Book Review: Atlas Shrugged

I recently finished reading a great book by Ayn Rand called Atlas Shrugged. This particular book was given to me by a member of a professional organization I was part of years ago when I was a sophomore in college. She told me the book would change my view of life, but I managed to stick it on the shelf and ignore it. I picked it back up about 6 months ago and decided to give it a shot finally.

Let me tell you, this book is a life changer…

The book takes Rand’s philosophical idea called Objectivism and shows what happens when people of ability give up on the “moochers” and “looters” of the world. The world stops as the people who cannot do for themselves try to take by force the abilities of others. But that is not what really made this book remarkable for me.

What made this book remarkable for me was the attitude taken by the characters of ability. When something needed to be done, a decision made, etc, they did it, made it, or called on others who could do it. And they did not take crap from those who could not achieve that same level of ability. They traded value for value and recognized that value for what it was.

This impacted me because I think of myself as someone of ability. I have skills that I worked hard to fine tune and I use them tactfully. But I’ve never been able to put a name to that ability and what drove me to pursue it. Sure, I could sit on my hands and watch the world go by, and not try and better what is around me. But that is not how I work. And I don’t expect those around me to do that either.

So now I have a different view when interacting with people – I trade value for value and nothing else. It is a remarkable way to live and I enjoy it thoroughly.

If you think of yourself as someone that pursues knowledge for no other reason than to make yourself a more valuable person, to further your own ability, this is a must read.