Essential Reading: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
5 Life Lessons from the Classic Novel
“He, too, stood looking at her for a moment — and it seemed to her that it was not a look of greeting after an absence, but the look of someone who had thought of her every day of that year.”
It isn’t often you can find a book that intertwines a love story with a economics textbook. Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged adds elements of political science and psychology to this engaging and life-changing story. It is a commitment, lasting a lengthy 1,200 pages. That would take the average reader (250 WPM) about 18 hours to read straight though. The reality is this is time well spent. I don’t think there are any major spoilers below, so feel free to read on!
1. Happiness is Your Responsibility
No one’s happiness but my own is in my power to achieve or to destroy. — John Galt
When you allow the world around you to control your happiness, you lose the ability to regulate your mood. In Atlas Shrugged, the characters who are successful and happy are those who take responsibility for their own lives and actions, rather than relying on others or expecting to be taken care of by society.
