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Title: Atlas Shrugged (Cliffs Notes) by Andrew Bernstein ISBN: 0-7645-8556-8 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 05 June, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.83 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Bernstein - right choice for Cliff note on Atlas
Comment: Like Rand, Bernstein is a philosopher and novelist. His extensive study of Rand's thought is evident in this masterful recapitulation of Rand's great novel. He understands Rand's ideas and characters, leading to a sympathetic treatment. However, he avoids being an overbearing propagandist. For those of us who were riveted by the action the first time we read Atlas, this will serve as a discussion with a 'friend' as we recall the events and characters. Enjoy.
Rating: 5
Summary: GREAT TOOL TO HAVE!
Comment: I've pushed my way through many years of school without buying a single Cliffsnotes. I found it funny that my first purchase would be for a book I choose to read on my own accord. Rand's novel can't be praised enough, but I also have to give the Cliffnotes for the novel their fair due. This little book was a great help in gaining a better understanding of this massive novel. I really enjoyed the in depth character analysis, the tight summary of the book, and the critical essays offered at the end. If I were to write a paper on the book, I would definitely gain from having these notes. More importantly, by reading the book chapter by chapter, then going to the Cliffnotes and reading along to cover what I had just read, I was able to get through a work that covers a TREMENDOUS amount of ground, with a huge scope, and not get lost. After gaining as much as I did from using the Cliffnotes as a study tool while reading this novel, I made sure to pick up the Cliffnotes for "Fountainhead" so I could do the same for that book. I will definitely give consideration to purchasing Cliffnotes for my longer, more challenging future reads.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Great Supplement
Comment: If the value of CliffsNotes was only to help readers discover with clarity what a particular author meant to convey in their novels, this book on _Atlas Shrugged_ would be trash. The reason is that Ayn Rand, more than any other author, wrote perfectly lucid novels about which no clarification is needed.
However, these books (of which I've only read a few) do offer another value that makes this one especially, not trash, but a book to be treasured. What they offer is this: the CliffsNotes books condense often-lengthy, important works of art so that they can be grasped--and remembered--with ease. And, as _Atlas Shrugged_ comprises some thousand plus pages with enough action and subplots to rival any novel by Hugo or Dumas, this value can perhaps never be more evident than with this new addition to the CliffsNotes series by Andrew Bernstein.
Cognizant of the task at hand, Dr. Bernstein condenses the entire book in a solid nine pages. From there, he lays down who the characters in the book are--as well as their relation to one another. And, after that, the reader is given a host of "critical commentaries" on each of the books thirty chapters which summarize what happened, pose questions to the reader that will be answered later, and reveal a number of instances where Miss Rand's overall theme can be seen.
Any person who is reading _Atlas_ for the first or second time ought to find these commentaries very helpful in understanding and appreciating the book. Unfortunately, as someone who has read the novel many times, I had to read many of the author's observations with a bitter-sweet sense of joy. ("Bitter" because I wish such a book was around when I first started reading Rand's novels and "sweet" because one finally is.)
Complete, undiluted happiness did not have to wait long however. Immediately after the "critical commentaries" is a section on the most important characters giving a detailed analysis of each. Then, at the end of the book, are two magnificent essays--one on the overall theme of _Atlas Shrugged_ and another on Miss Rand's portrayal of the common man which tells why the book's main "common man" (Eddie Willers) has an unresolved fate at the end. These two essays were a nice finishing touch for the book, making even a self-titled "veteran" reader like myself glad to have read it.
Taken all together, from the brief biography of Miss Rand at the beginning to the quizzes and projects to stimulate learning at the end, this book proves that Dr. Bernstein was the right man to pick for the job. And so, my gratitude goes out to the author and this last word of advice goes out to you, the person reading the words I've written here: "get this book whether you are reading _Atlas_ for the first time or not--as a supplement to Miss Rand's magnum opus there's nothing better on the market."
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Title: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff ISBN: 0451191145 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: September, 1996 List Price(USD): $8.99 |
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Title: The Fountainhead (Cliffs Notes) by Andrew Bernstein ISBN: 0764585584 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 06 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal by Ayn Rand ISBN: 0451147952 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: July, 1986 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism by Ayn Rand ISBN: 0451163931 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: July, 1989 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Rand's Anthem (Cliffs Notes) by Andrew Bernstein ISBN: 0764585576 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 12 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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