Surely people have heard of this. I got halfway through and got too busy to finish, unfortunately. I'm not the best reader. I will finish it one day.

What I did read I was really impressed with. It's amazing how it presented it's philosophy in such a influencial way.

Strange, it's a very old book, but (refering to its representation of "the beauty" of business) it seems more appropriate today than ever.

I know this book has had a tremendous influence on a lot of people. But to be honest, I tried to read it when I was younger and couldn't get through it.

I've not read it either, but isn't it amazing that we think the only books to read are the new ones? One of the best ways to stay ahead is to read and know the BASICS ..... which have been covered for CENTURIES! Some of the best "Mind" boks are from the 50s and 6os. Business, from the turn ofthe century (20th, not 21st) Humanism, from 2000 - 4000 years ago!

Shall I put my hand up then as the only person who seems to have read it?

(hello by the way)

I read that, and every book the author ever wrote (that I could track down over several continents of traveling) about 10 years ago or so.

I was hooked once I'd read the first book by here (I think the first one I read was 'the fountainhead'.

I love the writing style and they embrace capitalism in a way which makes sense to me (you deserve everything your earn, and bartering talents and produce is a fair way to do business).

I might read it again since you've all reminded me of it :)

Andy

lenny: could you provide a short summary on what you got out of the book?

I have this book because its been highly recommended by a few people but i havent had a chance yet to read it.

Ayn Rand is a great writer and "Atlas Shrugged" is a great book, but BEWARE!! Ayn Rand is not for everybody...


She was a devout atheist and a devout capitalist...she believed very strongly that the highest cause was each individual's happiness...she thought altruism was evil...she thought that both the "church" and "state" were evil...she was very pro-business...she believed the way to help poor countries was to let capitalism flourish, and get the government out of regulating people's lives...

You may not agree with everything she says, but she says it very well...

In the book "Atlas Shrugged" she tells a story that turns the tables...You know how "workers" or "employees" sometimes go on strike...well, in the book, Ayn Rand has Business owners have enough and business owners across the country decide to go on strike...Ayn Rand plays it out on how the country shuts down because the business owners no longer run their businesses...it's actually pretty frightening...it is definately a pro-capitalsim, pro free-enterprise novel...

I read "Atlas Shrugged", "The Fountainhead" and "We the Living" many years ago in college. I can remember being intrigued and enjoying the books very much. I think I'd like to reread them again but they are very long books and now I have a very busy life!

Highschoolrichkid:
That was a very good summary of the book Atlas Shrugged. I have read the book twice, but not during the past twenty years. As a businessperson, I consider the book a classic. I know that Ayn Rand had controversial ideas and strong opinions that were often attacked from all directions.
The main ideas I remember from the book were the battles between competence and incompetence, individual rights vs collective rights, and independence vs governmental control.
The competent, independent, and self-sufficient individuals are continually demanded to assume more responsibility to compensate for the underperformers and the slackers. At some point they have had enough impingement on their individual freedoms so they drop out and disappear. As more and more competent individuals disappear, the companies, industries, and the country accelerate the downward economic spiral toward eventual oblivion.





Ayn Rand is a great writer and "Atlas Shrugged" is a great book, but BEWARE!! Ayn Rand is not for everybody...


She was a devout atheist and a devout capitalist...she believed very strongly that the highest cause was each individual's happiness...she thought altruism was evil...she thought that both the "church" and "state" were evil...she was very pro-business...she believed the way to help poor countries was to let capitalism flourish, and get the government out of regulating people's lives...

You may not agree with everything she says, but she says it very well...

In the book "Atlas Shrugged" she tells a story that turns the tables...You know how "workers" or "employees" sometimes go on strike...well, in the book, Ayn Rand has Business owners have enough and business owners across the country decide to go on strike...Ayn Rand plays it out on how the country shuts down because the business owners no longer run their businesses...it's actually pretty frightening...it is definately a pro-capitalsim, pro free-enterprise novel...

I love Ayn's stuff. I've read AS many times and it's like a breath of fresh air sometimes. It's a very extreme viewpoint and strangely, even though I respect the ideals very much, I use them as sort of a springboard to create my own. There are just some things that don't mesh with being a total Rand-droid. Like ever having a social life. Unless you surround yourself completely with clones of her/yourself in Rand mode, there will always be things that regular people do and say that warrant full-out debates and arguments. Or at least really get on your nerves enough to bring your state down. I got a little tired of that. So I decided that instead of modeling Dagny (a judgemental bitch albeit rightly righteous) I would be Francisco and have fun. :cool:

I don't believe that altruism is evil either. I think humans helping other humans is better called compassion. Helping humans that don't care to help themselves one bit and are not mentally ill, crippled or incredibly disadvantaged is a different matter and requires a skillful hand and a lot of time to get them to self-motivate. Time that is rarely taken when money can be thrown at the problem instead.

I don't believe humans have a decent enough collective conscience to allow laissez faire capitalism to actually work with no government interference. Enron, Worldcom, Union Carbide. That's all need to say about that.

Rand's perspective is really fun to read now even though her stuff was written in the 30's mostly. It's amazing to think that she is Russian by birth but managed to learn English so fluently as to write such amazing manifestos that changed the course of Philosophy.

Jennifer

Hmmmm...this book and indeed author sounds fascinating...I will have to track them down and have a read....I always have room for one more book on the night stand to read!!!:)

I think it has 1086 pages. You're gonna need a bigger nightstand...:thumb:

Jennifer

A sad note about Ayn Rand is that when the intellectual elite get together to discuss feminist authors, Ayn Rand's name never comes up...Yet, in "Atlas Shrugged", the lead female charactor ran a huge business!! But since Ayn Rand loved capitalism, hated aultrusim, believed it was good to be selfish, the leftish elite ignore her...

I've read Atlas Shrugged several times but not for many years. I loved the books at first, but the last time I picked one up, I skipped through a lot of the lectures. She's very condescending towards anyone who doesn't fit her model for a succesful person, and has no sense of community or spirituality, let alone gratitude for her gifts (not everyone is that smart or talented) and appreciation for others who have fewer gifts than her. In her mind, everyone has the same potential and anyone not performing to her standards is lazy.

I worked once at Sears and was surprised at how hard it was for some people to just make a living if they weren't really smart. We forget sometimes, I've gone to very good schools and have been surrounded by very smart people, and it's easy to just assume everyone else is smart but lazy, shallow etc., but that's not the case. Some ARE lazy, but many are doing the best they know how with the tools they have.

Like others, I have read the vast majority of her works.

I'd have to say, I agree with Jennihul (Jesus, did I just admit those 4 words???)

The drive of her characters makes me push myself beyond what I think is possible. Much like the sport of endurance racing or full contact fighting. We are all capable of SO much more than we have attempted. But I use her works to incorporate my business life into my personal life... and compassion is indeed a part of that.

My advice... read her works, then read her critics. Then realize that a critic is someone who sits on the sideline and nitpicks the great work others have done... never once having put their own soul out on the fire.

Her works speak for themselves. Read them.

-CP

I have always felt that Rand's thoughts on altruism are a bit misunderstood.

It is not so much that she believes altruism is wrong, as it is that the decision to aid someone else must be made consciously, that is, not coerced, and that it must be done for no other reason than because the person giving aid wishes to do so, that is, it is not out of a sense of embarassment or shame for being in a position to give aid, or out of any guilt-trip by the person seeking aid.

Altruism taken to the extreme is self-sacrifice and that of course goes against Rand's concept of becoming the most you can.

Atlas Shrugged was a watershed book for me and really helped me to delineate the risk-takers from the takers. I disagree with Rand's position on religion, but consider myself an Objectivist from a philosophical standpoint.

Another "Randroid" here. Interesting stories (some of the only nonfiction out there that can hold my attention). "We The Living" is my favorite, maybe because it's so sad.

It's one of my favorite books along with The Fountainhead. I noticed that some didn't finish the book. You can get the jist of some of her thinking in reading where John Galt delivers his speech. I have some different thoughts about her views on things of a spiritual nature, I am not a atheist, but most of her philosophy I do agree with.

rick-

Another "Randroid" here. Interesting stories (some of the only nonfiction out there that can hold my attention). "We The Living" is my favorite, maybe because it's so sad.


That's weird, I didnt think it was sad at all! She made it out! :yippee:

Jennifer

That's weird, I didnt think it was sad at all! She made it out! :yippee:

JenniferLOL :thumb:. I guess she DID!

Not so much sad because of the ending, but because of the images of collectivism throughout.

Yeah, that was alarmingly sad and disturbing. All Americans should read those books just to, for once, appreciate the perfectly amazing, easy to take for granted things, they try to squander on a daily basis.

Jennifer

Some very astute encapsulations of the book... I remember the book being popular in the 1970s (though written in mid 50's) in some circles on college campuses...

My take on the book; 1) create a better you by daring to think deeply AND accurately, 2) offer/add something of value to the world, and 3) follow your own true destiny...

Pretty similar to the theme of Emerson's book "Self Reliance."