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Atlas Shrugged had been recommended to me by a beloved high school teacher and it went on my to-do list, but I was far more interested in getting wasted and becoming a teenage father at the time.

By my early 20s the incomprehensible madness of the world had pushed me to the brink, then one day I read in the paper that Ayn Rand had died in an editorial that was uncharacteristically sympathetic in such a left-wing rag.

Purely to keep my promise to that teacher, I walked down to the bookstore and prepared to buy Atlas Shrugged. I was aghast at the size of the novel and purchased her smallest, Anthem, instead.

Taking the slim volume home, I sat down and read it in less than two hours. I returned to the bookstore immediately and bought, “The Virtue of Selfishness” which I spent the rest of the day and that night reading.

The following morning I returned to the bookstore and bought everything they had. Ayn saved my life–literally. What joy I’ve had in my life is a direct result of the world-view she gave me.

In an ideal world Atlas Shrugged would be required reading and crap like “To Kill a Mockingbird” (which I was assigned as required reading three times in four years) would be optional–at best.

I’ll conclude with the final line from that sympathetic article that started it all, “May the God she denied bless her feisty soul.”

Her philosophy resonates with me:
“The greatest and most moral thing a man can do is to create things of value out of self-interest.”

I started reading the book not entirely in agreement w/ Rand on issues like charity. However, her arguments were so eloquent and based on reason, I am now convinced that investing $100 helps more people than giving it to charity…

Btw… I am John Galt and so is every person with a moral principle!

The sad thing is that the pathetic caricatures like James Taggart, Wesley Mouch, and Cuffy Meigs could actually give some of the quotes that looters today do.

If there was something that doesn’t click for me or is missing from objectivist philosophy, it’s Rand’s view of love and sacrifice (or at least as I perceived it). It’s tragic if one goes through life not feeling true love.

I remember being moved by the book politically but a little uncomfortable with the transactional nature of Dagny and Hank’s relationship. (friends with benefits?)

But even when you truly love someone (be it a child, spouse, etc), selflessness has its limits. When someone tries to play the emotions of love and sacrifice in the name of government taxation to filter money to charity (inc. “faith-based” initiatives), it cheapens the concept of charity, and breeds more “Cuffy Meigs”-type people.

Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but if you’re daunted by the amount of pages, learn to speed read or stick to comics.

I hope you liked my book report??

Excellent stuff. I’ll admit that it wasn’t an edge of my seat book, but it did a great job of illustrating her philosophy and I enjoyed listening to it. Going to make my kids listen to it/read it when they get old enough to really get something out of it.

I was pretty amazed that what was written at that time can be so relevant in today’s society.

It is an excellent view on what happens when a government or society relegates itself to the least common denominator.

Fountainhead’s Rourke is the antethesis of everything the dhimmie mindset foists on the earth – namely that we are the owner of our own work and that we are responsible for our own life and its outcome. When I saw how many times Rourke was slammed to the canvas and came back for more I really felt sorry for the poor guy.

I look forward to Atlas Shrugged in movie form but Jolie as Dagney – she ain’t got it in her. It will be a total sham if her politics come through in the least.

As a Christian, I do not agree with everything contained in her “Objectivist” philosophy.

She was right on so many points, and mistaken on a few. Her writings should be taken seriously by everyone.

May I please make some recommendations to your library?

The following
books are very helpful and knowledgable about Ayn Rand’s thinking.

These Christian authors provide a fair and accurate assessment of Ayn Rand, while at the same time, respecting her free market, pro-freedom views.

At least with the right, we can have a meaningful debate without degrading into an unhinged morass.

Thanks for recognizing this important golden anniversary Michelle.

Ayn Rand’s achievements are unmatched. She wrote exciting novels about fundamental ideas from a totally new moral perspective. In the process, she identified and systematized a new and unprecedented philosophy. She redefined the science of epistemology. She provided, for the first time, a moral defense of Capitalism. She has stimulated an interest in philosophy in millions of readers. She wrote novels that remain bestsellers decades after their initial publication. She did all this and yet so many dismiss her and her work – all I can say is that those who make such comments are immune to the power of ideas.

“Two dimensional characters”? “Turgid writing”? And the most embarrassing comment of all– “too long”!? By what standard? What do you people read, anyway?

There are many writers who I love for one quality or another – but no one in history has so successfully melded exciting plots to characters defined by essentials in the service of (rational) philosophical themes. By that standard, I say that the works of Ayn Rand, and especially Atlas Shrugged, are the greatest literary achievements of Western Civilization.

One more thing: Beyond her merits as a novelist, if our civilization is to prevail against the savage primitivism of Islam or a revised communist threat, it will be the ideas of Ayn Rand that will provide the moral and intellectual bulwark of our defense.