Who is John Galt?

If you are not as well read as me (please excuse my attempt at insulting you faceless reader as I try to inflate my own self esteem) you may not realize that I am of course, given the title, writing about Atlas Shrugged.

First off this book is a monster. The printing I picked up lists at 1096 pages. And trust me the print is not large. In fact it is pretty damn small. By all accounts I am a fast reader. Sometimes I think it’s because I have a tendency to gloss over things, but I’ve been getting better about not skipping things. But I would read and read and read and then it would still feel like I was not getting anywhere. I purchased the book on July 17th and despite a good bit of reading didn’t finish it until Sunday August 2nd. If you look it up on Wikipedia it says that its one of the longest books written in any European Language.

Written by Ayn Rand its not really what I would call ‘light’ reading. She wrote it as a way to explain her philosophy on life, known as Objectivism. Yet even as I say this it is an enjoyable read. For the most part there is a definite story, not just long soap box speeches. There is only one exception where there is a ridiculously long speech that is actually meant to be like the climax of the book and all. However I like my light reading so this climax was a bear to get through. It probably does not help that I hit it at 1am, and soon gave up, leaving it to finish along with the rest of the book the next day.

Rand’s concept of Objectivism is I think a very great ideal. However I do question it’s practical application in real life. The extremes that are displayed in the book just don’t quite transition to what would actually happen in my mind. But it could just be my cynical opinion.

Despite this I still say definitely a good book to read. It gives you a lot to think about and consider and many bridges into contemplation of ones own life and how you are living it. Plus it really as a whole is a good enjoyable, I think, story.

One book on my list (that I still need to make) down.


“I am, therefore I'll think.”