Ethan

It worked. Life changed. 3 years later and I still don't smoke cigarettes and still think this book was a key part of the journey. The approach the author uses hits hard for a rational-oriented person. You go through his reasoning and realize you no longer want to smoke.

Instantly easily one of my 5 favorite books of all time. I liked it even more than Atlas Shrugged, since I found it more relatable.

This is one of those books so powerful that it changed something very deep within me, and caused me to begin to see the world differently. Mostly due to the triangle between Roark, Toohey, and Keating. One can see these 3 archetypes in any person in different proportions. It begs me to make many ethical judgements: which of these characters do/should I aspire to be? Is there anything unethical about these characters' actions?

Yes it is pretty long, but it was a good length for the point that it tries to get across. And the story is compelling enough that it doesn't drag on or go into irrelevant details like lots of fiction writing does. That is because this book is an amazing example of “show don't tell”. Mrs. Rand uses the book as a tool to convince you about her philosophy. Not in a subversive subliminal way; she is quite open about it. But she never references the principles of her philosophy within the book. It is a book of political philosophy even though for some reason many modern academics don't believe it belongs in the canon of such works. Instead of being a collection of dense one-liners that take forever to digest like many philosophy books, it is a story full of life, relationships, and career.

I didn't find it insightful and I didn't like the writing style.

I read the first 50 pages and found so many unconvincing opinions about how much better communism is than capitalism which led to unconvincing rants about how stupid Steven Pinker is and I just couldn't keep reading because the author lost his credibility with me.

Only made it 40% through. The narrator on audible's accent was such that I couldn't speed it up much. The story was pretty interesting but with ~4hrs of listening left there's no way I have the patience to find out what happens next. It's pretty bleak and very well written. I don't read fiction much and this book reveals why: I often feel there is way way way too much irrelevant detail, and then half way through I can't bear to continue because I'm tired of the overall scenario.