Letters of Ayn Rand by Ayn Rand Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Letters of Ayn Rand
Book Review: Get to Know the Real Ayn Rand
Summary: 5 Stars
I must confess, when I first received Letters of Ayn Rand from my sister as a birthday present, I wasn't very motivated to read it. I had read most of Ayn Rand's novels and a few books and essays about her life, so I thought it would be very similar to what I already knew about her. Was I pleasantly surprised! Reading her personal letters written to everyone from literally the boy and girl next door to Frank Lloyd Wright and Barbara Stanwyck gave me an insight into Rand's personality and values that can't be found elsewhere. What comes out in her letters is how seriously she takes not only her own ideas, but the ideas of others. The book is organized chronologically, so one can trace the development of her ideas as well as her successes (and a few disappointments). I was also very surprised to learn how actively involved she was in the marketing of her novels. She wasn't just passively standing by hoping people would read her novels; rather, she gave suggestions to the publisher and edited marketing materials. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the fascinating personality and incredible mind behind The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.Book Review: It's a shame someone has to die...
Summary: 5 Stars
...in order for a book like this to be published. But finally we get a real look into the private life of a fascinating author and philosopher. Having just finished a number of years at PSU, it seems clear that Objectivism is making headway as a serious philosophical view. I'm more interested in music myself than philosophy, but I did notice that in the study of philosophy the Ball that Miss Rand got rolling so many years ago has gathered quite a bit of size and speed. Her ideas made sense to me both before and after I studied Logic, Semantics, and Philosophy. In fact, after studying the "big boys," as one professor of mine called them, I definitely saw a need for a philosophy that states that things are what they are!!
Anyway, I'm devouring this book!!!
Book Review: Maybe worthwhile for Rand scholars....
Summary: 2 Stars
Perhaps I was just coming down off of an Ayn Rand high when I read this, but whatever the case, this collection of correspondance just doesn't deserve a place beside Rand's self-published work, which is in sufficient abundance to make a collection like this unwarranted.If you are thoroughly absorbed into Rand's Cult of Personality (amazingly effective even after her death), then you will probably enjoy this work. There was certainly a time where I would have devoured every letter. If, on the other hand, you have been impressed and affected by The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, We The Living, or Anthem, I would strongly suggest working through Rand's nonfiction before diving into this book.
Book Review: Needs less cheese and more meat
Summary: 2 Stars
A potentially fascinating book, spoiled by some bad editorial choices. First of all, this is really the selected letters of Ayn Rand, and some of the selections are maddening-the book contains over half a dozen letters to Leonebel Jacobs, a fairly obscure portrait artist Rand knew back in the 1940s, but only a single letter apiece to Nathaniel and Barbara Branden, two of the most central figures in her life.There are some other questionable omissions as well. A section devoted to Rand's correspondence with philosopher John Hospers contains only Rand's half of the exchange, even though Hospers was apparently willing to allow his own letters to Rand to be published, and even though he expressed concern that "[Rand's] summary of what I said sometimes did not reproduce what I really did say." I for one would like to have seen both sides of the dialogue; it would have been a rare opportunity to observe Rand actually debating her ideas. If the problem was lack of space, I think the smart move would have been to make room for Hospers' letters by cutting out some of Rand's less essential correspondence, like her note thanking Leonebel Jacobs for "the wonderful cheese" he sent her in 1948.
Oh well. Maybe sometime in the future, after the current controllers of her estate have gone on to that great Dead Letter Office in the sky, a more complete version of Rand's correspondence will become available. Until then, the anemic "Letters of Ayn Rand" will have to do.
Book Review: Revealing, and EXACTLY in the way her admirers think
Summary: 5 Stars
I found this book tremendously inspiring, as inspiring as a great biography--because in a sense that is what it is. Ones sees that despite the negatives, Ayn Rand took joy in the great crusade of ideas that constituted her life. Through these letters the reader feels like he is participating in this drama. The most interesting aspect is, in the Introduction's words, the "series of painful shocks" by which she came to realize the philosophical and moral bankruptcy of "the pitiful compromisers and anti-intellectual temporizers" known as conservatives. A few of them have posted reviews below. As comes out in those postings, conservatives want to "conserve" not only capitalism, but also the moral-philosophical status quo. This is evident in the logical structure of the arguments presented. An "actual" philosopher is presumed by them to be any representative of that Establishment, whereas a young person striving to come to an independent grasp of reality has got to be an unwitting victim. A novelist who solves an ancient problem (the is-ought gap) in the course of composing a character's climactic speech ("Well, I never! A speech in a novel! Who ever heard of such a thing?") is only starting to engage in "efforts" in philosophy when she refers to and cites that speech in the manner of a proper academic who is publishing before he perishes.
One hears the familiar drone of the conservative in another reviewer's condemnation of Rand's morality of rational self-interest as "justification for behaving in a[n] anti-social manner that is slowly destroying the fabric of the societies of the Western World."
One often hears it said about Objectivists (those who espouse Ayn Rand's philosophy) that "No disagreement with her writings is ever accepted and if you disagree you are an evil communist/collectivist." It is true that many of her admirers, notably among the young (who are especially fiery when it comes to ideals), act that way. But these LETTERS show that that was not Ayn Rand's own attitude when she believed the person was intellectually honest--witness her correspondence with, among many others, John Hospers.