[Desperately Seeking Freedom]

I am sorry to say this but "Atlas Shrugged" is one of the worst books of all time. It's a great message and an unforgettable story, but the ten page orations and speeches and Dagney Taggart's romances (how many guys does she do the wild thang with in that book? Four? Five?) make it one of the most ponderous and heavy-handed books I have ever read. My only feeling after finishing was one of relief.

[jdub]

I think ponderous is an excellent description. I wish that someone would take the theme and ideals of the book and work them into a novel that a person with less dedication to reading one book for weeks or months could handle.

I heard some time ago that a movie was going to finally be made about Atlas Shrugged. My first thought was "wow, longest movie ever..."

[massgopguy]

I like Anthem. RUSH did a good job putting it to music on 2112.

[Ed Hudgins]

While public response as such is not a measure of quality, Rand's books have sold over 6 million copies. And a Library of Congress survey in the early 1990s found Atlas Shrugged to be the second most influential book in America after the Bible. I hope Rand's influence only grows stronger to provide the ammunition necessary to counter the statists of the left and right and return the principles and practices of freedom to this country!

[higgmeister]

I am sorry to say this but "Atlas Shrugged" is one of the worst books of all time.

I don't agree. My mother said she was to preachy. I don't agree with that either. This book was substantiation for my personal thoughts and beliefs that I have held since I learned to think.

[Yardstick]

I am sorry to say this but "Atlas Shrugged" is one of the worst books of all time.

Ayn Rand is one of my early heros but I have to agree. Thankfully she wrote some great nonfiction like For the New Intellectual and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal that get her point across without making you suffer through pages and pages of eye-rollingly bad dialog.

[LIConFem]

"I am sorry to say this but "Atlas Shrugged" is one of the worst books of all time."

I think it's almost universally accepted that AS was poorly written. As you pointed out, it's the message that makes the book great. Ayn Rand was a wonderful philosopher, but not the greatest of writers.