LFB ANNOUNCES DELIVERIES OF BPO BOOKS

[Jerry Biggers]

I received yet another email late Friday from Laissez Faire Books. This time, they announced that the paperback copy that I ordered last August was being mailed today.

They had said earlier on Friday that they expected to receive copies of the paperback edition from the printer that day and that they would immediately be mailed-out.

O.K., I'm going out on a limb again. This time, I think it will hold me:

Nathaniel Branden's long-awaited book, THE VISION OF AYN RAND: THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF OBJECTIVISM is NOW IN PRINT, AVAILABLE, AND ORDERED COPIES ARE BEING DELIVERED!

[Chris Grieb]

I received yet another email late Friday from Laissez Faire Books. This time, they announced that the paperback copy that I ordered last August was being mailed today.

They had said earlier on Friday that they expected to receive copies of the paperback edition from the printer that day and that they would immediately be mailed-out.

O.K., I'm going out on a limb again. This time, I think it will hold me:

Nathaniel Branden's long-awaited book, THE VISION OF AYN RAND: THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF OBJECTIVISM is NOW IN PRINT, AVAILABLE, AND ORDERED COPIES ARE BEING DELIVERED!

Jerry; Tell us when you actually have the book.

[Alfonso Jones]

I received yet another email late Friday from Laissez Faire Books. This time, they announced that the paperback copy that I ordered last August was being mailed today.

They had said earlier on Friday that they expected to receive copies of the paperback edition from the printer that day and that they would immediately be mailed-out.

O.K., I'm going out on a limb again. This time, I think it will hold me:

Nathaniel Branden's long-awaited book, THE VISION OF AYN RAND: THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF OBJECTIVISM is NOW IN PRINT, AVAILABLE, AND ORDERED COPIES ARE BEING DELIVERED!

I received an email from LFB on 8 December, in which they indicated they expected to ship the paperbacks December 9, with the leather and hardback versions being shipped 10 days later.

Regards,

Bill P

[Jerry Biggers]

I received yet another email late Friday from Laissez Faire Books. This time, they announced that the paperback copy that I ordered last August was being mailed today.

They had said earlier on Friday that they expected to receive copies of the paperback edition from the printer that day and that they would immediately be mailed-out.

O.K., I'm going out on a limb again. This time, I think it will hold me:

Nathaniel Branden's long-awaited book, THE VISION OF AYN RAND: THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF OBJECTIVISM is NOW IN PRINT, AVAILABLE, AND ORDERED COPIES ARE BEING DELIVERED!

Jerry; Tell us when you actually have the book.

Chris, your trenchant suggestion reminds me of two quotations:

1: Regarding the series of postponements for the release of the Vision/BPO book:

from Star Trek II (1982):

Saavik, addressing Spock, with astonishment: "You lied!"

Spock's retort: "I exaggerated."

2: on the current assertion that "It's in the mail!":

Reagan, on dealing with the Soviets over Strategic Arms Limitations (SALT):

"Trust, but verify."

[9thdoctor]

I got this email from Nathaniel Branden yesterday, it has a link to Barbara Branden's foreword as a pdf file:

Dear Friend,

Thank you for your enthusiastic inquires regarding The Vision of Ayn Rand. The paperback edition has been printed and is in transit to the warehouse for shipping. The hardback and leather bound editions will take about 10 days longer. If you would like a deep insight of what the book is to be about, I urge you to read the foreword, written by Barbara Branden.

Read the foreword (click here) http://www.nathanielbranden.com/catalog/pdf/VISION_FWD_BB.pdf?utm_campaign=The%20Vision%20of%20Ayn%20Rand&utm_content=&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_term=Read%20the%20foreword%20%28click%20here%29

Order your copy (click here) http://www.lfb.org/index.php?cPath=50

In addition, Laissez Faire Books is having a banquet with me in Phoenix, Arizona on January 10th to celebrate the publication of The Vision of Ayn Rand. It is being held in conjunction with a Winter Retreat and Conference that Laissez Faire is sponsoring. The entire Sunday afternoon of the conference is focusing on Ayn Rand and her ideas and other speakers include Ed Hudgins, Roderick Long and Mimi Gladstein.

More information on the conference (click here) http://www.isilretreat.org/

Buy tickets to the banquet (click here) http://www.isilretreat.org/product_info.php?cPath=73&products_id=344

Best,

Nathaniel

[Alfonso Jones]

Read the foreword (click here) http://www.nathanielbranden.com/catalog/pdf/VISION_FWD_BB.pdf?utm_campaign=The%20Vision%20of%20Ayn%20Rand&utm_content=&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_term=Read%20the%20foreword%20%28click%20here%29

The foreword is well worth reading. Sends one back to those heady days...

Bill P

[Robert Campbell]

ND and Bill P,

It's a great foreword.

I especially appreciate Barbara's decision to quote a long passage from Chris Sciabarra's review of Jim Valliant's book at

http://www.nyu.edu/projects/sciabarra/notablog/archives/000641.html

Robert C

[anonrobt]

Read the foreword (click here) http://www.nathanielbranden.com/catalog/pdf/VISION_FWD_BB.pdf?utm_campaign=The%20Vision%20of%20Ayn%20Rand&utm_content=&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_term=Read%20the%20foreword%20%28click%20here%29

The foreword is well worth reading. Sends one back to those heady days...

Bill P

Indeed, those were the days... and the tomorrows...

[Alfonso Jones]

Read the foreword (click here) http://www.nathanielbranden.com/catalog/pdf/VISION_FWD_BB.pdf?utm_campaign=The%20Vision%20of%20Ayn%20Rand&utm_content=&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_term=Read%20the%20foreword%20%28click%20here%29

The foreword is well worth reading. Sends one back to those heady days...

Bill P

Indeed, those were the days... and the tomorrows...

I hope so. Can you recall the excitement of those days? Exciting stuff.

Bill P

[Jerry Biggers]

Read the foreword (click here) http://www.nathanielbranden.com/catalog/pdf/VISION_FWD_BB.pdf?utm_campaign=The%20Vision%20of%20Ayn%20Rand&utm_content=&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_term=Read%20the%20foreword%20%28click%20here%29

The foreword is well worth reading. Sends one back to those heady days...

Bill P

Indeed, those were the days... and the tomorrows...

I hope so. Can you recall the excitement of those days? Exciting stuff.

Bill P

A brief reminiscence on my first attendance at an NBI event:

In 1967, while in the Army, I visited New York City for the express purpose of attending one of the periodically announced Introductory lectures for the Basic Principles of Objectivism course. The first lecture is sort of a tour de force presentation on the unique features of Objectivism in the context of the history of philosophy and ccntrasting its positions to the predominant intellectual trends in today's culture. A secondary purpose is to get the audience excited enough to enroll for the whole lecture series.

The introductory lecture always attracted a large crowd so it was held in a large ballroom in one of the downtown hotels. I had subscribed to The Objectivist Newsletter from its start in 1962, read her books, listened to some LP records that had been issued by NBI, seen Rand on TV in Chicago (Irv Kupcinet and an ABC Symposium which included Rand as one of the participants), and had read most of the largely negative articles about her, including large spreads in The Saturday Evening Post, Look, and Life. But had never seen her in person.

I remember walking into that large glittering room which was already filling up. The room was already filling up. I looked over to the side of the room, and there they were! Ayn Rand, Frank O'Conner, Nathaniel and Barbara Branden. Looking at Barbara, I remember thinking to myself, "Holy Christ! She's just as beautiful as she appeared in the Life, Look, and Sat. Eve. Post articles!" One of those articles, by the way, referred to her a "a stunning blonde." An understatement! Recovering my composure, I sat down and awaited the beginning of the lecture. And it, of course, lived up to expectation.

I later attended another lecture that was held at the NBI offices in the Empire State Building. In a question and answer session, Ayn Rand reacted sharply to a question rom a young woman who (naively) asked Ayn what she thought about the New York mayoral campaign of William F. Buckley, Jr. Ayn's response: "Do not mention the name of that creature in my presence!" After the audience recovered their breadth, Ayn said in a lower, more gentle voice, "I know that you did not mean to be offensive - but find out from somedody after the lecture why you were!" With the exception of that brief outburst, Ayn answered every question and was sometimes humorous in her answers. She also graciously signed copies of her books.

That was my first encounter with Ayn Rand, Nathaniel and Barbara Branden, and NBI. I found it an exhilarating experience.

Edited December 13, 2009 by Jerry Biggers

[Greybird]

[... Jerry had] listened to some LP records that had been issued by NBI, seen Rand on TV in Chicago (Irv Kupcinet and an ABC Symposium which included Rand as one of the participants) [...]

When you and I heard Peikoff's "Objectivism" taped lectures in Chicago in 1978, you were kind enough to loan me two of those LPs. I made tapes on my dorm-room stereo from "The Concept of God" (NB) and "Our Cultural Value-Deprivation" (AR). That was the first time I'd heard either of their voices. (Rand answered questions in the later lectures of Peikoff's course.) I still have those tapes! And I thank you again for them.

I sorely miss Irv Kupcinet. His "Kup's Show" was syndicated to many PBS stations, and he was one of the genuinely thoughtful and courteous cultural reporters who seem to be vanishing in recent decades. (Perez Hilton, say, isn't in the same universe.) Kup was also a fixture on Chicago newscasts and in the Sun-Times for many years.

[Chris Grieb]

Thanks for reprinting Barbara's wonderful essay about the Basic Principles course. Those were exciting times and I am glad I was able to take part in them.

I knew someone who attended the first course and I was told you couldn't miss a lecture because they weren't alway held in the same place.

[Jerry Biggers]

[... Jerry had] listened to some LP records that had been issued by NBI, seen Rand on TV in Chicago (Irv Kupcinet and an ABC Symposium which included Rand as one of the participants) [...]

When you and I heard Peikoff's "Objectivism" taped lectures in Chicago in 1978, you were kind enough to loan me two of those LPs. I made tapes on my dorm-room stereo from "The Concept of God" (NB) and "Our Cultural Value-Deprivation" (AR). That was the first time I'd heard either of their voices. (Rand answered questions in the later lectures of Peikoff's course.) I still have those tapes! And I thank you again for them.

I sorely miss Irv Kupcinet. His "Kup's Show" was syndicated to many PBS stations, and he was one of the genuinely thoughtful and courteous cultural reporters who seem to be vanishing in recent decades. (Perez Hilton, say, isn't in the same universe.) Kup was also a fixture on Chicago newscasts and in the Sun-Times for many years.

Wow!! I remember that! The Peikoff course ("The Philosophy of Objectivism" - which I recently purchased in a tape set on eBay - a great place to periodically check for recorded lectures that show up there, of Rand, Nathaniel and Barbara Branden, Peikoff) was given in Chicago in 1978 at a lawyer's office downtown. Unfortunately, I cannot remember his name, but I am sure that it was listed in the Notices section of an issue of The Objectivist.

But I definitely remember you! I had missed a few of the lectures, and I still have a copy of your complete note sets of that course that you later sent to me! Thanks!

Regarding the Irv Kupcinet show, I believe it aired in the late hours of Fridays or Saturdays on Chicago TV, and was 3 hours long (with commercials, of course). There was a competing show, "At Random," with John Madigan, which may also have had Rand or Branden on. Anyway, I do know that both Rand and Branden together, appeared on "Kup's Show" (as he later called it) several times, from around 1960 through 1967, with some very provocative exchanges of opinion between Rand and Branden on one side, and the other guests, who were usually prominent authors or other celebrities of the leftist persuasion.

Unfortunately, I did not have the means to audio tape those (VCRs had not been invented yet). I wonder if the video tapes of those shows are in some archive of the Chicago TV stations. Or if ARI has a copy (but even if they did, they probably would not make it available, since both Rand and Branden were on at the same time, with other guests that participated in the show (To the current generation, which probably has difficulty visualizing a three-hour long TV talk show, it included the host (Kupcinet or Madigan) and about four or five guest participants sitting around a coffee table just chatting informally, with some host moderation. They don't make TV talk shows like that anymore!). I note that you mention that Kupcinet's show was also syndicated on PBS stations, so it is possible that other copies of these shows are sitting in archives, somewhere. What a find that would be!

Anyway, thanks for remembering! And thanks for those Peikoff notes!

[Alfonso Jones]

Trivia note: Irv Kupcinet (see spelling) had a bit part as a journalist in . . . .Advise and Consent.

Small world.

Bill P

[Greybird]

Wow!! I remember that! The Peikoff course ("The Philosophy of Objectivism" - which I recently purchased in a tape set on eBay - a great place to periodically check for recorded lectures that show up there, of Rand, Nathaniel and Barbara Branden, Peikoff) was given in Chicago in 1978 at a lawyer's office downtown. Unfortunately, I cannot remember his name, but I am sure that it was listed in the Notices section of an issue of The Objectivist.

Thanks, as the man sang, for the memories! We met at the office of Steve Dupré, whom I lost track of after I finished at Northwestern. He helped with our campus Objectivist club, including bringing many audience members for our showing of the "Fountainhead" film at the student union.

I think I may have found out about the Chicago taped-lecture sessions, in high irony, through the late Beatrice Hessen, whose Palo Alto Book Service had sold me a complete set of the Rand newsletters from 1962 to 1974. To say that there was bad blood in later years from Peikoff toward Robert and Bea Hessen is to understate the case, but as to Lenny, what else should we expect? (Their dispute over Rand's article manuscripts is detailed here at OL.)

I suspect that you were reading something from a mailing list, in those even-before-Usenet days, as The Objectivist ended in 1971 and Binswanger's Objectivist Forum didn't come along until 1980.

But I definitely remember you! I had missed a few of the lectures, and I still have a copy of your complete note sets of that course that you later sent to me! Thanks!

It was my pleasure. Ye gods, did I scribble during those tape-playings! Then, after riding back to Evanston on the El each Sunday, I wore out several Smith-Corona ribbons with furious typing. ... Ribbons? What ancient technology is that? ask the 20somethings ...

Yet I had to try to get my money's worth. Then, as now, the oral culture of Official O'ism was overpriced. And we wouldn't get Peikoff's hardbound OPAR book for another 13 years ... the man just wasn't trying.

I don't even own that book any more. I'd rather have my own notes from '78.

[Roger Bissell]

Hmmm, I seem to be the first one to make this announcement here on OL, but....four days ago (Monday), I received my paperback copy of NB's The Vision of Ayn Rand, and it is a thing of beauty. :thumbsup: Mega-kudos to Jim Peron, chief cook and bottle-washer at Cobden Press, for an outstanding job.

Only two things marred my considerable pleasure at receiving something to which I had given so much of my blood, sweat, and tears (I transcribed 15 of the 20 lectures, supervised the rest, proofread the best I could, and submitted to the mind-numbing process of constructing an index):

1. I realized, much to my chagrin, that the boldface underscore I had put on index entries that were definitions (or definition-like) was dropped in the process of converting my MS Word file to PDF format. Which is not that big a deal, except that...right under the title "Index of Terms" are the words: Some definitional or definition-relevant entries are indicated by underscored boldface print. Ummm...WHAT underscored boldface print? <sigh> [For those who care about such a nicety, I am in the process of constructing a supplemental list of Nathaniel's proferred "definitions" of indexed terms, with the page of TVOAR on which each one appears. I will post it here on OL and on my web site. Perhaps I will be able to persuade LFB/Cobden Press to distribute it via email to their customers, as well.]

2. A friend of a friend has pointed out ~numerous~ proofreading problems in the 7-page Foreword by Barbara Branden, which was posted on OL recently. Some of the problems are truly errors, though many are (IMO) insignificant--such as a quotation mark pointing the wrong direction, a missing quotation mark, a comma outside a close-quote mark. Others are inconsistencies in italics and indentation usage. Yet others are departures from italics and indentation conventions, but which (again, IMO) are perfectly acceptable and in no way disturb the reader's enjoyment of the content. This FOAF, whose livelihood includes such attention to detail (none dare call it nitpicking ;)), is concerned that the carelessness of allowing so many glitches into the finished product will detract from the effectiveness of the message. I disagree. Even knowing (now) of these problems, I still read through the material with complete enjoyment, and I think that everyone except the absolutely fussiest readers and/or implacable enemies of NB and/or professional proofreaders will respond in the same way.

You could round up several hundred of these glitches by Cobden Press's beautiful rendering of NB's lectures, and it would still pale by comparison to the ~one~ howler on the back cover of Tara Smith's book on Rand's ethics, which was published by Cambridge University Press, a ~major~ academic publisher. Get this!

Paints a far more positive portrait of the egoist than the stereotypes that

philosophers, as well as other; too often lazily accept

[For those who missed it: the booboo was "other;" which should read "others,"]

Now, I doubt that Tara Smith had ~anything~ to do with that goofy bit of carelessness, any more than NB did with the various little glitches in his published lectures. All I'm saying is that neither the very small (Cobden Press) nor the very mighty (Cambridge University Press) are immune to error -- that "all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God." We all did the best we could on The Vision of Ayn Rand -- and it's damned good!

Some have asked why NB went with a tiny niche publisher and didn't try instead to get TVOAR published by a major publisher -- or by an internet publisher such as iUniverse.

I have some insight into the former issue. NB and I had a conversation several years ago, in which he expressed his strong concern about the marketability of TVOAR. The customer base for his writing has, for nearly 4 decades, been in the psychology and self-help market, and he has not been known to the general public as a philosopher. This he thought, and I agreed, would dampen any hope of getting a major publisher to take on a book by him on philosophy, especially one that was of more historical interest. We agreed that his best bet would be for publication via either TOC/TAS/TBA or a libertarian press or an internet publisher (in particular, a print-on-demand publisher).

While my personal preference was for the latter, I have to say that the products of such publishers have their own "issues." For instance, Scott Ryan's critique of Rand's epistemology, Objectivism and the Corruption of Rationality, was published in 2003 by Writers Club Press, an imprint of iUniverse, Inc. Like TVOAR, it is quite attractive and pleasurable to read, two flaws jumped out at me when I first checked it out: it had no index, and it contained numerous instances of the title of Rand's last novel formatted as ATLAS SHRUGGED, rather than Atlas Shrugged. I would say those flaws were probably Ryan's failings, rather than the publisher's--but the point is, when you're on a shoestring budget with a budget publisher, you get what you get, and you don't get any better than you give. Which includes meticulous, head-spinning attention to detail, over and over, to make sure things don't slip by -- or ~in~ -- from one stage of editing and publishing to the next.

That said, it is ~still~ a great thrill to see NB's wonderful NBI lectures finally published, and to know that I played an important role in bringing them to a new readership. If ~enough~ people read them, I predict two things: (1) the right ideas will have a greater impact in changing the direction of our culture and country, and (2) a second printing will be issued which will have far fewer of the errors that the proofreading mavens love to pounce on. ;)

REB

[Alfonso Jones]

Roger -

I am of two minds on this:

1) I'm delighted to see that the book has come out - for real, "in the flesh."

2) I'm now even more impatient waiting for my two copies to arrive (one paper one leather).

Regards,

Bill P

[Alfonso Jones]

And -

A great salute to Roger for championing this, and doing so much work to make it happen.

Bill P

[Chris Grieb]

I'm happy to hear it is out.

[Jerry Biggers]

Well, a big Congratulations, Roger!!. BPO finally in print (I haven't received my copies yet, - and won't in the next two weeks, because I will be out of town - so I guess I will take your word for it that it really exists!).

If it were not for your labors and perserverance, BPO would still be just an "oral tradition," maybe for another 40 years!. Hopefully, it will now receive the attention it deserves and will persuade many of its readers. I am talking here mainly about college-age students and others who have not yet "finalized" their philosophy of life. And perhaps others in different age groups will also profit from reading this book for clarification of Objectivism's "Basic Principles." IMO, "conversions" from other political/ethical philosophies rarely occur in people past their twenties (note that I did not say, never occur).

Anyway, regarding your reporting of some typographical errors - they do not sound like they are significant. As you stated, mishaps occur even with the big publishing houses. An example that comes to mind, was a new edition of Ludwig von Mises' classic, Human Action, which was issued by Yale University Press in the 1960's. It had so many typographical errors that another edition, re-set and corrected, was quickly issued by Regnery.

I hope this edition is a big success and that Laissez Faire Books will sell many copies. And quickly follow that up by distributing the book to major book outlets, including Barnes & Noble, Borders, and especially, Amazon.