Benjamin Hare’s Reviews > Atlas Shrugged > Status Update

Read only a meager amount this week, mainly because a mere five pages of Atlas spurred additional reading. I'm struggling to remain focused on Galt's speech rather then stopping every few pages to do additional reading of source material. The epistemological payload of this speech is staggering, and more than a little bit intimidating.

John Galt's speech. The most difficult, but more important, section of the book.

Cherryl's fate doesn't get any easier, regardless of how many times I read it.
Dagny finally learns where John Galt has been hiding out these past fifteen years. Reardon learns the truth about himself, and those around him. The world is beginning to crumble.

It's the beginning of the end. Dagny has left Atlantis and returned to the world after her month-long stay as a semi-prisoner. Dr. Robert Stadler witnesses the unveiling of "Project X."

Dagny has arrived in Atlantis and I'm doing so much research on previous sections that my progress has slowed to a handful of pages each day. Although I've read this book at least nine times, this most recent read-through (my first in six years) feels like I'm starting to truly grok it's deeper abstractions.

Directive 10-289 is unleashed. The Taggart Tunnel disaster wrenches Dagny back to her office. Reardon and Francisco face off in Dagny's apartment in one of the most explosive, but nuanced scenes in the book. Quentin Daniels offers his resignation and Dagny races off to Utah in hopes to keep him working on the motor. During the trip she meets the tramp who worked for the Twentieth Century Motor Co. Stunning.

Lillian's discovery of the identity of Hank's mistress. Directive 10-289 is unleashed! Reardon signed the "gift certificate." Every time I read this section it makes me sick to my stomach. His meeting with Ragnar soon after lifts me up from the pit of despair. This book is an emotional roller coaster.

Reardon's trial, my least-favorite scene in the book is over with. Reardon's growing friendship with Francisco d'Anconia is wonderful to behold, particularly since I know what's coming.