Ophidian
01-19-2011, 06:18 PM
Atlas Shrugged is one of Ayn Rand's many achievements in her long and as far as I can tell, very fulfilling life. If you have not read this book, you should go out and buy it right now.
Literally.
It genuinely gives you a lot to think about, and in all honesty this book should probably be required reading for everyone.
Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand), first published in 1957 in the United States. Rand's fourth and last novel, it was also her longest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_novels), and the one she considered to be her magnum opus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnum_opus) in the realm of fiction writing.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged#cite_note-0) The book explores a dystopian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopia) United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) where leading innovators, ranging from industrialists to artists, refuse to be exploited by society. The protagonist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protagonist), Dagny Taggart (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagny_Taggart), sees society collapse around her as the government increasingly asserts control over all industry, while society's most productive citizens, led by the mysterious John Galt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Galt), progressively disappear. Galt describes the strike as "stopping the motor of the world" by withdrawing the "minds" that drive society's growth and productivity. In their efforts, these "men of the mind" hope to demonstrate that a world in which the individual is not free to create is doomed, that civilization cannot exist where men are slave to society and government, and that the destruction of the profit motive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profit_motive) leads to the collapse of society.
More about the book from wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged
What I got from this amazing novel was a great sense of what should be like to be independent.
Give it a shot. You will not be disappointed.
Literally.
It genuinely gives you a lot to think about, and in all honesty this book should probably be required reading for everyone.
Atlas Shrugged is a novel by Ayn Rand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand), first published in 1957 in the United States. Rand's fourth and last novel, it was also her longest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_novels), and the one she considered to be her magnum opus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnum_opus) in the realm of fiction writing.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged#cite_note-0) The book explores a dystopian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopia) United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) where leading innovators, ranging from industrialists to artists, refuse to be exploited by society. The protagonist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protagonist), Dagny Taggart (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagny_Taggart), sees society collapse around her as the government increasingly asserts control over all industry, while society's most productive citizens, led by the mysterious John Galt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Galt), progressively disappear. Galt describes the strike as "stopping the motor of the world" by withdrawing the "minds" that drive society's growth and productivity. In their efforts, these "men of the mind" hope to demonstrate that a world in which the individual is not free to create is doomed, that civilization cannot exist where men are slave to society and government, and that the destruction of the profit motive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profit_motive) leads to the collapse of society.
More about the book from wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Shrugged
What I got from this amazing novel was a great sense of what should be like to be independent.
Give it a shot. You will not be disappointed.