Why read antiquated, out of touch fiction novels from a by-gone age (Atlas Shrugged) when you can read current economists observations.

This is Capitalism 4.0 (2011)

Capitalism 4.0: The Birth of a New Economy in the Aftermath of Crisis: Anatole Kaletsky: Amazon.com: Books

Book over-view: "In this provocative book, Anatole Kaletsky re-interprets the financial crisis as part of an evolutionary process inherent to the nature of democratic capitalism. Capitalism, he argues, is resilient. Its first form, Capitalism 1.0, was the classical laissez-faire capitalism that lasted from 1776 until 1930. Next was Capitalism 2.0, New Deal Keynesian social capitalism created in the 1930s and extinguished in the 1970s. Its last mutation, Reagan-Thatcher market fundamentalism, culminated in the financially-dominated globalization of the past decade and triggered the recession of 2009-10. The self-destruction of Capitalism 3.0 leaves the field open for the next phase of capitalism’s evolution. Capitalism is likely to transform in the coming decades into something different both from the totally deregulated market fundamentalism of Reagan/Thatcher and from the Roosevelt-Kennedy era."

Regarding fairy-tales like Atlas Shrugged. Might as well read Lord of the Rings. The author of Atlas Shrugged Ayr Rand was a woman at one point fascinated with real life American killer, William Edward Hickman, whose gruesome, sadistic dismemberment of a 12 year old girl named Marrion Parker in 1927, shocked the nation. Rand filled her early notebooks with worshipful praise of Hickman. What did Rand admire so much about Hickman? His sociopathic qualities: "Other people did not exist for Hickman, and he does not see why they should. Hickman has no regard whatsoever for what society holds sacred and with a consciousness of his own. He has the true innate psychology of a Superman. He can never realize and feel other people." This echos almost word for word, her description of her character Howard Roark, the hero of her novel The Fountainhead: "He was born without the ability to consider others." (Mark Ames: Ayr Rand Hugley Popular Author and Inspiration to Right-wing Leaders was an Admirer of Serial Killer, February 26th, 2010)

So. You can either learn how to think about the economy from economists, or the groupie of an early 20th Century Psychopath. I know. Tough choice.