Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

This is the 2nd fiction book I read by Ayn Rand. This book is important - more so than The Fountainhead - because it spells out in greater detail the philosophy of Ayn Rand. The dialogue is very clever - it had me in laughter - and not just the first time I read it. The 1260 page thickness might put some people off this book, but that is no reason to ignore it. Again, I know people who have been given this book and put it aside. My girlfriend's father never made the time to read this book. He should have.

The story is set in 20th century USA, during a period when statism is taking hold in the country. Free markets are being distorted by price fixing schemes, government programs and welfare. The scheme is developed not just by the economic backdrop, but by the heroes and villians that form the central focus of the plot. Never before in the history of the world have the producers of wealth gone on strike. The plot describes what happens when they do.

This book was one of the books that greatly changes my philosophy of life. You will greatly appreciate its value if you subject it to critical judgement. On reflection I wish I appreciated the importance of empathy at the time of reading it. In a sense I think this book made it more difficult to see the value of it, despite being a pro-reason philosophy. A great many scientists lack integrity because they dont have the clarity of thinking that this book could give them. Like The Fountainhead, this book has never been out of print. Its not an anti-religious book, its a positive philosophy that is not entirely original in its philosophy, as no progression is, but it makes some important steps for philosophy. I think the most important is her Theory of Values, but you would be equally interested in her ideas of money, sex, all enunciated through her characters and villians.
Atlas Shrugged - Buy It Now!