Robert G. Ingersoll

Regardless of their respective ages, or good looks or lack thereof, the Rand/Branden"affair" was some warped shit. Both were married, both of their partners knew of their 'relationship", both partners were very hurt by same, but both went along with it because they were under the thrall of Ms. "There is no God but me" Rand.

Personally, I have nothing against partner-swapping or group sex, as long as everyone is an of-age willing participant, and all are treated as equals. This freaky foursome was totally fucked - in a BAD way.

Acinom

Couldn't have put it better myself, Gurdur. Ayn Rand's books are filled to the brim with posturing and not much else. I actually remember her trying to argue in one of her non-fictions that Aristotle was better than Plato because every time Aristotle's philosophies were used by society, she insisted, there was peace, and every time Plato's philosophies were used, there was turmoil, famine. A non-argument if I ever read one.

And as for the ongoing question of why Ayn Rand is so popular..

I think it has something to do with the Objectivists as a foundation of sorts. They give $10,000 to $30,000 to the winners of their annual "write about Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead" essay contest. That's the main reason I read The Fountainhead when I was in high school, is because that was the biggest load of scholarship money I had ever found.

IMO, all of her books could be compacted into 200-300 pages, if even that, and maintain the same impact. However, I still don't understand why people love her. This past summer, for example, I participated in a study abroad program in Vienna, along with many other students who were very smart, very ambitious and knowledgeable. Really great people, but they all loved Ayn Rand!!! WTF!

fando

Argh! I just purchased The Fountainhead, Anthem and Atlas Shrugged. I can barely afford this, but what the heck. If I can enjoy Tolkien, I can enjoy this. Plus, it gives my bookshelf a little more character beyond "this is a cultureless science and computer dork."

Oh, and regarding all the scandalous comments about Ayn Rand: Well, I wish there were a biographer that would just tell it like it is. That would be great fun!

I also picked up Marx for Beginners, the illustrated work by Rius. Rius is great!

Jagged

Open season on uppity women, huh?

hinduwoman

I find Rand to be an entertaining read, and even agree that too much govt. interference is bad and you have to be selfish some of the time.
But deep philosopher --- nuh!
Just Capitalism and Individualism = good.
Any kind of control by society = bad.

Krieger

You can find tons of Marx's work and the works of many others (such as Lenin, Trotsky, etc) at the Marxist's Internet Archive (totally free).

Mageth

Anthem online, if anyone's interested.

I recently listened to the audio version of Anthem. I enjoyed it, particularly Ch. 11. But I wouldn't classify myself as an Objectivist.

RED DAVE

Anthem was inspired, at least in part by a novel entitled We , by a dystopian Russian novelist, Zamiatin.

Introduction to We

RED DAVE

99Percent

No individualist would want a role model to follow in the first place. You are missing the whole issue of individualism that Rand promoted.

And Gurdur, what ideology would be empirical? Any ideology would be contrary to empiricism, including empiricism itself. You are also missing the whole issue of objectivism that Rand promoted.

tk

Oops, have all the Great Knights of Objectivism fled this thread? Why aren't they fighting it out with their invincible swords of rationality?

Not exactly one such, but I found a link on how to become an Objectivist in ten easy steps. (If there's any one exercise which doesn't seem funny, something's wrong.)

Actually Merriam-Webster defines "religion" somewhat differently. One definition reads, "a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith".