Caution: Ayn Rand

As regular readers of this blog know, I recently read Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged for the first time, and am enthusiastically looking forward to the release of Part One of the new film based on the book. I found the book in many ways to be compelling.

Some of my devout friends have expressed dismay at these expressions of mine, fearing that I am advocating for Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. I'm not. This essay captures my views on the topic nicely:

In truth, Rand’s philosophy, taken to its logical conclusion, was so monstrous that she was unable to live it personally even though she boldly and often claimed that she did. As Charles Murray (who is a Rand fan) notes, there is much to admire (for some people) in her works and novels; however, her philosophy is simply not something that can be consistently lived, and to try is to invite a life of misery and madness.

I would certainly not begrudge anyone who enjoyed Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead. I myself read them as a teenager and enjoyed both, and to this day they are two of the books which most encapsulate what is wrong with liberalism today.

Read it all.