Atlas Shrugged, probably because he was bored to tears

I've read a lot of books because I don't get out of the house much. Some are good, some bad, most somewhere in the middle. I had heard that Atlas Shrugged was really good. I've read 1/12th of it, and I think it's incredibly boring, simplistic, poorly characterized and naive. Maybe it gets better later on - I'll never know. I'll have to read the Cliff Notes. Maybe.

The source of my boredom (and disdain) is that you either relate to Rand's message about the world or you don't; I can't see much in the way of middle ground. I happen to think it's so shortsighted that it makes me angry to even have to explain it's inadequacies, but here's a short summary of her position: do whatever is in your best interest without regard for others, others should be doing the same and if they aren't, tough shit for them.

I'm not going to waste any more energy explaining the book or my position. You can find lots of content out there from people that actually had the patience to get through the story, but here's an interesting article and my favorite quote:

Her novels continue to inspire visceral feelings of worship and disgust among readers. Reviewing the newly published memoir of her acolyte Greenspan, the conservative writer Andrew Ferguson complains in The Weekly Standard that "her creepy philosophy of Objectivism, placing the self at the centre of the moral universe, still is embraced by tens of thousands of pimply teenage boys in the dreamy moments between fits of social insecurity and furious bouts of masturbation."