Atlas Shrugged

Growing up in USSR I got pretty well acquainted with propaganda, and Atlas Shrugged bears all the hallmarks: simple one-dimensional characters, long profound monologues, easy division of the world into heroes and villains. Soviet propaganda had its heroes in proletariat and revolutionaries, Ayn Rand found hers among millionaires and titans of industry.

Back to audio-book. Scott Brick gives an uninspired performance; you can barely distinguish one character from another during a dialog, and his monotone almost made me fall asleep behind the wheel.

While I appreciate many of Scott Brick's audiobooks, he misses the emotional impetus behind the characters and Ayn's incredible grasp of satire. Many of her characters are archetypes, and Hurt just plain understands how she intended them to come across. There are some issues with the audio quality(background noise, etc). This drawback is overwhelmed by the brilliance of his acting. He really brings the book to live. Brick on the otherhand comes across flat, misses the characters emotional states and motivations, and turns a great story less so. I have both versions, but if you only purchase one yourself, select the Hurt version. You will not regret it

If you want a real treat - download this unabridged recording.

I have been meaning to listen to Atlas Shrugged for years, but I have been put somewhat off by its length.

When I discovered that a new recording had been made with no other than THE narrator Scott Brick the case was settled.

Atlas Shrugged is a story that will stick with you and make you reflect on The World, your life and the future.

It is set in The US and describes what would happen if you took away the initiative of the individual and deprived all of the intellectuals of their rights.

While I understand why many people will find the story political, controversial and even disturbing - it cannot help you appreciate how lucky we are living in democracies.

Download this recording, listen to Scott's mellow voice for 62 hours and prepare yourself for utter joy.

Wow.

Belive me when I say stick with the Christopher Hurt version. I have listened to both. Scott Brick is said to be "THE NARRATOR" but he can't compair to Christopher Hurt.

The Hurt version isn't great sound quality. I did hear some background noise at parts. There is a part where is stops compleatly for a few seconds but stick it out. Hurt's version of Taggart alone is woth it.

Brick makes this book I belive 11 hours longer using the exact same words. Brick has 1 voice for each male and female character and his book is packed with many characters. I think brick trys to play some parts.

This is my favourite book. I read it every year. Belive me when I say stick with the Christopher Hurt version.

This is one of my all time favortite books. I have read this book 3 times, but I never made it through the speech but once. I decided to listen, and originally bought this version during an Audible sale. After listening for a few hours, I could not listen to this narrator any longer and purchased the Christopher Hurt version. SO much better. I am sad to know that the book will end in the next couple of commutes.

There's very few things I can add to all that have been said about "Atlas Shrugged" that haven't been said before. Ayn Rand wrote a timeless masterpiece who put her name across the most influential writers of the english language. The story by itself is an Ode to the Human Mind and the best within us. This book change the lives of those who enter in contact with it and, most of the time, for the better.

The production of this audiobook is perfect. There's no background noise and the sound is as crisp as it could be. Only on the technical standpoint, the recording is as perfect as the state of the technology allows it to be.

So, why I gave it only 3 stars? Because of the casting of Mr. Brick. I have no quarrel with him. He's a talented artist who, I am sure, would give an outstanding reading of "Pride and Prejudice". He's, sadly, a poor choice for "Atlas Shrugged". His voice is unable to carry the certainty of John Galt, Dagny Taggart seems to be a moment away to sobbing, Francisco d'Anconia got a mundane voice while Jim Taggart sounds perfectly sane(!). This mostly ruined my enjoyment of this recording. "Atlas Shrugged" is a righteous book and his voice is too mellow to sound right.

In summary, may I suggest to those who really want to enjoy this story that they acquire the Christopher Hurt's rendition of it? The quality is less than stellar but the reading is perfect. In fact, I listened to the later right after I listened Mr. Brick's recording, just to forget the poor experience I lived.

somehow I got to be 38 without every reading this. Without really even knowing what it was about. I'd heard wacky things about Ayn (and her followers), but was pleasantly surprised by the book. The scale was refreshingly endless... her writing style is unique, wavering from the authentic depths of story telling to the shallow puddle of smut-fiction... But as a fan of Sci-Fi I am used to that. In many ways it is an Asimov-ian sci-fi adventure set in the techno-industrial beginnings of our country. in short, wish I'd read it earlier.

Atlas Shrugged is a true classic, perhpas even more relevant today than it was when it was first written. I have read it many times, but enjoyed very much listening to the audio book reading. It added some life to the text that I had been missing. I highly recommend it.

i was surprised that i was finished with it so quickly. i was expecting it to take me forever to finish! very captivating book, its a must read!

I'll assume that anyone considering this book is already aware of its significance, so I'll focus instead on this audio recording. The narrator, Scott Brick, is very talented. When listening to an audiobook, it is important that the reader uses inflection to impart life to the individual characters. He does a fantastic job of creating individuals who are recognizable by their voices. He does, however, have a tendency to speak quite slowly, and draw out some of the text in a painfully deliberate manner. To the point that several of the characters sound overly grave or even angry. You might notice that this recorded version is more than 10 hours longer than the unabridged version released in 2007. While I haven't listened to that version, I wonder whether that's because he speaks that much slower. I found that I was able to play this at 2X speed on my iPod and it was still perfectly clear. This ended my frustration of waiting for the words to come, with the added benefit of cutting the playback time in half.