After reading The Fountainhead, I head to hit up Rand's other books. They just make so much sense.
Atlas Shrugged is Rand's Pièce de résistance. It is both a very similar novel to The Fountainhead and very different. One of the things that I noticed right away was the vague disdain for architecture that permeates Atlas Shrugged. This makes sense to a certain extent - a person can only specialize in a few aspects of life - but it was jarring after reading The Fountainhead so recently.
If you are a big fan of Objectivism, the famed speech at the end of Atlas Shrugged, made my John Galt is nearly a complete defense of Objectivism. As a reader of literature, however, I found that the speech was quite overdone. Showing instead of telling is one of the primary attributes that makes great literature, great literature. Rand does an excellent job of showing people how to live a great life and what it means to both be alive, and to prosper. The length of the ending speech detracted from the rest of book in that it seemed superfluous, and almost distracting in its depth and scope.
Be that as it may, Atlas Shrugged is a true masterpiece. If nothing else, it will help to change the way you think about industry and capitalism. Highly recommended.
16 October 2007
