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Atlas Shrugged

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Atlas Shrugged

By: Ayn Rand
Narrated by: Scott Brick
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About this listen

Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand’s magnum opus: a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller—nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.

Atlas Shrugged is the "second most influential book for Americans today" after the Bible, according to a joint survey of five thousand people conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club in 1991.

In a scrap heap within an abandoned factory, the greatest invention in history lies dormant and unused. By what fatal error of judgment has its value gone unrecognized, its brilliant inventor punished rather than rewarded for his efforts?

This is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world—and did. In defense of those greatest of human qualities that have made civilization possible, he sets out to show what would happen to the world if all the heroes of innovation and industry went on strike. Is he a destroyer or a liberator? Why does he have to fight his battle not against his enemies but against those who need him most? Why does he fight his hardest battle against the woman he loves? The answers will be revealed once you discover the reason behind the baffling events that wreak havoc on the lives of the amazing men and women in this remarkable book.

Tremendous in scope and breathtaking in its suspense, Atlas Shrugged is Ayn Rand's magnum opus, which launched an ideology and a movement. With the publication of this work in 1957, Rand gained an instant following and became a phenomenon. Atlas Shrugged emerged as a premier moral apologia for capitalism, a defense that had an electrifying effect on millions of readers (and now listeners) who had never heard capitalism defended in other than technical terms.

©1985 Eugene Winick, Paul Gitlin and Leonard Peikoff (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Political Dystopian Thought-Provoking Science Fiction Capitalism Socialism Morality

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All stars
Most relevant
If the book was 500 pages instead of 1000, I would have given it five stars, because I think it would then be well worth reading. At 63 hours, it is hard to justify the time spent. In fact, you can save 62 hours of your valuable time by directing yourself to Ayn Rand's interview with US TV host Mike Wallace in 1959 (on Youtube) as she gives a much condensed account of her philosophy there. She has this one idea, which I think is original to her and a complete rejection of the moral position of the Christian church. This is that clever and hard-working people can be exploited and made to feel guilty by lazy, less endowed people. That a human's primary responsibility is to pursue one's own happiness and one should not try to 'love one's neighbour as oneself.' If you are really taken with that you can read the book. Unfortunately, in the book her solutions and working through of this philosophy are hopelessly naive and really get nowhere.

The book is a joke as a novel - terrible writing style, and painfully repetitive. There is no dialogue, just speeches - everyone (including the odd tramp) talks philosophy and politics. The characters are wooden. Superheroes and wimps. The plots contradicts itself - for example, she spends the (future) profits of the John Galt railway line three times - once mortgaging them to her brother (the owner of the parent company), once to her investors (including Hank Reardon who goes in with $1m) and then for herself as she expects to become stinking rich through her enterprise. She doesn't understand business, but she also doesn't understand politics. There is a strange lack of violence. A prosperous industrialised country (the US) is being destroyed by a wimpy group of socialists. The only 'model' I can think of is the Nazi take over of Germany. This is partly a battle of ideas, but it has to sink into brutality as sensible, rich people never give up without a fight and genuine terror. Rand sort of knows this and does have one torture scene - where the hero John Galt is VERY BRAVE and breaks into a light sweat.

Rand also has a particular idea of female sexuality which involves super-hero dominant males, and she plays this out ad nauseum throughout the book - her character being the only complete female in the book, she gets to sleep systematically with all the superhero industrialists her pigmy imagination can invent (they are all so alike, why bother?) As a woman, I could neither identify with the main character nor like her. I was ashamed of her.

Naive (and badly written) but with originality

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For a long time I was reluctant to start reading this book, as it is a very long book, but it has been a great "read" for many hours of driving. Yes, it is long, but it has kept me interested and curious for the next turn of events.



I knew it was a political/philosophical book and it has certainly provoked my thinking - more than I really like, as I normally do not see myself as such a radical liberal as promoted here. The "looters" seem so obvious wrong in this book, that it is scary how often we see and hear their ideas promoted in real life also now in 2013. Having travelled around the world, I see countries almost purely based on the model promoted by the "looters" here - and not surprisingly these countries seem on the brink of catastrophe.



Probably the most thought provoking book I have "read" in years.

Has challenged me to rethink ideas

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I really can not describe how much this novel has affected me. The value this book presents is just unmatched by any other work of its kind. For me Atlas Shrugged feels like a classic that is actually a classic. Themes of the book weave together like nothing I have ever read. If you enjoy a good thought provoking book, Atlas Shrugged will change your life.

A work of fiction, a work of philosophy.

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This book should be considered required reading by all parents of their children.

Especially in the modern age, it's more important than ever that people understand morality. True morality that is, not the repulsive warped morality being preached by liberal professors worldwide.

The young people of the world need this book more than ever.

Absolute must read! Life changing

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This should be prescribed reading at school - oh wait that would be anti-establishment...

The problem that I have it that the audio cuts at random places and does not follow chapter markers. This is a recurring problem with Audible and it makes it very hard to follow the story or refer back to my favorite parts. C'mon Audible - sort it out!

a MUST read/ listen

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Everyone should read this book. It is very well written and thought-provoking, and wonderfully brought to life by Scott Brick.

Outstanding book, outstandingly read.

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A book to be read over and over again, and to live by, if man has to realise and reach his full potential.

More important than reading through Bible

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Worth every minute. Contains important lessons in self reliance and proud strength of character.

Ayn Rand's characters embody pure ideals, this makes their psychology too clear cut. Most people are part Ayn Rand's hero, part villain, part something else. She presents her moral ideal as a struggle between good and evil, represented in her characters.

Very valuable novels. I liked the Fountainhead even more than Atlas Shrugged.

Flawed, extraordinary book

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Where do i start... this is a mammoth audible book that goes into such detail of human behaviour and ideologies.

I was gripped from the very beginning and gutted when i had finished it.

Can not wait to hear more that this author has produced

Wow... Mind Blowing

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It is a book about heroic in men who live primarily for themselves but every other being is profiting from their work. Should we punish them for it? Clearly written but some parts are deeply philosophical and require some effort. Thank you for such a great story, Ms Rand.

The obok everyone should read

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