'Atlas Shrugged' Still Flying Off Shelves!

“Atlas Shrugged” is a mystery story about the disappearance of America’s great thinkers.

(NEW YORK) - New reports from Ayn Rand’s publisher indicates that sales figures for “Atlas Shrugged” are continuing a remarkable trend.

“This is incredible,” says Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. “Since Obama was elected, ‘Atlas Shrugged’ has sold more than 1.5 million copies. This is unheard of in the publishing industry, for a 55-year-old novel to register sales of this magnitude. And what’s even more remarkable is that this is even more than the book sold in 1957 . . . when it was a best seller!”

In addition, Penguin’s new “Atlas Shrugged” iPad app recently won the Publishing Innovation Award for best app in the fiction category.

Atlas Shrugged” is a mystery story about the disappearance of America’s great thinkers, industrialists, inventors and artists. Its theme is the role of the mind in man’s existence. A philosophical novel of breathtaking scope, “Atlas Shrugged” has been embraced, in recent years, by people looking for answers to the problems of an ever-expanding federal government.

Yaron Brook is executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. He is a columnist at Forbes.com and his articles have been featured in major publications such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Investor’s Business Daily. Dr. Brook is often interviewed on radio and is a frequent guest on a variety of national TV programs. He is co-author of “Neoconservatism: An Obituary for an Idea” and a contributor to “Winning the Unwinnable War: America’s Self-Crippled Response to Islamic Totalitarianism.” Dr. Brook, a former finance professor, is an internationally sought after speaker on such topics as the causes of the financial crisis, the morality of capitalism, and US foreign policy.

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Frank March 6, 2012 10:41 am (Pacific time)

"Rand plugs into our feelings of being unappreciated and exploited by others, and meant for something better, and has the reader identifying with the heroes and all their glitzy symbols. Furthermore, the freedom not to give a damn about the weak remains a heady concept for many readers." Heros and glitzy symbols? Not to give a damn about the weak? Sorry, but symbolism is what collectivism is about, not individualism. Who are these "weak" that you talk about? Rand helped many people in her life, but she reserved the right to choose whom she helped. It was forced charity (which isn't charity) that she objected to.

Ralph E. Stone February 18, 2012 7:07 am (Pacific time)

Frank, Gore Vidal said it best. Ayn Rand gives moral sanction to greed and self interest. She has a great attraction for simple people who are puzzled by organized society, who object to paying taxes, who dislike the “welfare” state, who feel guilt at the thought of the suffering of others but who would like to harden their hearts. For them, she has an enticing prescription: altruism is the root of all evil, self-interest is the only good, and if you’re dumb or incompetent that’s your lookout. In sum, Ayn Rand’s “philosophy” is nearly perfect in its immorality

DJ: Jeff Walker, in his book The Ayn Rand Cult makes a good point. He writes that "Rand plugs into our feelings of being unappreciated and exploited by others, and meant for something better, and has the reader identifying with the heroes and all their glitzy symbols. Furthermore, the freedom not to give a damn about the weak remains a heady concept for many readers."

Walker goes on to write: Philosopher John Hospers [an insider] sums up Rand's inner circle: "They became shivering-scared disciples who dared not say the wrong thing lest they incur her wrath....Rand said she wanted people imbued with reason around her...she actually got on the whole...a bunch of adoring sycophants." [Nora] Efron suggested you'd be "better off with Rand if you were...a malleable nothing...the kind of special adoration the youngsters gave her...she could not get from an adult."

Daniel Johnson February 16, 2012 9:43 pm (Pacific time)

I read Atlas Shrugged as a teenager and was, for many years caught up in the anti-people psychological web called Objectivism. It's a black/white, absolute system, no different than any other extremist cult. I got free and now like to quote a recent comment from NYT columnist Paul Krugman.

In his Sept 23/10 blog he quotes what he says is the best line he’s ever heard about Ayn Rand’s influence (I concur): “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old child’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.”

Frank February 16, 2012 1:06 pm (Pacific time)

Ralph, If I gave you a test on her philosophy you would flunk. You commit the classic error of seeing the world as rich vs poor when it is control vs freedom. In a free society it isn't a crime to be rich and the only source of oppression is yours.

Ralph E. Stone February 14, 2012 7:37 am (Pacific time)

I read “Atlas Shrugged” and the “Fountainhead” and saw the movie versions. The books were almost required reading for college students in the 1960s. Ayn Rand would probably vote Republican today and favor a free market economy devoid of regulation. In fact, Ayn Rand and John Galt, the fictional hero of “Atlas Shrugged,” appeared on signs at Tea Party protests. Rand had the particular genius of recasting the wealthy, the talented, and the powerful as oppressed.

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