds suspiciously like faith to me.
Economically, the book reads like a childish daydream of mystical fairies and lollypops. Rand wants you to believe that her "capitalism anarchy" can and will work in the real world. To prove this, she writes a book set in a utopian fictional world. This, of course, speaks of the logic of someone who cannot prove much of anything at all. Her characters are one-dimensional and shallow. Her antagonists are weak and easily disposed of, while her protagonists are stunningly beautiful and intelligent.
Her views on sex and women are enough to make anyone cringe. Her female character engages in the most horrid and disgusting sex, devoid of emotion, solely for the pleasure of feeling dominated by a man. Keep in mind that Ayn Rand herself maintains that a woman could never be president, and should never be president. Not only does Rand pay on the easily manipulated minds of the selfish and amoral, she is a traitor to her sex.
If you want to further alienate yourself from humanity and reality and create delusions of your supremacy, please read this book. Her entire philosophy reeks of this all-pervasive feeling of "specialness": that you are the most important and special person in the entire world. Her characters interact on this principle, lamenting how pathetic and shallow the rest of humanity is and equating what they think of "weakness" with evil.
Her vision of the CEO is sophomoric and speaks of her illusionary reality. Her characters work hard and get what they deserve without cheating anyone or hurting anyone's feelings. They also are punished when they fail and hated for their flaws. Anyone with a television knows that the term "moral CEO" is an oxymoron. Rand wants to imply that the capitalist does what is best for them, but will never hurt anyone's feelings, without explaining how exactly this is possible or logical. A third-grader's perusal of top news stories would prove sufficient antidotal evidence otherwise.
Her characters, not only shallow and amoral, are also sociopaths. They are incapable of having a human conversation without going into long boring tirades of the evils of Communism, laziness, and Socialism. Even a complete idiot can tell you that nobody talks like that in real life, even philosophers.
In conclusion, you can save yourself from reading this mammoth book with the following summary: "perfect woman meets perfect man, has perfect philosophic conversations about the evils of socialism that are poorly masking their selfishness and egocentrism, overcomes ugly and confused opponents, and then makes kinky perfect love". In short, I blame this book for half the moral bankruptcy of America. Thank you Ayn Rand for wasting my time.
Book Review: "Atlas Shrugged" deserves very little literary merit.
Summary: 1 Stars
I decided to take up the task of reading "Atlas Shrugged" after having just finished "The Brothers Karamazov" upon reccomendations from several friends who had read it and loved it. I also enjoyed "The Fountainhead" immensely.I was quickly upset by the quality of work presented in "Atlas Shrugged". The book is boring from the onset, never truly 'picks up', and offers no semblance of a substantially redeeming quality in Rand's literary style.
I know the Objectivist Fever finds many people reading and LOVING most anything Rand ever wrote, and to them, I think the book would be far more fun. I find Ayn Rand's philosophy, while accurate at points, to be extremely esoteric and even contradictory at others.
Throughout the book are located speeches by the main characters, characters who, I must mention, are not remotely realistic. The good guys are all in actuallity Objectivists, the bad guys are all simply philanthropists or uncompelled Socialists- she never gives the ideals she opposes a fair shot. There ARE two sides to every argument. This fact is ignored throughout the book. The good guys know why they're good, the bad guys know why they're bad. Things are not cut and dry like that.
The speeches to which I refer happen many times. Each one is a 5, 10, or 20 page ode to Objectivism, essentially the exact same words revamped and stated by a different character. By the end I was so exasperated by the assinine redundancy of these casual dissertations that I skimmed over most sections.
I have found this book, not because of its philosophy but because of its lack of literary integrity, extremely dissapointing, and must strongly urge potential readers not to waste your time. "The Fountainhead", as I said, was a slightly more succinct and far more pertinent novel, which I would highly suggest in place.
Book Review: "Words have discrete meaning. . .". . indeed. . contextually
Summary: 4 Stars
Withhold judgement and read the book and then make up your own mind based on its merits. I found that the book entertained me and challenged me to think and, in some cases rethink, my own personal philosophy regarding life and all its manifestations. However, I did find her philosophical stance and characters a bit too black and white, you would hang yourself with guilt for slopping together a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or feel like a rotter for taking the day off work without being productive if you followed the philosophy to its core. Great passage with Francisco questioning money being the root of evil. Again, read it, make up your own mind and take what you need.Book Review: ...a secular cult
Summary: 3 Stars
I wonder whether 'Objectivists' are aware of the idolatrousnature of the Ayn Rand Cult...This novel is very interesting as an illustration of Miss Rand's ambiguous relationship with the Jewish religion and her misguided attempt to retain some of its elements on a clearly idolatrous basis. I highly recommend it to readers interested in the 'cult phenomenon'...