I like AS better. It moves faster.

I may have read it (again) straight through about 10 or 15 years ago. I have looked in it also without reading it all the way through. I don't remember the total number of times I read it through; it may have been about 7 or 8 times. I have also read parts of it in For the New Intellectual.

I read it first as a senior in high school (1973), then read The Fountainhead and the rest of her fiction before reading her nonfiction. Yet, have always gone back to reading Atlas Shrugged the most although I have read all of her fiction that I have able to get my hands several times.
Depending where I was in my career, I saw things differently as I read it (re-read). Even with my recent re-reading, I found more in the text than I had seen earlier. She was quite a wordsmith considering that English was NOT her first language.

6 months ago. Of course, when watching current events, its like reading it every day.

I know. I feel the same way. I need that lift that there are those people like John Galt, Hank Reardon, etc. out there.

Usually re-read once every 12-18 months (it's a commitment, as we all know). Only read The Fountainhead two times, but finished it recently as well. I find that when the world becomes too insane, I re-read Atlas to find some sanity.

It is a lot to take in, but once I start re-reading it, I am just as involved as the first time.

Yep, it doesn't matter how many times I read it. Things don't seem to change.

Yes, I concur.

Thanks for answering this little poll. You confirm what I have found in the past. Those who read Atlas Shrugged first prefer it to The Fountainhead, and those who read The Fountainhead prefer it to Atlas Shrugged.Yet, both have so much to offer the reader.

Agreed about the speech; the essence of the philosophy was there. I must admit that I find it is difficult to read that chapter; I do, at least most of it, but in order to find more readers, I often suggest the new-to-Rand reader read the first ten pages and the last five pages unless they are huge fans of philosophical text. They will get the gist of her philosophy.

It was released in 2014 to limited release in the theaters. I ended up buying it because there was no nearby theaters.

Yes, there is always something new to be found in the book.

Last year, for the 3rd time.

I'm reading it right now. Dagny just completed the John Galt Line.
There's always something new when I read it, sadly related to current events.

It's been a couple of years since I read AS. AS is both oddly prophetic and historical. The looters and moochers make the same mistakes throughout history and try to do so ... at our expense. No more!

I have only read Atlas Shrugged three times. Once in high school, once in my late thirties and lastly about 8 years ago.

It's been a few years. When did Part III of the movie hit the theaters?

AS -- but I think Part 3 of the movie improved it a lot by cutting the excess verbiage out of that huge speech. YMMV.

Of course you don't have to do anything! I read AS the first time at 17, in 1967, while I was also a senior in HS. Since then, my additional readings (of AS as well as Fountainhead and treasure-troves of her nonfiction) have garnered me a lot more understanding and nuance. But that may not be the case for you at all. (I did not have the benefit of a teacher who intro'd me to any Rand writing. Rather, it was a friend.)

It's also possible you have more "room" in your brain than I do (that's a GOOD thing), which in my case, it isn't much. It's always full. In my career as a CPA people were always expecting me to remember numbers for some reason. I would always tell them "that's what computers and pencils and papers are for, and if it's not written down, numbers coming in one side pushes a similar quantity of numbers right out the other side!" But for concepts, thank goodness I have a bit more room. Still - for me - a reminder and an enjoyment of Rand's unique way of wording concepts - is a good thing. If you are happy with your enjoyment of it all, then there's nothing to change.

Atlas Shrugged/Atlas Shrugged

Informal poll here:

Which is your favorite: Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead?

Which did you read first?

Recently compled my 14th reading. Unfortunately, nothing in it seems to affect anyone in government. Thus we are, obviously, all going to hell.

Which one did she read first? AS or TF?

That's where I was at...not enough time to read all the books I have unread on my shelves, but I just decided it had been too long.