Who is John Galt? Ayn Rand's modern classic tells the (extremely long) tale of Dagny Taggart, an heir to the Taggart Transcontinental Railroad who will do anything she can to keep her family's railroad running. As Dagny and fellow industrialist Henry Reardon struggle to stay afloat amid public outcry against greed, industry, and productivity, Rand uses her story to explain her philosophy of Objectivism.

Atlas Shrugged is long. Like extremely long. Every one of the 1,000+ pages takes twice as long to read as a normal book because the material is so dense. It's also a hard book to review. I found the basic story of Dagny's fight for her railroad to be utterly compelling. In spite of Rand's long philosophical passages, I still enjoyed the first half of the book. I liked that Atlas Shrugged made you think about economics and politics.

Yet, over time, the book just wears you down. Rand does not seem to understand nuance - in characters or in her philosophy. Everything is black and white and taken to the extreme. Which means it all breaks down in reality. Her libertarian utopia is so flawed it's laughable and her views on gender and sex are pretty bizarre. I'm glad I read it, but I don't plan to ever read it again.