<p>Who is she? I keep hearing her name and now I'm determined to find out.</p>
<p>Fellow CCers, I ask you to explain me this phenomenon and recommend me one of her works that will be a good starting point. Atlas Shrugged, maybe?</p>
<p>XOXO</p>
<p>An author of a few famous books.</p>
<p>Wiki it.</p>
<p>Well thank you Mr. Payne, I know that much myself. </p>
<p>You have anything else to say?</p>
<p>Her philosophy, as shown in her books, is similar to many right wing tenets. It highlights individualism, primarily. Objectivism, as she calls it, has a small following.</p>
<p>Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged would be your two most obvious choices.</p>
<p>That was more insightful, thank you Mr. Payne.</p>
<p>Shes kinda libertarian. Read Anthem the others are to long. Back in the day I would totally sex her.</p>
<p>You can find Anthem [url=<a href="http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Ayn_Rand/Anthem/%5Dhere%5B/url">http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Ayn_Rand/Anthem/]here[/url</a>], it's free.</p>
<p>Eh, Anthem isn't half as good as her other books. If you're looking for a normal sized book, I'd suggest We the Living.</p>
<p>She has a clear-cut, technical style of writing that I find quite admirable. Basically, what she preaches is man's right to logically live for himself, and for himself only.</p>
<p>I wouldn't entirely call myself an Objectivist, but what Rand's put out there is a code by which I pretty much lived and still live by. Anyhow, I'm up for discussion on Rand anytime.</p>
<p>Start with the Fountainhead. It is her best book, and you will either love it or hate it. If you love it, then progress with Atlas Shrugged. That's what I did, and I love her books. </p>
<p>PM me if you have any detailed questions or if you want to talk about them. I would love to discuss them further.</p>
<p>An author, despite her popularity she is generally regarded as not much cop by literary critics and philosophers.</p>
<p>I've been Ayn Randed, nearly branded communist, 'cause I'm left handed.</p>
<p>It seems like there's a new Ayn Rand thread every couple days. I've lost words to say on the subject. But The Fountainhead is very good. Critically she is crap as a writer, and her philosophy is an acquired taste, but I do love her writing style. Especially when she opens with Roark standing naked on a cliff. Eeee. </p>
<p>(BTW, I have been Ayn Randed, and called a communist, and I am in fact left handed)</p>
<p>How do you pronounce her name?</p>
<p>I read somewhere the Library of Congress (I think) declared Atlas as the second most influential book in the US next to the Bible. </p>
<p>I have only read Anthem, but have spent some time studying her philosophy.</p>
<p>pronounced: ah-ynn rand</p>
<p>I don't know how to type things out phonetically, but I'm pretty close...I think.</p>
<p>Ayn Rand was what she called herself, but it's not her birth name. It's something Russian. I think it's on the wiki article on her.</p>
<p>I think her last name was Rosenbaum or something. Something with Rosen.</p>
<p>Ayn Rand's philosophy is that it is basically every man for himself, and that to fulfill your life to the greatest possible extent, you should ONLY worry about yourself. I completely agree this far. But too her, this meant don't do charity, don't help others unless you're getting a mutual benefit in a similar manner (ex: we established oil refineries in MidEast, but we don't get special treatment--this she thought was bad.) However, to me this means that you can certainly perform generous acts since this will nourish your soul, your heart, and your mind to a greater extent than Rand's limited definition of rather materialistic prosperity.</p>
<p>Her best book is Fountainhead, second best is Atlas Shrugged. But whether you agree with her philosophy or not, you still have to admit, she was cuckoo (which may or may not be a good thing.)</p>
<p>what I got from it is that you live your life how you see fit, with yourself as your top priority - for every man to live for himself. To her, it was a decision not to do charity, to others, dictating that it's not would be hypocritical to her philosophy. There is, I think, a line between her personal opinions and her philosophy. Both are represented in her books.</p>
<p>The thing is that to her, the materialistic was maybe the only prosperity -- to others, it could be different, and I think she realizes the freedom of having that different opinion. She also, obviously, recognizes her own freedom to call that "stupid."</p>
<p>Anyway, a person can be an Objectivist and agree with Rand's philosophy and hold her morals and convictions without holding her exact opinions.</p>
<p>After all, that's what she advocates -- the freedom to think.</p>
<p>Sounds like Ian Rand.</p>
<p>Her birth name was Alisha Rosenbaum.</p>
<p>Ayn rhymes with "mine."</p>