This is a good post, though, because even though I like the book I agree with some of his criticisms. The biggest one is it seems the characters are powerless against the gov't. They're supposed to be amazing people, but the gov't does something and they're like deer in the headlights. She doesn't bring out for me why they didn't use the same skills they use at work to deal with the gov't. For example, Hank Rearden doesn't care about the gov't; he's not interested. So he hires someone to manage relations with the gov't and doesn't stay on top of it. Is there any other aspect of his business he doesn't like, say accounting, supply chain management, receiving inspection? But I imagine he stays on top of it. He finds people he trusts, gets them to buy in on objectives and holds them accountable. He presumably visits them to see if they're having problem doing their job. But when dealing with the gov't, he puts his head in the sand.

Despite the problems, though, the book is popular. The characters are flat sometimes, BUT often I thought it was on purpose to bring out some flat behaviors your see in real life. This was esp true for Fountainhead.