What do you think?
Rate this book
Ayn Rand
Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. Very Good, A photographic biography of Rand's life. Very good copy.
Hardcover
First published February 1, 2005
1 person is currently reading
108 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 20, 2019
If you are on the lookout for a straightforward biography of Ayn Rand without too much of a hagiological bent, this relatively short book by Jeff Britting will do well. It is accompanied with a lot of pictures from the archives to illustrate the life of Ayn Rand all the way from her childhood in Russia, her times in Hollywood and New York. Britting manages to narrate the most important events of Rands life with a steady hand, sometimes with a great eye to detail, giving the reader memorable and trivial information to accompany the read. It's shortness nonetheless, without dwelling too much on the philosophy itself, the book was a joy to read.
May 29, 2024
A RICHLY-ILLUSTRATED AND ILLUMINATING “BRIEF BIOGRAPHY”
Author Jeff Britting wrote in the “Acknowledgements” section of this 2004 book, “This brief biography of Ayn Rand is based on archival materials that have been my research and preservation focus for eleven years. I began working with Ayn Rand’s papers in 1993, while making a documentary film about her life (Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, 1997). After the film’s release, I became archivist at the Ayn Rand Institute, managing her personal papers and the acquisition of related collections.”
He notes that in 1918, while Rand was still living in Russia, she “made the following entry in her journal: ‘Today I decided to be an atheist.’ ‘I remember making that entry,’ she later said, ‘as if it were an integration of something that had been growing for a long time.’ She reasoned that if ‘God is perfect and man can never be that perfect, the idea necessarily makes man low and imperfect and places something above him,’ and thus it is ‘degrading to man.’ This again foreshadows a theme of Rand’s mature thought---the issue of reason versus mysticism and the connection of the issue to human values… To Rand, the commitment to atheism was a consequence of an overall commitment to reason.” (Pg. 16-17)
Of her university studies, he notes, “Rand finished her coursework in 1924 and graduated with honors, her transition into young adulthood now complete. She had studied philosophy, but---with the exception of Aristotle---found it unhelpful in defining her values. The philosophy she sought was not found in the university, but was a growing body of knowledge within her---a philosophy of which the first written glimmers had begun to appear in her diary seven years earlier.” (Pg. 24)
He explains, “With the fear constantly in mind that Rand’s vocalization of her frustration would put her in prison, [her mother]---to Rand’s eternal gratitude---proposed a visit to Chicago by her oldest daughter. The timing of this suggestion was fortunate… travel restrictions for students wishing to study abroad had been temporarily eased… The official purpose of Rand’s visit would be to study the film industry first-hand and then to return and contribute the fruits of this research toward the advancement of Soviet film. This stated purpose, however, was a ruse; Rand planned to make her American visit permanent, … [moving] to Canada, if necessary, to void returning to Russia… She applied to the Soviet government for a passport.” (Pg. 29-30)
Of the early 1940s, Britting observes, “During this period her most significant friendship---one that grew into an intense intellectual exchange---was with the brilliant and fiery Isabel Paterson, book columnist for the ‘New York Herald Tribune’ and author of ‘The God of the Machine.’ Rand began a spirited correspondence with ‘Pat,’ delighted to find someone whose interest in philosophy and history matched her own. Their relationship continued until the late 1940s, when it ended over personal and philosophical differences.” (Pg. 62)
Of Frank Lloyd Wright, he recounts, “In 1937 Wright had rebuffed Rand’s request to meet and interview him. Eventually, he read and praised [The Fountainhead] (‘your thesis is THE great one,’ he wrote) and later invited Rand and [husband Frank] O’Connor to his Wisconsin estate, Taliesin, which she praised at ‘magnificent.’ But the visit wasn’t a pleasant one. She found Wright’s students to be awestruck hero worshippers, and she had philosophical differences with Wright’s wife. However, despite the fact that there was no meeting of the minds between Rand and Wright, she greatly admired his architectural accomplishments, writing to him in 1944, ‘I felt, whenever I entered a building of yours [that] here one had to be a hero and lead a heroic life.’” (Pg. 68)
In the 1960s, “Slowly, Rand’s work attracted the notice of contemporary academics. She was invited to several forums and symposiums, first as a visitor and then as a participant… She also corresponded and discussed philosophy with John Hospers and Martin Lean, and she met with John Herman Randall and Brand Blanshard after expressing enthusiasm for aspects of their work.. However, the gulf between Rand’s methodology and context and those of contemporary academic philosophy made a true rapport all but impossible. Rand’s project of providing a comprehensive and integrated view of existence and of man’s relationship to existence was considered irrelevant. The academy did not know what to make of her: she was an individualist but not a subjectivist or skeptic; she was an absolutist but not a dogmatist.” (Pg. 99)
Of Nathaniel Branden and his Institute (NBI), Britting notes, “at the peak of NBI’s success, relations between Rand and Nathaniel Branden deteriorated. Their relationship had evolved over eighteen years, from intellectual associates to close personal friends and professional allies. For a period of several years in the 1950s, and with the consent of their spouses, they had had a romantic affair, which ended probably near the time of the publication of ‘Atlas Shrugged.’ Their association continued for another ten years until she ended it in 1968. She presented her reasons in the May 1968 issue of ‘The Objectivist’; among the underlying causes, she wrote, were a series of deceptions, including Branden’s failure to practice the philosophy he was teaching his students.” (Pg. 101)
Even if you have read other biographies of Rand, the photographs alone are worth the price of this book---but Britting’s text is very supportive of Rand, and will be “must reading” for those interested in Rand and her philosophy.
Author Jeff Britting wrote in the “Acknowledgements” section of this 2004 book, “This brief biography of Ayn Rand is based on archival materials that have been my research and preservation focus for eleven years. I began working with Ayn Rand’s papers in 1993, while making a documentary film about her life (Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, 1997). After the film’s release, I became archivist at the Ayn Rand Institute, managing her personal papers and the acquisition of related collections.”
He notes that in 1918, while Rand was still living in Russia, she “made the following entry in her journal: ‘Today I decided to be an atheist.’ ‘I remember making that entry,’ she later said, ‘as if it were an integration of something that had been growing for a long time.’ She reasoned that if ‘God is perfect and man can never be that perfect, the idea necessarily makes man low and imperfect and places something above him,’ and thus it is ‘degrading to man.’ This again foreshadows a theme of Rand’s mature thought---the issue of reason versus mysticism and the connection of the issue to human values… To Rand, the commitment to atheism was a consequence of an overall commitment to reason.” (Pg. 16-17)
Of her university studies, he notes, “Rand finished her coursework in 1924 and graduated with honors, her transition into young adulthood now complete. She had studied philosophy, but---with the exception of Aristotle---found it unhelpful in defining her values. The philosophy she sought was not found in the university, but was a growing body of knowledge within her---a philosophy of which the first written glimmers had begun to appear in her diary seven years earlier.” (Pg. 24)
He explains, “With the fear constantly in mind that Rand’s vocalization of her frustration would put her in prison, [her mother]---to Rand’s eternal gratitude---proposed a visit to Chicago by her oldest daughter. The timing of this suggestion was fortunate… travel restrictions for students wishing to study abroad had been temporarily eased… The official purpose of Rand’s visit would be to study the film industry first-hand and then to return and contribute the fruits of this research toward the advancement of Soviet film. This stated purpose, however, was a ruse; Rand planned to make her American visit permanent, … [moving] to Canada, if necessary, to void returning to Russia… She applied to the Soviet government for a passport.” (Pg. 29-30)
Of the early 1940s, Britting observes, “During this period her most significant friendship---one that grew into an intense intellectual exchange---was with the brilliant and fiery Isabel Paterson, book columnist for the ‘New York Herald Tribune’ and author of ‘The God of the Machine.’ Rand began a spirited correspondence with ‘Pat,’ delighted to find someone whose interest in philosophy and history matched her own. Their relationship continued until the late 1940s, when it ended over personal and philosophical differences.” (Pg. 62)
Of Frank Lloyd Wright, he recounts, “In 1937 Wright had rebuffed Rand’s request to meet and interview him. Eventually, he read and praised [The Fountainhead] (‘your thesis is THE great one,’ he wrote) and later invited Rand and [husband Frank] O’Connor to his Wisconsin estate, Taliesin, which she praised at ‘magnificent.’ But the visit wasn’t a pleasant one. She found Wright’s students to be awestruck hero worshippers, and she had philosophical differences with Wright’s wife. However, despite the fact that there was no meeting of the minds between Rand and Wright, she greatly admired his architectural accomplishments, writing to him in 1944, ‘I felt, whenever I entered a building of yours [that] here one had to be a hero and lead a heroic life.’” (Pg. 68)
In the 1960s, “Slowly, Rand’s work attracted the notice of contemporary academics. She was invited to several forums and symposiums, first as a visitor and then as a participant… She also corresponded and discussed philosophy with John Hospers and Martin Lean, and she met with John Herman Randall and Brand Blanshard after expressing enthusiasm for aspects of their work.. However, the gulf between Rand’s methodology and context and those of contemporary academic philosophy made a true rapport all but impossible. Rand’s project of providing a comprehensive and integrated view of existence and of man’s relationship to existence was considered irrelevant. The academy did not know what to make of her: she was an individualist but not a subjectivist or skeptic; she was an absolutist but not a dogmatist.” (Pg. 99)
Of Nathaniel Branden and his Institute (NBI), Britting notes, “at the peak of NBI’s success, relations between Rand and Nathaniel Branden deteriorated. Their relationship had evolved over eighteen years, from intellectual associates to close personal friends and professional allies. For a period of several years in the 1950s, and with the consent of their spouses, they had had a romantic affair, which ended probably near the time of the publication of ‘Atlas Shrugged.’ Their association continued for another ten years until she ended it in 1968. She presented her reasons in the May 1968 issue of ‘The Objectivist’; among the underlying causes, she wrote, were a series of deceptions, including Branden’s failure to practice the philosophy he was teaching his students.” (Pg. 101)
Even if you have read other biographies of Rand, the photographs alone are worth the price of this book---but Britting’s text is very supportive of Rand, and will be “must reading” for those interested in Rand and her philosophy.
December 5, 2021
A brief biography with many photos and documents describe this look into Ayn Rand's life. The book reveals more about her family and her personal life in America. Her book, We The Living. does in fact mirror her personal life. Atlas Shrugged took 14 years to write! An interesting account of where she lived, how she lived, her marriage, her friends, and what she did. The book also gave me some suggestions on other material I'd like to read.
September 18, 2010
"Each person is the architect of his own fortune."
I could summon no interest or enthusiasm for "people as they are"--when I had in my mind a blinding picture of people as they could be.
You can't have your cake and let your neighbor eat it, too.
They want you to pursue happiness, but never to catch it.
I could summon no interest or enthusiasm for "people as they are"--when I had in my mind a blinding picture of people as they could be.
You can't have your cake and let your neighbor eat it, too.
They want you to pursue happiness, but never to catch it.
October 26, 2011
Very informative and interesting read. I really enjoyed all the wonderful pictures of Ayn throughout her life as well as the pictures of her writings. This is a must read for anyone interested in Ayn Rand.
April 16, 2016
very interesting person & Ayn Rand's prior life before living in the United States.
July 10, 2020
A concise but really nice biography of Rand, with lots of illustrations.
December 30, 2024
“The public voice defending reason and freedom, one she had sought after desperately since her days in Russia, turned out— much to her surprise-to be her own voice.”
June 9, 2015
Slim, broad-brush portrait of Ayn Rand in words and numerous photographs in the "Overlook Illustrated Lives" series of biographies. The writing is too sympathetic, not surprising given that the author is the archivist at the Ayn Rand Institute, and unintentionally humorous in its over-the-top breathlessness, as in this description of the 12-year-old Ayn:
"The [Russian] revolution was her first confrontation with the 'ethics of altruism' (the view that service to others is the highest moral virtue), which she rejected instantly as an attack on men of 'intelligence, ability, and heroism.'"
Still not bad as a brief introduction to Rand's life and writings. As a lightning rod either adored or rejected, it is hard to find good, objective, not objectivist, writing about Rand. Other books I've read (that don't measure up that well, either):
The Ayn Rand Cult
The Passion of Ayn Rand
Your best bet is to skip the apologists and antagonists and go straight to the sources of all the anguish:
Atlas Shrugged
The Fountainhead
"The [Russian] revolution was her first confrontation with the 'ethics of altruism' (the view that service to others is the highest moral virtue), which she rejected instantly as an attack on men of 'intelligence, ability, and heroism.'"
Still not bad as a brief introduction to Rand's life and writings. As a lightning rod either adored or rejected, it is hard to find good, objective, not objectivist, writing about Rand. Other books I've read (that don't measure up that well, either):
The Ayn Rand Cult
The Passion of Ayn Rand
Your best bet is to skip the apologists and antagonists and go straight to the sources of all the anguish:
Atlas Shrugged
The Fountainhead
July 19, 2008
Excellent overview of Rand's life, complete with illustrations, photos and other ephemera from her archives. This is probably a good starting point for those with an interest in Rand and her writing.
September 23, 2012
short enough to read quickly; lots of good photos incl. pages from her drafts; gives some overview that helps you place her ideas in the time and place
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews