Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

This book is a pretty amazing look at the ideas of capitalism at its purest. At its brightest, the characters portrayed offer you a look inside the mind of extreme overachievers and gifted and talented people. At its worst, it shows the dark side of capitalism, since not everyone was born to be a leader, business owner, inventor, or even born to excel at anything. Some were born to work in and help a leader be successful. There is definitely a fine line between the emotional needs and desires of a leader and the needs and desires of a follower. This book seems to throw the followers by the wayside if they can't keep up. Who is John Galt by the way?

John Galt is a figment of the imagination. He has created something that everyone wants, but no one can get to. The element of utopian living with the ability to freely create and discover things without the intervening of the government. The happy place. It is pictured as a real place and looks like a parallel to what our society could become, given the chance to succumb to its own democracy.

Although a 1000 page book seems overwhelming, I must admit, this one tops my list of favorite books. The story although fiction, allows you to draw so many parallels to current times, whether you read it in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, or 2000s for the first time, you can draw parallels to today. It helps you understand capitalism in a different way, and although I don't buy into it fully, I can appreciate my economic and political views better after reading it. It also helped me to understand that politics and economics are a prerequisite to understanding societal influence and how and why the world works the way it does. You can watch the world work, or you can get up and do something.

Will you read this book again? Yes

Would you suggest this book be added to a personal library or leave at the public library? Personal

Anyone interested in business and capitalism should read this book.

Reviewed By Mike W - Twin Cites, MN

Going Rogue by Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin has produced a well written, easy to read autobiography that takes you on a journey from her simple everyday middle american upbringing to the front lines of DC politics and all the joy and mayhem in the middle. Overall, I have two opinions on this book.

On the one hand, even though she paints herself as a simple citizen, fighting for the rights of the everyman, she has made enough impression on enough people that all she says is suspect. To support this idea, I heard that the NY Times put as many as 10 reporters on this book to do fact checking. I am sure you will see any of their bashing of the book in the conventional media.

On the other hand, Sarah Palin has been given the shaft by big politics. She spends the lions share of the book giving full explanations to many of the media stories that have made her (in)famous. It is truly sad that politics in this great nation has become a popularity contest and if you are popular and don't have a lot of money backing you, you might as well go home to middle america and shut up. Because us the big dogs are going to sabotage any chance you might have at succeeding.

She was simply a neighbor wanting to make sure government was fiscally responsible when she became mayor. She was looking be fiscally responsible as Governor. She calls a spade a spade and doesn't apologize for it. She isn't looking to succumb to lobbyists and whiners. She has her own agenda which seems to be energy. I would think she would be a prize on any presidential cabinet dealing with energy and leading the charge for the country to utilize renewable energy and wean us off foreign oil.

I am biased. I am extremely fiscally conservative. I am also very socially conservative. Does this make me a republican, I wish, but our current parties are broken and both are fairly close when it comes to responsible government spending.

Will you read this book again? No

Would you suggest this book be added to a personal library or leave it at the public library? Public Library. I don't think there is any need to review it or read it again. The only reason to buy it would be to loan it out to others.

Reviewed By Mike W - Twin Cities, MN