Brilliant essays on Objectivist thought.

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I think it's like a Cliff's Notes to Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead. The playbook for objectivism in three parts Philosophy, Culture, and Politics. The Politics part was the most relevant for me as it doubled up as an economics of Objectivism lesson. The Philosophy part seemed more like a college professor lending his opinions to the class. I felt as if I would fail if I voiced disagreement. Culture was interesting; the best part for me on the complacency of the American public school system; and college education for that matter. Slightly misleading in that this is not entirely Ayn Rand messages; Leonard Peikoff has thrown some of his works into the mix.

If you find yourself wanting to make sure you got the message in John Galt's 100 some page speech, you'll want to pick this up. If you feel you've had enough, or don't quite agree with Objectivist thought, you'll want to pass.

Very good compilations of Ayn Rand's thought on multiple topics, quite redundant as I've already several of her non-fiction books. Some essay was much shorter and less well-developed than expected. Some carries personal fallacy of logic, making it less persuasive.

Everyone and his dog has read Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. The themes in her fiction works are well developed (particularly in Atlas Shrugged) and by the time you lay these tomes down you will have a reasonable understanding of Objectivism; that is there is an objective reality and therefore the epistemology of our knowledge and philosophy should derive from that reality. Through such a thought process one can derive certain conclusions. The Voice of Reason elaborates on this process, applies objectivist principals to today’s issues (the essays were written from 1961-1985 but the problems she addresses are still relevant today, perhaps even more so since our society has unfortunately become more Kantian), and discusses broad philosophical and political trends.



I am a fan of Rand. I applaud how she reinforces that man is an end unto himself. She continually reiterates the evil of altruism (not to be confused with charity). No man should live for another and the selfish joy one derives from his accomplishments, relationships, knowledge and thought are the only morally correct fashion of living.



This collection takes concentration, so if you have a baby crying in the background, I recommend you leave the child in front of a firehouse somewhere – don’t worry it will be fine. The writing is simple but the themes can be complex. You may find yourself having to re-read paragraphs (I know I did, as I am simple boy educated in the government schools). I think now I will read something light, like the Talmud, Ulysses or the Marquis de Sade (without the dirty parts).

Read this long time ago. I remember enjoying it, although I don't remember too much. Unlike her shorter philosophy books such as the Virtue of Selfishness, this book has many references on a general overview of the Objectivist philosophy. I would have gotten more out of this book if I've read Atlas Shrugged and couple of her other well-known books beforehand.
Still a good book. I also liked couple of Peikoff's essays and lecture.

I was stunned to learn that Ayn Rand "triggered" some progressives on FB - so much that they demanded the OP be taken down-- that I had to return to Ayn's essays which I attempted to slog thru in high school. Gosh, they were tough back then. But at 56, she made so much more sense (and yes. We are on a first name basis). I am now a great fan of Aristotle and Objectivism, and totally see how the GOP/libertarians have highjacked her philosophy to promote their own abusive powers while the left still remains lost. She does come off cold hearted but man, can she drag the Catholic Church over their dead facts. Her 1968 lecture on the Humanae Vitae was a loud scream to read at 3am on a Saturday after the abortion decision. Peikoff's essays were also easy to follow and got me into his 1980's book, The Omnious Parallels.

This is not worth 4 stars for me because I subscribe to everything Rand says. There are some ideas of hers that I think are spot-on and others that I find to be woefully short-sighted. The reason this is worth 4 stars for me is because it does a great job of teaching exactly what Rand believed, and in doing that it taught me a lot about her personal philosophy of Objectivism.

61-81 if totally open forum is intellectual, feelings as hope and fears vs reason, statist is destroying as collective good, science and ethics give choices and actions, statists ant hill and eugenics and Sanger, right or wrong who decides, what is really ethics, worst crimes by children of well-to-do, fear of objective assessment and responsibility, do not choose to think to go along with thought of prof appeasers erosion of values and cynicism, hatred for reason is hatred for reason which subverts to fear, dictatorships require censorship, pro-abortion, old liberalism is limited govt and max individual liberty, NW expansion by James Hill vs RR subsidies, why Vietnam after ignoring why not Eastern European countries, arts and distortion selective recreation of reality, root of social evils collectivism, bilingual and progress of nations, tribalism brutalism war, a wish is not a right, universities lost way then country, Vietnam and 1918 red army as totalitarianism vs white army of nothing, investigate Kennedy and Johnson to learn how war started and why and how lost, ussr and altruism how wonderful to see everyone equally shabby, appeasement is betrayal of values, book The Ominous Parallels, business supports own demise in univ research, Marilyn’s words found malice at top and envy hatred of values and good vs joy, 7min Apollo11, Founders questioned debated and disputed and not college profs, Margaret Mead flaw Samoa, Sanford student expelled for revealing China late-term abortions, govt of law or men, man as conceptual level plus 5 senses, teach and lecture vs moderate discussion what is opinion vs fact close teacher colleges, public TV for 10%, socialist believe in power of money, a thinking man cannot be ruled, do tax credits for education, unpredictable govt taxation is greatest fear, woman not want to be president why, Ukraine feed world, people can sense a sense of guilt insincerity and hypocrisy, doctors as business or servant of govt and not people, objectivism vs liberalism, ideas most practical in world, admired Aristotle Aquinas, what is the principal, truth only as lie begets more lies, practice what preach.

The highlight of this collection is Leonard Peikoff's touching eulogy for Ayn Rand.

I love Ayn Rand and I thoroughly enjoyed the perspectives in this book (whether or not I happened to agree with them) but it can be a pretty exhausting read. For anyone who has read Rand's fiction, the book is helpful if you've ever gone, "So I wonder what she thought about (insert topic here)."

However,for those who enjoy Rand's fiction and are satisfied with the themes presented there, this book won't do much for you.

As much as her big novels introduced objectivism, I expect essays such as these were the reason the philosophy continued to get support. In this collection, she applies her theories to the events of the 1960's. Much of it was convincing to me, even if I don't wholeheartedly agree with all of her premises. Many of her observations at that time are similarly relevant to events today.