Atlas Shrugged: CliffsNotes

By: Andrew Bernstein PhD

Narrated by: Joyce Bean

This CliffsNotes study guide on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, and critical commentaries, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow you to better understand the work. This study guide was written with the assumption that you have read Atlas Shrugged.

Reading a literary work doesn’t mean that you immediately grasp the major themes and devices used by the author; this study guide will help supplement you reading to be sure you get all you can from Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

CliffsNotes Review tests your comprehension of the original text and reinforces learning with questions and answers, practice projects, and more. For further information on Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged, check out the CliffsNotes Resource Center at www.cliffsnotes.com.

©2010 Wiley Publishing, Inc. Adaptation of original text © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc. (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Objective? No. For Objectivists? Oh Yeah!

Would you be willing to try another one of Joyce Bean’s performances?

The narrator's performance is fine save for inflections that are a little insulting and corny. After we hear about Hank and Dagny's superior moral constitutions and Hank's fidelity to his marriage vows in a strident proud tone we hear in shy, dulcet tone "then they made love" as Hank throws his marriage contract under the bus, or should I say train, and does "it" with that other paragon of individualist virtue, Dagny. There's plenty of this.

Was Atlas Shrugged: CliffsNotes worth the listening time?

It's a great listen when you can't being yourself to waste precious days reading 1200 pages of a horrible one dimensional deluded screed by a psychopath. It gives you character breakdowns and reduces some of the rehashed and profoundly boring text to the essential message--corporate power, awesome, public governance, evil! Cliffs is a quality product. Side note: Professor Bernstein (not surprisingly) is a "radical for laissez-faire capitalism." as per his website.

Any additional comments?

If you actually think you need to plumb the depths of this traumatized psychopath, Alisa Rosenbaum, and have any semblance of empathy and at least one pinky toe rooted in reality, this is one of the lesser painful ways to accomplish this.

An excellent resource for a timeless yet rather long-winded novel

CliffsNotes is an excellent resource to understanding the complexities of Atlas Shrugged. I read the novel many years ago at university and could not bring myself to doing it again. So, the Notes was just perfect for refreshing my memory ... in under four hours. The audio worked even better when following on with the written text (both audible and kindle on my iPad).