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Product Description: After the publication of Atlas Shrugged in 1957, Ayn Rand occasionally lectured in order bring her philosophy of Objectivism to a wider audience and apply it to current cultural and political issues. These taped lectures and the question-and-answer sessions that followed not only added an eloquent new dimension to Ayn Rand's ideas and beliefs, but a fresh and spontaneous insight into Ayn Rand herself. Never before available in print, this publishing event is a collection of those enlightening Q & As.
This is Ayn Rand on: ethics, Ernest Hemingway, modern art, Vietnam, Libertarians, Jane Fonda, religious conservatives, Hollywood Communists, atheism, Don Quixote, abortion, gun control, love and marriage, Ronald Reagan, pollution, the Middle East, racism and feminism, crime and punishment, capitalism, prostitution, homosexuality, reason and rationality, literature, drug use, freedom of the press, Richard Nixon, New Left militants, HUAC, chess, comedy, suicide, masculinity, Mark Twain, improper questions, and more. Customer Reviews: Rating: 
Date: 2008-02-01
A fascinating look at Ayn Rand in action
A great compilation of the best of Ayn Rand's question and answer periods following her lectures.
Robert Mayhew's excellent editing organizes the questions and answers into chapters drawn around broad themes (e.g., politics, ethics, metaphysics and epistemology, and art), then into smaller sub-sections. This keeps the reading flowing, instead of jumping around from topic to topic almost at random as would occur in a live Q&A session.
While some of Ayn Rand's answers will be obvious to long-time students of Objectivism, many of them shed new light on her philosophy, and almost all of them give the reader a better picture of Ayn Rand as a person, whether it is her quick wit, her warm benevolence in giving the benefit of the doubt to most questioners and patiently explaining her philosophical principles to them, or her righteous indignation at genuinely dishonest, hostile, or insulting questions. Even her answers to questions on narrow, concrete issues at the time of the session (such as the Vietnam war) are applicable to events today (such as the current Iraq war) because her answers address the deeper abstract principles involved (such as proper foreign policy).
On my first reading, I noticed only two drawbacks. First, a few of her answers leave you wanting more, and you wish that she were still alive and in the room with you so that you could ask her follow-up questions. That's not to say that she doesn't give a full enough answer to the question as asked, given the context of a live public Q&A session, but rather that her intriguing answers leave you feeling sad that you are merely reading a book and not actually in the room during one of those Q&A sessions. Second, if you've ever heard a recording of one of her Q&A's (or were lucky enough to have attended one), you are aware of how much you are missing from the live setting--for example, from the audience reactions, as they audibly gasp in shock or indignation at some remark Ayn Rand makes, but by the end of her answer after she explains the comment, they are cheering. That's an added bonus of the live setting that the book format unfortunately can't reproduce, but if you're a student like me and can't yet afford to spend a few hundred dollars on recordings of all her lectures, this book is the next best thing. Rating:
Date: 2007-01-22
An Ayn Rand Sampler
Here's a quick intro to Ayn Rand's thought. It's not a big book but it's pretty wide-ranging. She talks about specific people and issues but her favorite topics are philosophical. With those topics, she explains her chain of reasoning as best she can within the brevity required of the Q&A situation -- so she manages more than a superficial answer. Finally, of course, you get a taste of her difficult personality. That's part of Ayn Rand, too. Rating:
Date: 2006-11-07
The Genius of Ayn Rand
This book is a good clear and concise guide to Ayn Rand's thoughts on a variety of issues. From taxes to ethics to Ernest Hemingway to capitalism to homosexuality, Rand forthrightly, clearly and honestly answers many questions put to her.
This book also cleared up many questions I had about Ayn Rand and this book solidifies here as the great intellectual and philosopher she was.
While the book is not, as Robert Mayhew points out, official Objectivism, due to the editing, anyone interested in her philosophy would find this book useful if they would like a short but pointed look at her thought.
As far as the editing is concerned, in my view that's really Robert Mayhew sort of eating his cake and having it too. If it can't be considered Rand's ideas because he edited it then why edit it? Why not release it as she said it? Because if he did they would destroy the myth that she always said brilliant things off the cuff instead of horrible things which she later had to restate and edit.
I also cringe at the term "official Objectivism" since that implies there is a body, in this case the Ayn Rand Institute, that decides what is official. Yet the philosophy itself is supposed to be based on reality. If it is reality based then no one can control it except reality.
I can also see where Dr. Reisman is coming from but, overall, this book is a good introduction to the genius of Ayn Rand. Rating: 
Date: 2006-09-29
Interesting, brief look at Ayn Rand's opinions.
Ayn Rand's opinions on all things -- and I mean all things -- political, economical, aesthetic, ethical, metaphysical -- are inside of this book. At ~220 pages, it's good to read in short blocks, jumping around to wherever you like, or as reference. It's an excellent book for all fans of Ayn Rand and/or Objectivism -- new or die-hard. A good insight into Rand's opinions. I only have to wonder if she'd have changed her mind about Reagan or the Libertarian Party today.
As a sidenote -- this book looks and feels great! I love Penguin Publishing (publisher of the New American Library series). Rating:
Date: 2006-04-17
Ayn Rand did answer
First of all: I do agree with George Reisman's criticism. Nobody has any business changing Ayn Rand's wording, just because he has discovered some contradiction which might as well be imagined as real.
But this is still Ayn Rand, and the book is too valuable not to be recommended. For one thing, it contains the best answer to the question of "free will" that I have ever seen. And there is much more.
One complaint is that the book could be much more extensive. I have heard many insightful answers from Miss Rand on tape that are not included in the book; and there certainly are answers that I have not heard. So I am looking forward to an expanded edition - hopefully without attempts to "improve" on her thinking. |
