This book is a collection of essay pertaining to Rand’s philosophy, her viewpoints of culture as her philosophy pertains to it and politics as they are objective or not. The book also contains a few essays from her cohort/admirer Leonard Peikoff as well as one by Peter Schwartz. It is Rand’s essays that stand out.

First, Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism is applied in numerous situations that Rand was experiencing or reading about. With her usual up-front audacity, she makes her arguments as to why rationality separated from objective reality leads to blind acceptance of altruism, and in turn the blind acceptance of altruism leads eventually to the loss of individual freedom. With all of this in mind, she critiques a review of Aristotle, psychology, religious belief, and basic mediocrity among other concepts.

In part 2, Culture, and in part 3, Politics, Rand relies on clear and concise argumentation to point out how non-rational belief-altruism- loss of individual freedom can be found in social norms as well as political goals. One of my personal favorites is the essay: The Intellectual Bankruptcy of Our Age, which points out the similar meanings of “liberal” and “conservative” and how the modern use of those terms is in direct contradiction to the original meaning of the terms. One of her points is that this change was discreet and almost un-notice by most. With the exception of one or two (particularly the essay “About a Woman President”) I found the essays to give a good perspective of how Objectivism works when applied to general situations such as society and politics.

Rand’s philosophy is often misconstrued or misunderstood, and this book gives the reader a chance to see the consequences of Objectivism in action. What this book does not do is go into detail about what Objectivism is philosophically speaking. For that I would recommend her book “Objectivism”. All in all, this book would be a good introduction if a hardcore philosophy book is not your taste and you find that philosophy in novel-form is not your cup of tea.

I absolutely loved this book. In terms of studying Ayn Rand's philosophy, it is second to none. I still love her Virtue of Selfishness book, but this book goes deeper on a lot of different subjects. As I read this book, I found myself struck with a deep admiration for her prolific abilities to think and to write. Profound concepts came to her with apparent ease. She was able to summarize complex ideas into simple, easy to read and understand, words. This book includes an introductory essay about the basic tenets of her philosophy, Objectivism. It's a must-read. I'll attempt to do summarize it in one sentence, but I highly recommend you read it for yourself in its entirety.

Objectivism is based on the tenets of reason, rational self-interest, and true free-market capitalism.

She applies this philosophy to many different arenas throughout these essays, from business to politics to landing on the moon to everyday life. The only criticism I have for this work is the essay on a woman being president. She thought it improper for a woman to desire to be President, as she defines the essence of femininity as "hero worship." I think men and women both have people they admire and adore, but worship is an excessively strong word that signifies anti-rational subjectivism. She stresses that she believes a woman is capable and competent of being President, and there are women who would do far better than the men that have previously held the title, but she thinks it improper for a woman to WANT to be President. I was very confused by this and wish she was still alive so I could pose the question to her myself and have a discussion on the subject.

Otherwise, this book earned every last one of the 5 stars I am giving it. If ever there was a book worthy of owning, this is the one.

Check out my live Youtube review and summary at https://youtu.be/0T98ov4dbI4

This was my first exposure to Rand, and I found it to be a very accessible school of thought. I'm interested in exploring other books by Rand, mainly Atlas Shrugged, to better understand her Objectivist philosophy.

Ayn Rand points out one method that Aristotle's enemies have used to invalidate him: the straw man. That is, Aristotle's enemies have misrepresented his ideas, have found flaws in their misrepresentation, and then blamed Aristotle for the errors that they themselves have introduced. Ayn Rand has a good understanding of this kind of attack, having been subjected to it so much herself!
Ayn Rand criticizes altruism. Her critics have said that she was attacking a straw man, a masochistic extreme of altruism, rather than what they said was the center of altruism, compassion for ones fellow man. Is this true? I think not. The etymology of the word altruism is that it comes from the Latin for "other" (compare alter). The core of altruism is thus the idea that the primary purpose of ones actions should be to promote the welfare of the other person. Self-sacrifice is then actually at the heart of altruism, and not a straw man devised by Ayn Rand. Compassion for the suffering of the innocent is merely the bait in the trap, a way to entice naive people into volunteering to be victims. If what one actually wants to promote is compassion for the suffering of the innocent, there is no need to introduce a new word for it, altruism. One can simply call it compassion for the suffering of the innocent. This is a better term than altruism, because it makes clear that one should favor the innocent over the evil, not others over oneself.

Collection deeply probing essays by Ayn Rand and her acolytes, that enhances one's understanding of the Ayn Rand's philosophy that one has grasped from the Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Certainly, not for everyone, but for hardcore objectivists, like me, it is a must read.