Roger Bissell

Certainly gratifying to know that the Estate is being cared for so lovingly. Reminds me of Cousin Leonard's selfless devotion. My understanding is that the royalties are going to be devoted to distributing free copies, such as to libraries. Nobody is getting rich off this, that's for sure! So, yes, lovingly - as in, labor of love. REB

Amazon says I can have it by Thursday. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1548486671/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1501030474&sr=8-3&keywords=barbara+branden I hate to ask, but is there an index? And was it proofed against the pagination? I, for one, really appreciate that you (and whoever else was involved) have made this available. Nathaniel's Vision of Ayn Rand too. Hey man - I hate to tell you, but there is no index, sorry. However, the good news is that there's no pagination either! (Just joking.) And I'm glad that Amazon seems to have stepped up their game - if you mean they said you could get it by *this* Thursday (i.e., the day after tomorrow). The main people working to make this happen were Chris Sciabarra (foreword), myself (transcription, introduction, bibliography), and a trustee of Barbara's estate, who shall remain anonymous. REB

The print version of POET is now available! You can order from CreateSpace (link below) or from Amazon, but the Estate gets a better royalty (same list price of $14.99) from CreateSpace, so please order from there, if you would. Thanks! https://www.createspace.com/7304022 Oh, and by the way, the print version of POET will not be available from Amazon.com for 3-5 business days - but is available NOW from the CreateSpace e-store (the above link). Enjoy, y'all! :-) REB

Three comments - take your pick over which to distort or misrepresent: 1. Aristotle and Plato held up the development of real physical science between 1000 and 2000 years. Isn't that an awfully wide range of values? Is Heisenberg screwing with us again? 2. Aristotle and Plato defined the laws of logic, including the law of identity, which some claim to not be able to find in Aristotle or Plato. This held up the development of science? This sounds more like a Sophist argument. 3. Only 1/4 of Aristotle's works survived to the Renaissance and the Modern Era. Would "real physical science" be better off or worse off today if ALL of Aristotle's works had survived? If NONE of them had survived? Do you have candidates for "wish they hadn't survived"? REB P.S. - I suppose you have a point. I see a similar problem with how Rand herself held up the development of Objectivism, perhaps by 50 years or more by various of her practices and policies. (And I'm not talking about Closed Objectivism.)

Hmmm, this sounds like a (proposed?) Law of Conservation of Existence! REB

I liked your first two sentences. The second two don't make any contemporary sense. Charles Lindbergh led the "America First" campaign, trying to keep the U.S. out of the European War, and was smeared as a Nazi sympathizer once Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. It was all the rage to think of ways to be patriotic, once we entered the war, and Uncle Miltie's withholding gimmick was one. We were promised they were temporary, but obviously they were too juicy to give up, once the war was over. Trump is trumpeting his ersatz brand of economically ignorant "patriotism" as "America First," and he's going to end up discrediting genuine patriotism *and* destroying another big chunk of the free market by his protectionist policies. REB

Uh-huh, yup, you betcha. Sure, Aristotle talked about Unmoved Mover, though he didn't call it "First Cause." That was added in the Middle Ages by our Scholastic pals. And it was added by our ARI pal, Leonard Peikoff, to refer to the function of free will in human consciousness. Aristotle's four causes were Efficient, Formal, Material, and Final. The end or final cause or TELOS (one e) of any action is not inherently evil any more than the instigator or efficient cause of that action is inherently evil. If Aristotle *had* thought of the Unmoved Mover as a cause, it would have been a *fifth* cause. Either that, or maybe a four-in-one of the others. Sort of like Certs mints on steroids. As Ba'al noted, in addition to being a "horn player," I occasionally do mathematics - and even philosophy, several hundred pages of which have been published in The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies since 1999. But Ba'al has pledged not to buy my book(s), so I expect no less from you. REB

Aren't "temporary wartime expedients" wonderful? My favorite is the federal income tax withholding, which was invented by Milton Friedman as a way to help the federal government jump-start the financing of our participation in World War 2. If Trump's not careful, he's going to wind up making "America First" as unpopular as it was back in the 1940s. Trump = the new Charles Lindbergh?

Aristotle's four causes were Efficient, Formal, Material, and Final. First cause refers to religious notions such as God as First Cause of the universe or free will as First Cause within human consciousness. REB

Here's something else that Ayn Rand - and apparently other people closer at hand - did not know: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-smart-atomic-cloud-heisenberg-problem.html

Would this also apply to polo?

For those who need a little help in understanding the title of my book, it comes from one of the chapters, which is a fanciful tale of an imaginary meeting between Albert Einstein and beings from the Red Planet. And just to be clear, "discovered" in the title is intended in the sense of "found out about" or "learned about" (not "invented" or "were the first to develop"). So, contrary to the apparent misapprehension of one over-wrought commentator here, I was not trying to rewrite the history of mathematics and deny credit to the Arabs or whomever! Mainly, I just thought that might make a more attention-getting title than "What's the Deal with X-to-the-Zero Power?" But obviously, if the horse does not want to drink, then the horse will not drink. REB

Thanks, Michael!

Couldn't agree with you more, BC. And the next time you want to condescendingly, sneeringly put down my announcements about my work, at least give a passing nod to objectivity by actually quoting me instead of putting words in my mouth I didn't say. :-P REB

It's in print! Available here: https://www.amazon.com/How-Martians-Discovered-Algebra-Explorations/dp/1548260622/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=how+the+martians+discovered+algebra&qid=1568326882&s=books&sr=1-1 "How the Martians Discovered Algebra" by Roger E Bissell This exploration of induction and philosophy of mathematics is presented as a look "under the hood" at the process of mathematical theorizing, a detailed view of how the process of induction actually works. It also provides an alternative to the mind-numbing constructs of modern logic, mathematics, and set theory, explaining the true nature of zero and empty sets and revealing the flaw in Cantor's writings on infinity.There are original ideas here, including the author's view that zero and the empty set function as "operation blockers," as well as his explanation of why the value of the zero power of any number is always 1. The author also offers his own discovery of a new method for generating Pythagorean triples. He lays out both the deductive validation of his method and the details of his exploration of the Pythagorean equation that uncovered the relationships underlying his method.Academics, college students, and intelligent laypersons interested in philosophy and mathematics will all find this a challenging and stimulating read. They will be rewarded with new perspectives, not only on the theoretical landscape of mathematics and logic, but also on the value in learning the mental processes involved in induction, as well as the endless opportunities for fascination and delight to be obtained from mathematical discovery.… CREATESPACE.COM

The cover file and "internal" file of POET have been submitted for review by Amazon CreateSpace. Once the files have been approved, we'll probably order a "proof" copy, and then about a week later, if that looks good, we'll push the button to publish! So, stay tuned for an announcement around July 20 that POET is available for purchase in print form! REB

I finished the cover design for the paperback edition of POET yesterday and got a go-ahead from one of the two people whose approval counts on the design. So, we may actually get this done sometime in July. Stay tuned! REB

I finished formatting the print book this evening. Now I need to make a front-back-spine design for the cover, and then we're ready to upload to (Amazon) CreateSpace. Because of personal schedules, it may take another two weeks to get this finished, but I figure by mid-July the paperback version will be available. Meanwhile, the Kindles are selling like hotcakes! REB

Hey, folks, Barbara Branden’s legendary lecture series, Principles of Efficient Thinking, is now available for purchase as a Kindle e-book! Here are details and ordering information. https://www.amazon.com/Think-Your-Life-Depends-Principles-ebook/dp/B072N1YF3J/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1497921550&sr=1-1&keywords=think+as+of+your+life+depends+on+it We are hard at work, preparing the print version of the book for publication on Amazon’s “CreateSpace,” and we anticipate it will be available by late June or early July.

I know nothing about this process, sorry. Send them an email.

http://www.psupress.org/Journals/jnls_JARS.html $22 per individual issue $35 per year (two issues) - print or online $46 per year (two issues) - print & online

JARS: New July 2017 Issue Arrives! After The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies published its blockbuster 2016 double issue, "Nathaniel Branden: His Work and Legacy" (getting a few reviews along the way), JARS returns to its biannual format with a brand new issue. The print version of the July 2017 issue will be on its way to subscribers in the coming weeks, and will be published electronically by JSTOR and Project Muse as well. It features essays from a wide variety of perspectives, along with reviews of books on timely topics and continuing discussions of key issues in Rand studies. Readers should go to our 2017 index and click into the drop-down menu for Volume 17, Number 1 - July 2017 (Issue #33). Under the "Table of Contents," readers will find abstracts for each of the essays listed below; under "Contributor Biographies," readers will learn more about the writers featured in our newest issue. Table of Contents ARTICLES Russian Egoism Goes to America? A Case for a Connection between Ayn Rand and the Shestidesiatniki- Aaron Weinacht Just Who Is John Galt, Anyway? A Carnivalesque Approach to Atlas Shrugged - Charles Duncan The Beneficiary Statement and Beyond - Merlin Jetton Ultimate Value: Self-Contradictory - Robert Hartford Six Years Outside the Archives: The Chronicle of a Misadventure, in Three Acts - Robert L. Campbell REVIEWS Debunking Neosocialism (a review of Christopher Snowdon's book, Selfishness, Greed, and Capitalism: Debunking Myths about the Free Market) - Reviewed by Gary James Jason Debunking Ecofundamentalism (a review of Rögnvaldur Hannesson's book Ecofundamentalism: A Critique of Extreme Environmentalism) - Reviewed by Hannes H. Gissurarson After the Avant-Gardes (a review of After the Avant-Gardes: Reflections on the Future of the Fine Arts, edited by Elizabeth Millán) - Reviewed by Troy Camplin DISCUSSION Reply to Roger E. Bissell: Thinking Volition - Merlin Jetton Rejoinder to Merlin Jetton: Conditions of Volition - Roger E. Bissell Reply to Marsha Familaro Enright: Remembering the "Self" in "Self-ish-ness" - Robert White Rejoinder to Robert White: The Problem with "Selfishness" is Still Problematic - Marsha Familaro Enright JARS is published by Pennsylvania State University Press, but is distributed by the Johns Hopkins University Press Fulfillment Services. Folks wanting to obtain a subscription should inquire here. Enjoy! Posted by chris on June 6, 2017 07:33 PM | Permalink | Posted to Periodicals | Politics (Theory, History, Now) |Rand Studies

The July 2017 issue of Journal of Ayn Rand Studies is now available! https://www.nyu.edu/projects/sciabarra/notablog/archives/002284.html