This is probably the longest book I have ever read. If you want to know what happens when the government takes over read this book. All of Ayn Rand books make you think. ( )

A generally well written book for a sociopathic ideologue. ( )

One of the greatest books of all-time. Rand is a goddess. ( )

It's a shame that an opinion about this book is taken as a political statement, because the story's actually really good. In a nutshell: the government decides that competition is unfair and starts regulating trade and production. In response, the producers disappear one by one, abandoning (or destroying) their mines, factories, and mills. Chaos ensues. Our protagonist is Dagny Taggart, head of Taggart Transcontinental Railroad. Objectivist women are evidently hard to find; she had so many admirers I almost wanted to rename the book "Everybody Loves Dagny." But that's neither here nor there (though the sex scenes were a touch disturbing); it is she who struggles to keep her railroad running as increasing government regulation and a decreasing population of competent people bar the way. At times I was reminded of Animal Farm, which is no surprise considering Rand grew up in Bolshevik Russia. What starts with good intentions rapidly devolves into a miasma of bribes, favors, and threats. My favorite character was Francisco d'Anconia, CEO of d'Anconia Copper and childhood friend of Dagny. I just love his snarkiness. Everything he does seems calculated to piss off the looters (so the enemies of individuality are called) while remaining impeccably polite. As an aside, I also found it telling that so many of the looters had ridiculous names, such as Tinky or Chick.

I found this story fascinating from an intellectual and philosophical viewpoint. A lot of people seem to treat capitalism as a given (or as the enemy); I've never read such a detailed defense of it. And while I do not purport to completely understand Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, these are the nuggets I gleaned from this story:
* Logic and facts are paramount.
* You are entitled to nothing and must earn everything. Needing something - anything - does not entitle you to it. Even food and shelter.
* Government involvement in private enterprise screws everything up.
* The worst thing is to live a life without purpose.
* Every man working in his own self interest ultimately produces the most good for all.

I'm not going to go into my own personal philosophy here, but these views definitely made for some interesting reading. Certainly better than The Fountainhead. (Howard Roark struck me as petty.) Once again, this is a book that made me think, and that is always high praise coming from me.

I listened to this on (unabridged) audiobook, which I think was the only way I would have gotten through it. Not only is the book incredibly long, the characters spend a lot of time making speeches, most notably John Galt's famous three-hour speech near the end. (Yes, you do learn the answer to "who is John Galt?" in the third section.) These speeches are unquestionably an integral part of the book, both the plot and the philosophical ideals, but they can get a little tiring. On audio they come across much more naturally. ( )

This is one of my all-time favorite novels. Yes, the characters are cold and hard to relate to emotionally, but the drama is easy to become wrapped up in, and the black-and-white morality of the novel is actually quite fun, whether you agree with Rand's views or not (or find yourself somewhere in the middle, as I do).

I wouldn't recommend this book to a slow reader--I spent four days on it, myself, and I tend to race through books. I've got friends who took as long as a year to finish, and that just isn't practical for me. ( )