Books on Ayn Rand and Objectivism

[George H. Smith]

I haven't kept up with books about Ayn Rand and/or Objectivism for many years. The last two books I read were NB's My Years With Ayn Rand and the screed by James Valliant.

I would appreciate it if someone would post a list of such books that have been published over the last ten years or so. If you would like to make it an annotated list, with brief comments about the good and bad points of a given book, that would be even better. I want to get caught up, and your comments would give me an idea of what to read first.

Thanks.

Ghs

[Rich Engle]

Ghs:

I bet someone (wink/nudge/MSK/ahem) or another might already have something like that around. Here's an idea if you haven't already...

When I read this I thought of one right away, which happened to be Chris Sciabarra's "Ayn Rand/The Russian Radical," but realized you'd prefer a list. Meanwhile I searched Chris' book up on Amazon (by title), and it was of course there along with other related items. Nearly for sure I think you might enjoy this one. The real point though is if you do a more general search on Amazon, at least you'd see most of what is out there, and be able to read excerpts, reader comments, etc. I had borrowed a copy of Chris' book and if I decide to get another one, I'd buy it new to help him out, but be tempted to order a used copy (like everything else, having to be frugal with my filthy book habit)--$3.69 is tempting.

The reason I recommend this book is because I know how Chris is, part of which is that he is truly a scholarly fellow, which always helps. He's also a rational, compassionate human being and that's even better.

There is also Ed Younkin's (and Ed Younkin's) book "Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged: A Philosophical and Literary Companion." I have only read excerpts of that but it seems very good between what I read of it and what others have mentioned.

I hope that helps.

Best,

rde

Edited March 30, 2010 by Rich Engle

[George H. Smith]

Ghs:

I bet someone (wink/nudge/MSK/ahem) or another might already have something like that around. Here's an idea if you haven't already...

When I read this I thought of one right away, which happened to be Chris Sciabarra's "Ayn Rand/The Russian Radical," but realized you'd prefer a list. Meanwhile I searched Chris' book up on Amazon (by title), and it was of course there along with other related items. Nearly for sure I think you might enjoy this one. The real point though is if you do a more general search on Amazon, at least you'd see most of what is out there, and be able to read excerpts, reader comments, etc. I had borrowed a copy of Chris' book and if I decide to get another one, I'd buy it new to help him out, but be tempted to order a used copy (like everything else, having to be frugal with my filthy book habit)--$3.69 is tempting.

The reason I recommend this book is because I know how Chris is, part of which is that he is truly a scholarly fellow, which always helps. He's also a rational, compassionate human being and that's even better.

There is also Ed Younkin's (and Ed Younkin's) book "Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged: A Philosophical and Literary Companion." I have only read excerpts of that but it seems very good between what I read of it and what others have mentioned.

I hope that helps.

Best,

rde

Thanks. I've had Chris's book for years, but forgot to mention it. The book by Younkins looks interesting.

Has there been a discussion of The Russian Radical on OL? If so, do you know the name of the thread and where it is located? I'd like to see what OLers think of it.

Ghs

[dan2100]

Ghs:

I bet someone (wink/nudge/MSK/ahem) or another might already have something like that around. Here's an idea if you haven't already...

When I read this I thought of one right away, which happened to be Chris Sciabarra's "Ayn Rand/The Russian Radical," but realized you'd prefer a list. Meanwhile I searched Chris' book up on Amazon (by title), and it was of course there along with other related items. Nearly for sure I think you might enjoy this one. The real point though is if you do a more general search on Amazon, at least you'd see most of what is out there, and be able to read excerpts, reader comments, etc. I had borrowed a copy of Chris' book and if I decide to get another one, I'd buy it new to help him out, but be tempted to order a used copy (like everything else, having to be frugal with my filthy book habit)--$3.69 is tempting.

The reason I recommend this book is because I know how Chris is, part of which is that he is truly a scholarly fellow, which always helps. He's also a rational, compassionate human being and that's even better.

There is also Ed Younkin's (and Ed Younkin's) book "Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged: A Philosophical and Literary Companion." I have only read excerpts of that but it seems very good between what I read of it and what others have mentioned.

I hope that helps.

Best,

rde

Thanks. I've had Chris's book for years, but forgot to mention it. The book by Younkins looks interesting.

Has there been a discussion of The Russian Radical on OL? If so, do you know the name of the thread and where it is located? I'd like to see what OLers think of it.

Ghs

I haven't seen any discussion of it, but I actually gave a presentation on it a few years ago after I'd just finished reading it. I doubt that my presentation would come across as more than just an extended rant in favor of the book, but, sad to report (or not, for those who think I've done enough damage), I don't have recording of transcript of it.

[Robert Campbell]

George,

The two new biographies by Jennifer Burns and Anne Heller are must-reads. Burns is most interested in Rand as a political thinker and intellectual activist; Heller in Rand as a literary figure. Neither is terribly concerned with Rand's efforts to build a philosophical system, who else might have contributed to it, etc. Still lots of work to be done on that score.

On the philosophical side, Allan Gotthelf's On Ayn Rand is a concise presentation of Peikovian Objectivism minus the superheated sermonizing (also much more scholarly than Peikoff, but it does practice a certain amount of strategic non-citation). Tibor Machan's short book Ayn Rand from 2001 is much more inquisitive than Gotthelf's (for instance, in identifying unanswered questions) but uneven in its coverage.

Tara Smith's 2006 book on Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics is solid and workmanlike (a much safer recommendation for academics unfamiliar with Rand's ideas than anything by Peikoff) but there is little that would be new to you and in a book of its length the strategic non-citation (and correlative pumping up of ARians who have scarcely contributed to moral philosophy, such as Harry Binswanger) become obtrusive.

All four of Bob Mayhew's collections on Rand's novels are worth reading. All benefit from the contributors being allowed into the Ayn Rand Archives; all are somewhat impaired by the Ayn Rand Institute's surfeit of philosophers and shortage of historians and Lit Crit types. Mayhew's book on Rand's HUAC testimony was given a thorough review by Stephen Cox a while back; it looks to be of specialist interest only (and Cox dinged Mayhew for having trouble exactly quoting dialogue from the movie).

The posthumous collections of Rand's lectures, interviews, and question and answer periods are better than nothing but all have suffered from heavy-handed editing that crosses the line into rewriting. My comparisons between Rand's question and answer periods and Bob Mayhew's renditions of them are still ongoing, but I've seen enough to conclude that Ayn Rand Answers should be allowed to go out of print and replaced with a minimally edited transcript of Rand's actual words.

Robert Campbell

[Robert Campbell]

George,

There hasn't been an organized discussion of Russian Radical here. I'd be interested in participating in one.

Robert Campbell

[Rich Engle]

Bob,

That would be fun, wouldn't it? I'd mostly observe because it has been too long since I read it and don't have time for a reread at the moment. But talking about Chris' work always seems to bring out some good things.

Edited March 30, 2010 by Rich Engle

[dan2100]

George,

There hasn't been an organized discussion of Russian Radical here. I'd be interested in participating in one.

Robert Campbell

Okay. Here's my first salvo on the topic in OL:

http://www.objectivistliving.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8437

Actually, that's a reworking of my response to Ronald Merrill's review of the book. I have find an active link for Merrill's review...

[George H. Smith]

George,

The two new biographies by Jennifer Burns and Anne Heller are must-reads. Burns is most interested in Rand as a political thinker and intellectual activist; Heller in Rand as a literary figure. Neither is terribly concerned with Rand's efforts to build a philosophical system, who else might have contributed to it, etc. Still lots of work to be done on that score.

On the philosophical side, Allan Gotthelf's On Ayn Rand is a concise presentation of Peikovian Objectivism minus the superheated sermonizing (also much more scholarly than Peikoff, but it does practice a certain amount of strategic non-citation). Tibor Machan's short book Ayn Rand from 2001 is much more inquisitive than Gotthelf's (for instance, in identifying unanswered questions) but uneven in its coverage.

Tara Smith's 2006 book on Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics is solid and workmanlike (a much safer recommendation for academics unfamiliar with Rand's ideas than anything by Peikoff) but there is little that would be new to you and in a book of its length the strategic non-citation (and correlative pumping up of ARians who have scarcely contributed to moral philosophy, such as Harry Binswanger) become obtrusive.

All four of Bob Mayhew's collections on Rand's novels are worth reading. All benefit from the contributors being allowed into the Ayn Rand Archives; all are somewhat impaired by the Ayn Rand Institute's surfeit of philosophers and shortage of historians and Lit Crit types. Mayhew's book on Rand's HUAC testimony was given a thorough review by Stephen Cox a while back; it looks to be of specialist interest only (and Cox dinged Mayhew for having trouble exactly quoting dialogue from the movie).

The posthumous collections of Rand's lectures, interviews, and question and answer periods are better than nothing but all have suffered from heavy-handed editing that crosses the line into rewriting. My comparisons between Rand's question and answer periods and Bob Mayhew's renditions of them are still ongoing, but I've seen enough to conclude that Ayn Rand Answers should be allowed to go out of print and replaced with a minimally edited transcript of Rand's actual words.

Robert Campbell

This is precisely the kind of information I was looking for. Thanks very much.

I used to collect books that had any significant mention of Rand (including Peikoff's doctoral dissertation and other oddities). Those were part of a library of around 13,000 volumes, which I sold off a long time ago.

An especially interesting treatment is by the philosopher Hazel Barnes in An Existentialist Ethics (1967). Barnes devotes an entire chapter to Rand's ethics, and though I don't recall the specifics, I do recall that it is a pretty sympathetic treatment. Barnes points out a number of similarities between Rand's ethics and existentialism. When I first read that chapter in college, I dutifully rejected the thesis, but that might not be my reaction now.

The historian and editor Hiram Haydn, author of a superb book on the Counter-Renaissance, once said that Rand had constructed the most impressive philosophical system since Thomas Aquinas. (This is close to an exact quote.) For the life of me, I can't remember where I read that many years ago, though I think it was in a book that Haydn himself wrote. Does it ring a bell with anyone?

I also have a vague recollection that Haydn was the editor for one of Rand's books, but I'm not sure about that.

Ghs

[Rich Engle]

Barnes points out a number of similarities between Rand's ethics and existentialism.

Now that there is mighty interestin'! I've always been trying to rectify that...maybe I didn't need to. Seemed like whenever I'd talk about Existentialism (and Existentialists) in the O-circles, an ass-whippin' was involved. Truly interesting.

[dan2100]

Barnes points out a number of similarities between Rand's ethics and existentialism.

Now that there is mighty interestin'! I've always been trying to rectify that...maybe I didn't need to. Seemed like whenever I'd talk about Existentialism (and Existentialists) in the O-circles, an ass-whippin' was involved. Truly interesting.

I don't think it's a foolproof test, but when people strongly react to something like that, it can be a sign that the similarities are really close and the people strongly reacting sense this and don't much like it.

[Chris Grieb]

George,

The two new biographies by Jennifer Burns and Anne Heller are must-reads. Burns is most interested in Rand as a political thinker and intellectual activist; Heller in Rand as a literary figure. Neither is terribly concerned with Rand's efforts to build a philosophical system, who else might have contributed to it, etc. Still lots of work to be done on that score.

On the philosophical side, Allan Gotthelf's On Ayn Rand is a concise presentation of Peikovian Objectivism minus the superheated sermonizing (also much more scholarly than Peikoff, but it does practice a certain amount of strategic non-citation). Tibor Machan's short book Ayn Rand from 2001 is much more inquisitive than Gotthelf's (for instance, in identifying unanswered questions) but uneven in its coverage.

Tara Smith's 2006 book on Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics is solid and workmanlike (a much safer recommendation for academics unfamiliar with Rand's ideas than anything by Peikoff) but there is little that would be new to you and in a book of its length the strategic non-citation (and correlative pumping up of ARians who have scarcely contributed to moral philosophy, such as Harry Binswanger) become obtrusive.

All four of Bob Mayhew's collections on Rand's novels are worth reading. All benefit from the contributors being allowed into the Ayn Rand Archives; all are somewhat impaired by the Ayn Rand Institute's surfeit of philosophers and shortage of historians and Lit Crit types. Mayhew's book on Rand's HUAC testimony was given a thorough review by Stephen Cox a while back; it looks to be of specialist interest only (and Cox dinged Mayhew for having trouble exactly quoting dialogue from the movie).

The posthumous collections of Rand's lectures, interviews, and question and answer periods are better than nothing but all have suffered from heavy-handed editing that crosses the line into rewriting. My comparisons between Rand's question and answer periods and Bob Mayhew's renditions of them are still ongoing, but I've seen enough to conclude that Ayn Rand Answers should be allowed to go out of print and replaced with a minimally edited transcript of Rand's actual words.

Robert Campbell

This is precisely the kind of information I was looking for. Thanks very much.

I used to collect books that had any significant mention of Rand (including Peikoff's doctoral dissertation and other oddities). Those were part of a library of around 13,000 volumes, which I sold off a long time ago.

An especially interesting treatment is by the philosopher by Hazel Barnes in An Existentialist Ethics (1967). Barnes devotes an entire chapter to Rand's ethics, and though I don't recall the specifics, I do recall that it is a pretty sympathetic treatment. Barnes points out a number of similarities between Rand's ethics and existentialism. When I first read that chapter in college, I dutifully rejected the thesis, but that might not be my reaction now.

The historian and editor Hiram Haydn, author of a superb book on the Counter-Renaissance, once said that Rand had constructed the most impressive philosophical system since Thomas Aquinas. (This is close to an exact quote.) For the life of me, I can't remember where I read that many years ago, though I think it was in a book that Haydn himself wrote. Does it ring a bell with anyone?

I also have a vague recollection that Haydn was the editor for one of Rand's books, but I'm not sure about that.

Ghs

GHS; The book by Hiram Haydn is titled "Words and Faces". It is about the writers he worked with including Ayn Rand. It can be gotten from Amazon.

Edited March 30, 2010 by Chris Grieb

[George H. Smith]

GHS; The book by Hiram Haydn is titled "Words and Faces". It is about the writers he worked with including Ayn Rand. It can be gotten from Amazon.

Yeah, that's it. It's coming back to me now, after all these years.

Growing old really stinks. An elderly Katharine Hepburn was once asked what she liked about her Golden Years. She replied that there was only one good thing about being old: You can say outrageous things that a younger person would never get away with. People will tolerate such remarks and comment, "You know how old people are." Hepburn said that she found this attitude very useful. 8-)

Ghs

[tjohnson]

Barnes points out a number of similarities between Rand's ethics and existentialism.

Now that there is mighty interestin'! I've always been trying to rectify that...maybe I didn't need to. Seemed like whenever I'd talk about Existentialism (and Existentialists) in the O-circles, an ass-whippin' was involved. Truly interesting.

I don't think it's a foolproof test, but when people strongly react to something like that, it can be a sign that the similarities are really close and the people strongly reacting sense this and don't much like it.

Reminds of an old saying that the things we dislike the most in other people are often the things we see in ourselves.

[dan2100]

Barnes points out a number of similarities between Rand's ethics and existentialism.

Now that there is mighty interestin'! I've always been trying to rectify that...maybe I didn't need to. Seemed like whenever I'd talk about Existentialism (and Existentialists) in the O-circles, an ass-whippin' was involved. Truly interesting.

I don't think it's a foolproof test, but when people strongly react to something like that, it can be a sign that the similarities are really close and the people strongly reacting sense this and don't much like it.

Reminds of an old saying that the things we dislike the most in other people are often the things we see in ourselves.

Yes, and, as I said, I don't think this applies all the time -- just often enough to make it notable.

All of this said, I'd like to read Barnes' book and the one by that other author George mentioned... Of course, so many books, so little time.

[Jerry Biggers]

Everything that's been mentioned so far. And here are a few more:

Most (maybe all) of Tibor Machan's 60+ books (maybe more...Amazon has 94 entries, but some are duplicate titles) references and applies Ayn Rand's philosophical contributions in the course of his presentations. One not mentioned here is Ayn Rand at 100, published in India in 2005 by a libertarian-oriented thinktank. Particularly interesting for the perspective that at least some Indian intellectuals have of Ayn Rand. It's still available through Amazon.

Some other works by Machan: Objectivity: Recovering Determinate Reality in Philosophy, Science, and Everyday Life (2004), The Right Road to Radical Freedom (2007), Libertarianism Defended (2006), Generosity: Virtue in a Civil Society (1998), Classical Individualism: The Supreme Importance of Each Human Being (1998), and many more.

Philosophers of Capitalism, edited by Ed Younkins (2005) contains several chapters on aspects of Rand's thought. Curiously, Herbert Spencer is excluded...but one can find a really good essay, "Will the Real Herbert Spencer Please Stand Up?" in Atheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies(1990) by GHS, of course .

[George H. Smith]

Everything that's been mentioned so far. And here are a few more:

Most (maybe all) of Tibor Machan's 60+ books (maybe more...Amazon has 94 entries, but some are duplicate titles) references and applies Ayn Rand's philosophical contributions in the course of his presentations. One not mentioned here is Ayn Rand at 100, published in India in 2005 by a libertarian-oriented thinktank. Particularly interesting for the perspective that at least some Indian intellectuals have of Ayn Rand. It's still available through Amazon.

Some other works by Machan: Objectivity: Recovering Determinate Reality in Philosophy, Science, and Everyday Life (2004), The Right Road to Radical Freedom (2007), Libertarianism Defended (2006), Generosity: Virtue in a Civil Society (1998), Classical Individualism: The Supreme Importance of Each Human Being (1998), and many more.

Philosophers of Capitalism, edited by Ed Younkins (2005) contains several chapters on aspects of Rand's thought. Curiously, Herbert Spencer is excluded...but one can find a really good essay, "Will the Real Herbert Spencer Please Stand Up?" in Atheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies(1990) by GHS, of course .

I have serveral of Tibor's books, but I had no idea he has written so many.

Many years ago I published a lengthy review (in Reason Magazine) of Tibor's Human Rights and Human Liberties. (I think that's the correct title.) It's a pretty interesting review, as I recall, but I haven't seen it in decades.

I wish early issues of Reason were available online. It was a very interesting magazine back then, with lots of philosophical stuff that wouldn't get published today. It even published two reviews of my first book on atheism, one unfavorable and one favorable (by Wallace Matson, a professor of philosophy at Stanford). I can't imagine that Reason would do anything like that today. It's way too controversial.

Btw, Matson, who is highly respected in the academic community, is another philosopher who takes Rand seriously.

.

Ghs

[Brant Gaede]

I threw out almost all my post-1984 Reasons. I probably have the older issues still--in a box somewhere. I let my subscription lapse last year after 37 years. I think it's little more than a minor league team for Forbes magazine. I let that subscription expire also. I have some old Personalists too, but not the one with an article by Nathaniel Branden, which I've never seen.

--Brant

[9thdoctor]

Of course don’t overlook the book version of the Branden lectures, though you’ve already been through the material in them thoroughly. They still belong on the list.

Does anyone know how to get Peikoff’s DIM lectures? They were publicly available for a while. My interest level was in the wane part of the cycle at the time. I doubt I could get through them, that voice...ugh!

[Aaron]

I give high marks to Tara Smith's "Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics". There may not be much completely novel in it. However it's absolutely better distilled, organized and explained than Peikoff, and possibly even Rand. I especially liked handling of matters such as the relation of life and ethics, suicide, and flourishing vs mere survival (and maybe I'm forgetting, but I don't remember her having that damned 'immortal robot' either).

Aaron

[Guyau]

Barnes points out a number of similarities between Rand's ethics and existentialism.

Now that there is mighty interestin'! . . .

Some recent notes on Existentialism and Objectivism: i & ii

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Other works on Rand’s philosophy here.

Forthcoming.

Edited April 1, 2010 by Stephen Boydstun

[Barbara Branden]

George "I also have a vague recollection that Haydn was the editor for one of Rand's books, but I'm not sure about that."

Theoretically, Haydn was the editor for Atlas, But he later wrote -- this is not an exact quote but it's very close -- that he was embarrassed to admit that for the first time in his career, he functioned, at best, only as an occasional copy editor. It was out of the question even to attempt to edit Rand, and, to his shame, he went along with her demands.

Further, he was totally out of sympathy with Rand's philosophy. "Left to myself," he said, "I would not have published that book."

Barbara

For more details, see The Passion of Ayn Rand, page 291-293.

[Barbara Branden]

George, for a massive amount of information about books that discuss Rand's books and philosophy, go to http://noblesoul.com/orc/ -- The Objectivist Reference Center -- and click on Books About Objectivism. Richard Lawrence, the owner of the site, has done a masterful job of compiling information. .

Barbara

[George H. Smith]

George "I also have a vague recollection that Haydn was the editor for one of Rand's books, but I'm not sure about that."

Theoretically, Haydn was the editor for Atlas, But he later wrote -- this is not an exact quote but it's very close -- that he was embarrassed to admit that for the first time in his career, he functioned, at best, only as an occasional copy editor. It was out of the question even to attempt to edit Rand, and, to his shame, he went along with her demands.

Further, he was totally out of sympathy with Rand's philosophy. "Left to myself," he said, "I would not have published that book."

Barbara

For more details, see The Passion of Ayn Rand, page 291-293.

It seems odd that Hadyn would have made the favorable remark he did (about Rand's philosophical system), given how out of sympathy he was with her philosophy.

Ghs

[Robert Campbell]

I give high marks to Tara Smith's "Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics". There may not be much completely novel in it. However it's absolutely better distilled, organized and explained than Peikoff, and possibly even Rand.

Aaron,

I also give Tara Smith high marks for organization, and for spelling out connections where Rand or Peikoff sometimes didn't.

And I'll take her occasional plod over Peikoff's street preaching any day.

However, the survival/flourishing issue is one of these where Smith slicks over a non-ARian contribution. She treats "human flourishing" as though it's standard terminology in the Objectivist ethics. It has become so, but it wasn't for Rand and still isn't for Peikoff. It came in from modern-day expositions of Aristotle (Cooper, Veatch, and others) via persons outside the ARI fold, notably Doug Rasmussen. Instead of crediting Rasmussen, Machan, Den Uyl, and others for that, she prefers to act as though human flourishing had been part of Rand's exposition since 1943.

Robert Campbell