We’re getting a ton of new members today because this morning’s CNN.com article “Dating menus: You can change yours” mentions that “Ayn Rand fans can find love at TheAtlasphere.com.”
Cool.
Category: Media Citings
Orit Arfa Profiles ARI's Yaron Brook for JPost
Atlasphere member Orit Arfa has published a profile of Ayn Rand Institute Executive Director Yaron Brook in the Jerusalem Post, titled “You don’t fight a tactic.” It begins:
Dr. Yaron Brook, 46, speaks and carries himself like a Rand hero. His facial features are angular, his demeanor self-confident. His language is principled, logical, certain, fired by moral passion, replete with absolute terms: good and evil, right and wrong, defeat and victory. He has a slight lisp, which is easily overshadowed by the controversial and harsh words that roll off his tongue.
For the first time since he left Israel for America in 1987 – for essentially the same reasons Rand did – Brook gave a lecture in his mother country: “Israel and the West’s War with Islamic Totalitarianism: Why We are Losing.”
Born in Jerusalem and raised in Haifa, Brook met few intellectuals here who could nurture his interest in Rand’s ideas, which he first developed at 16 after reading Atlas Shrugged. The novel catapulted him out of the socialist-Zionist way of thought he had inherited from his South African-Israeli parents and from Israeli education and culture.
See the full article for much more.
Ayn Rand and Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink" Thesis
From a new article at Desicritics.org titled Book Review: Malcolm Gladwell and Ayn Rand:
[I]f you simply dig a little under the words Gladwell uses, such as “instincts,” “snap judgments,” and “thinking without thinking,” what you will realize is that Gladwellâ??s thesis is not novel in any significant sense, at least not to someone who is well-versed with Ayn Randâ??s philosophy of Objectivism.
Ayn Rand had decades ago stated that one must “trust your subconscious” while engaged in the task of writing. However, like much else of what Rand said, this little instruction to trust oneâ??s own subconscious mind can be extended beyond the context of writing and applied to practically every realm and action in life.
See the full article for more on the parallels between Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism and Malcolm Gladwell’s thesis in Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.
Rand-o-rama at The Chronicle of Higher Education
From the Chronicle of Higher Education‘s “Rand-o-rama” post of two days ago:
This week The Chronicle features three articles about the intellectual legacy of Ayn Rand. (The intro is here; to get to the main courses, follow the links in the right-hand column.)
In this 2004 interview, the Ayn Rand Instituteâ??s director, Yaron Brook, briefly describes his â??plan to help [objectivist] graduate students get placed in top-level philosophy departments around the country. The program is still in its infancy. It is very ambitious, and we will not know its success for many years.â?
Is that kind of talk creepy and messianic? Or is it the commendable behavior of a group that believes it has a true and important set of ideas to bring to the world? That was one of the debates that occupied faculty members this spring at Texas State University at San Marcos, as they considered whether or not to accept a Rand-related donation.
See the full post by David Glenn for (much) more Rand-related coverage at the Chronicle.
Rand's Novels Indispensible for Managers?
From the article “Executive Picks,” just published at US News & World Report:
[H]undreds of business books are published each year: How to find the one you need?
U.S. News spoke with 14 leaders from all walks of business lifeâ??from academics to entrepreneurs to corporate executivesâ??about the five books they consider indispensable reading for managers. The responses ranged far and wide: Military metaphors popped up occasionally, with Sun Tzu’s The Art of War rearing its age-old head. But books about biology were also surprisingly prevalent, not only for their insight into how business environments imitate the natural world but also, several executives said, because understanding biology helped them appreciate the concept of randomness.
The vast majority of the books selected are more than five years oldâ??and not all were bestsellers. “There’s a tendency to think there’s a lot of great new stuff out there. That may not be true,” says Jack Brennan, CEO of the Vanguard Group, who reads a few dozen business books a year, then hands his favorites out to his executives.
Some basic how-to guides were also mentioned, from books about making sales calls to advice on writing. Ayn Rand, with her revolutionary ideas about entrepreneurship, also made her presence felt. And then there was Jim Collins, whose books Built to Last and Good to Great offer highly respected explanations of what separates good companies from great companies. Collins, Thomas Friedman, and Peter Drucker were the authors mentioned most often. Read on for more of what business leaders have found between the covers of books.
Nice to see Rand figured in the list for at least some managers. I’m sure her novels have inspired many people to view the world through more entrepreneurial eyes.
Colorado Springs Gazette Extols Atlas Shrugged
An unattributed opinion editorial (typically indicating the work of a newspaper’s own editors) in today’s Colorado Springs Gazette, appropriately titled “Our View,” begins with this tribute to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged:
Who is John Galt? Unless youâ??ve read Ayn Randâ??s novel â??Atlas Shrugged,â? which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, you probably donâ??t have a clue. But you can be sure millions of other people do.
Whether youâ??ve read it or not, whether you love it or hate it, â??Atlas Shruggedâ? still inspires passion a half-century after it was first published. Itâ??s not just that the book was widely read, and still sells relatively well, but that it has been so influential in the intellectual development of so many people.
Rand, whose guiding philosophy came to be called â??objectivism,â? challenged those who say that the pursuit of entrepreneurship and capitalism are evil and the expansion of government to promote altruism is good. â??Atlasâ? and her other books are still considered radical today.
The Soviet Union, which she fled as a youth, has crumbled, but the underlying philosophy that despises competition, freedom and individualism is still alive and well, even in America. â??Atlas Shruggedâ? still inspires, enthralls and angers people because it remains relevant.
See the full editorial for more.
"Voice of America" Program on Ayn Rand
Voice of America (broadcast in 45 languages) now offers a newly-produced program about Ayn Rand that seems reasonably objective. (I’ve not listened to the program itself.)
UPDATE: One of our members points out that “While I’m happy to hear that VOA did a generally positive piece on Ayn, it does contain a number of errors, such as she wrote a book on love (a confusion about the Romantic Manifesto) or that the Collective helped edit Atlas Shrugged.” Thanks for the heads-up.
Mark Skousen on Atlas Shrugged in the Christian Science Monitor
Mark Skousen has penned a new (and ultimately disappointing) article called “Atlas Shrugged – 50 Years Later” for the Christian Science Monitor.
Seems he digs the novel’s capitalist politics but can’t quite stomach its ethic of enlightened self-interest. Still choosing between sadism and masochism, as Miss Rand would say.
Hudgins, Bidinotto on Air America Radio
The Atlas Society sent the following notice:
Edward Hudgins, executive director of The Atlas Society, and Robert Bidinotto, editor of the group’s magazine, The New Individualist, will each appear on “The Thom Hartmann Show” on Air America.
Hudgins will be interviewed on Thursday, March 1 at 12:07pm Eastern time ; Robert will be interviewed on Friday, March 2 at 1:34pm.
Hartmann’s the guy who replaced the Al Franken last week. Here are the affiliates that carry the show. The show also will be carried on Sirius/XM satellite radio; you can go here to listen live. There’s a call-in line for listeners, too: (866)303-2270.
Hope you can listen in!
Robert Bidinotto blogs about these appearances at Bidinotto Blog.
Radicals for Capitalism on C-SPAN2
Brain Doherty, senior editor at Reason Magazine, will be discussing his new book Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement on C-SPAN2’s “After Words”. Readers of Ayn Rand will recognize the title, taken from Rand’s description of her political viewpoint.
From the C-SPAN Booknotes email announcement:
Insightful author interviews
Saturday 9 PM, Sunday 6 PM and 9 PM ET
Brian Doherty is a senior editor at Reason magazine and the author of This Is Burning Man: The Rise of a New American Underground. He discusses his latest book, Radicals for Capitalism: A History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement, with Doug Bandow, former senior fellow at the Cato Institute and current vice president of policy at Citizen Outreach, a limited-government public policy organization. Mr. Bandow’s latest book is Foreign Follies: America’s New Global Empire.