Regular marked price: $18.00Discount Price: $12.24
Cost Savings: $5.76 (32%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 191
EAN num: 9780452010468
ISBN number: 0452010462
Label: Plume
Manufacturer: Plume
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 368
Printing Date: June 30, 1990
Publishing house: Plume
Sale Popularity Level: 424247
Studio: Plume
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
This is an excellent collection of essays that should be included in the library of every fan of Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. This book contains several great essays by Ayn Rand, which include her thoughts on abortion, the Apollo missions, Vietnam and working for the government. This collection also includes several insightful higher level philosophical essays including the following:
* "Who is the Final Authority in Ethics?" where Ayn Rand clarifies that morality ultimately stems from facts of reality, not from a religious, political or legal authority
* "The Sanction of the Victims" where Ayn Rand emphasizes the importance of never voluntarily relinquishing any of your rights or accepting unearned guilt.
Most importantly, I think the contributions in this volume that are not by Ayn Rand are also incredibly valuable. These include:
* "Religion vs. America" where Dr. Leonard Peikoff almost prophetically warns of the increased blending religion and politics (this is published in 1990).
* "The American School: Why Johnny Cannot Think" where Dr. Peikoff analyzes how public schools teach children to not think in principles or develop proper concepts but instead teach children to be concrete-bound and develop short-term pragmatic solutions to complex problems.
* "Medicine: The Death of a Profession" where Dr. Peikoff articulates how health care is not a right and how the increased government involvement in health care will slow advancements in medicine to a crawl.
* "Libertarianism: The Perversion of Liberty" where Peter Schwartz delineates the stark differences between the views of the Libertarian Party and the philosophy of Ayn Rand.
Although I think this book is definitely accessible to all, I think that those who are just getting familiar with Ayn Rand's non-fiction works will find many of the essays in both The Virtue of Selfishness and Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal to be more interesting places to start.
Rated by buyers -
I found this book an excellent excellent read and it confirmed my belief that Ayn was trapped behind those big dark eyes ... she was 1 of a kind. buy it, Read it, and cherish it ....
Rated by buyers -
Ayn Rand applies reason to a variety of significant matters with stunning and convincing effect. A must read for any person who has been raised on pablum in public/private schools and the media and who desires a true, meaningful educational experience.
Jim
Rated by buyers 
-
Following the death of Ayn Rand (1905-1982) several posthumous collections of Rand's essays, seminars and even jottings she scribbled in books she read ("marginalia") have been published.
THE VOICE OF REASON contains essays by Rand and her associates Leonard Peikoff and Peter Schwartz. The essays by Rand are not her best. Those by Peikoff and Schwartz lack Rand's fiery prose, but it at least appears that they (unlike Rand) have read more than the New York Times.
Rand's lack of citations often gives her an aura of "plausible deniability." If you criticize Rand's misunderstanding of Kant, you'll get responses such as: (1) her interpretation of Kant was mainstream at the time (by whom? Blank out); or (2) it is a combined summary and interpretation of Kant based on what a Kantian would believe if he interpreted Kant based on his alleged premises (that's what Objectivists call "context dropping" when it's done to Rand).
Peikoff and Schwartz don't have this luxury. Particularly outrageous is Peter Schwartz's essay "Libertarianism: The Perversion of Liberty." The problem for Objectivists is that libertarian politics is quite similar to Rand's politics. Since Rand wanted Objectivism to be the only game in town for believers in freedom, she made (more than once) the absurd statement that libertarians "plagiarize" her ideas (or arguing somewhat inconsistently their ideas had nothing in common with hers). Schwartz tries to provide documents for Rand's jeremiad against libertarianism. The libertarian movement is quite broad and contains more than a few odd ducks. Some libertarians, though certainly not all, hold subjectivist ethics. By painting libertarianism with a broad brush, Schwartz tries to show that all libertarians are loons. Schwartz launches a particularly misguided attack on Murray Rothbard asserting that Rothbard had "utter scorn for ideas-even his own." The quote from Rothbard which Schwartz (inaccurately) reproduces does not support this contention; it actually stands for the opposite. Of course, anyone familiar with even a portion of Rothbard's vast output has to laugh at the claim that Rothbard didn't take ideas seriously.
Rated by buyers 
-
Amazon.com would do well to select a different Editorial Review, as the one from Publishing houses Weekly above displays some (willful?) misunderstanding of Rand's philosophy, Objectivism. In several books, Rand explains why she opposes monopolies. Yet, Publishing houses Weekly calls her a staunch proponent of "monopoly capitalism" -- a contradiction in terms, given that only government can hand out legal monopolies. The review also cites "Rand's strident right-wing rhetoric," employing two all-too-common biased journalistic terms -- 'right-wing' (a characterization which any thinker who reads Rand's passionate defenses of the right to abortion would find laughable), and 'rhetoric' (a dismissive term for those who don't have enough brainpower to successfully explain their disapproval).
Just because Amazon.com is headquartered in Seattle shouldn't mean that it has to adopt the silly political biases common to the region.
Find other books like this one:
