Atlas Shrugged

I finally started reading before the weekend, and I find myself 100 pages into the book already.

Tis book is considered one of the greatest political tracts ever written, and is taught in American colleges. If only a wider audience could be reached.... but with talks of an upcoming Atlas Shrugged movie in 2009, starring Angelina and Brad, this novel could make a huge resurgence.

It is brilliant, illustrative and engaging. Written in 1957, the ideas it promotes are more relevant than ever.

The themes of work, accomplishment and the right to pursue individual happiness exists through every chapter.

The set of characters are all deeply engaging and well portrayed.

The sense of pride that the honest entrepreneurs gain through hard work and success are best shown by the attitudes of Dagny Taggart, Hank Rearden, Francisco D’Anconia and Ellis Wyatt. All of them accomplished executives in the mining, railroad or metals industries.

Ayn Rand also inserts many dishonorable characters and charlatans into her story;

James Taggart, the incompetent executive, as well as the bickering and parasitic socialite family of Hank Rearden are all entirely concerned with other people's affairs and how a society ought to make individual sacrifices for the common good.

Ayn Rand certainly had a fierce intellect. This book will make many readers appreciate the individual and their freedoms above any ambiguous concepts of society.