Ayn Rand Lives
Justin Raimondo of AntiWar.com has written an excellent piece on a new book, Goddess of The Market. Ayn Rand And The American Right, by Jennifer Burns.
Anything about Ayn Rand interests me and I’ll be purchasing this book in due course.
I first came upon Rand’s magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, back in 1982 – an event that transformed my life in many ways. And the following years were most fascinating and instructive. You see, I had previously been a Christian and the reading of “Atlas” created a ravine between my old beliefs and those I was about to adopt.
As is true for many who first read her works, I became intense and rather evangelical about it and started a discussion group on Objectivism – the name Ayn Rand gave her philosophy. It was only later, a few years later, that I realised I had swapped one “belief” for another, in the sense of adopting Objectivism as the “truth”.
So instead of being an irritating fundamentalist Christian, browbeating anyone who stood close enough to me, I became in irritating fundamentalist Objectivist – powered by the nuclear energy of reason!
Anyway, that’s a long and tortuous story and far too long-winded to go into here. Suffice to say that The Fountainhead by Rand is still my favourite novel, and Ayn Rand still my biggest hero – even though I’m not a “card-carrying” Objectivist any more.
Her ideas have changed and will continue to change lives – and perhaps even the course of history.
Read the review. Buy the book.
I have never read any of Ayn Rands books. If I wanted to start reading her books, which is the best one to start with? Atlas Shrugged? Is there an order to them?
Well, I actually started with Atlas Shrugged. But after reading The Fountainhead later, I believe the best one to start with is that – The Fountainhead. And if you’re looking for a shorter “introduction” read Anthem.
I was never able to “get into” The Fountainhead, but have read Atlas Shrugged many times. Anthem is a good choice if you are overwhelmed by the large size of Atlas shrugged.
My essay on Rand starts “Of course you disagree with some of what Ayn Rand wrote or spoke. If you didn’t, you would be unnecessary.”
Ayn Rand’s best title was “The Virtue of Selfishness”. I read AR in the 60s – at a time when Kennedy thought money was paper and Harold Wilson let you keep 5% of your income if you were a super earner. They were able to do this because socialist thinking was on the rise – much the way it is today. You can see how black something is if you hold it against a white background. If you live with a culture of “ubuntu” (sharing) around you, only then can you fully understand the virtue of selfishness – or the value of privacy.
Yes Bob, that’s a great book. But I still maintain that the best introduction to Ayn Rand’s works is via her fiction. Why? Because via fiction she is able to presnt her philosophical ideas in a way that enters the mind viscerally, by imaginative experience. This is not possible when reading non-fiction. That is why Ayn Rand has been such an influential philosopher – because she was a novelist first.
Spot on David. What I meant was it was her best choice of title – not necessary the best book. The title rubs and makes you think. America is a different environment to Europe but the individuals’ culture is not that different and people are more likely to take privacy for granted. Africa on the other hand has a culture of collectivism. The altruism of the West has done more harm – albeit unwittingly – than good. Still Africa clings to the belief in cultural sharing. Sorry, I count a lot better than I write.