Atlas Shrugged
Ayn Rand
173 people recommended it in 59 threads, 2007–2026.
61 commenters pushed back on it — worth reading the threads.
What people on Hacker News said
It has its issues, but it's absolutely a book everyone should read, whether you agree with Rand's ideology or not. And if you aren't familiar enough to Rand's ideology to know if you agree or not,that's all the more reason to read Atlas Shrugged (or The Fountainhead).
completely transformative book for looking at our world, America particularly. Th perspective it gives you may not be in the best, or most human way, but I’ve found no other book that forces you to empathize with capitalism like this one.
Ayn Rands books are really good and revolutionary and one should read them, perhaps even multiple times. But one probably shouldn’t take them as the final answer to the questions of life.
"Atlas Shrugged" gets a lot of hate, but it's a phenomenally important book. It was one of those that completely consumed me during the read. I could not put it down – stayed up late, work up early, and rushed home from work to get back to it.
So this book provide some refreshing perspective and a way of thinking that is lost on most people today. That doesn’t mean that it contain all the solutions.
Honestly Ayn Rand's sexual politics are more interesting than her economic politics. The books are mostly about masculinity and its definition. The ideal men in her books are immutable flawless beings, and the (good) women learn to define themselves by dating progressively better men.
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand. Love her or hate her, she makes you think.
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