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Title: The Journals of Ayn Rand
ISBN: 0452278872
Author:
Ayn Rand
Leonard Peikoff
Publicate Date: 1999-08-01
Publish: 1999-08-01
List Price: $25.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $14.36
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $7.40
Amazon Merchant Price: $19.50
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| Customer Review: |
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1: An Important Book About an Amazing Woman
If you happen to be an intellectual struggling through the travails of achieving very long-range goals, then this book has a mother load of precious gems for you to mine. You have to work at it, though. You have to want it. You have to already know what it's like to sit day after day in front of a white piece of paper and force yourself to work???especially to solve difficult mental problems on your own. Serious intellectual work is tough going, and this book will show you just how tough it was even for one of the brightest minds the world has ever known, yet it will also help you to see how that same mind overcame those challenges.
For me, reading this book was a little like having Ayn Rand come back as a ghost to hover over me, urging me on in my struggles to be a fiction writer, promising me that I will succeed if I work hard enough, employ good study methods, always engage my own values, and above all use reason as my guide.
This book is not for everyone. Though David Harriman did a remarkable job of selecting the right content and sorting it for clarity and readability, it remains just what the title states: Ayn Rand's personal journals. It is not a diary. There's nothing here about personal hobbies, romance, or life's milestones. Only her writing notes were included so that the reader can see a straightforward record of the orderly mental processes that she applied to her work.
Personally, I found this book to be challenging, informative, and highly inspirational ??? a fascinating look into a fascinating mind.
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2: An Excellent Companion to the Letters
The JOURNALS OF AYN RAND is an important addition to the large body of work by and about Ayn Rand. This work is put out by Rand's Estate, which worked with scholars associated with the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI). JOURNALS contains an introduction and notes by editor David Harriman which are, for the most part, helpful. There is a forward by Leonard Peikoff which is pretty much what you would expect.Rand wrote out her notes in complete sentences, so there is a good deal of lengthy philosophical and other matters contained in this book. One of the best parts her notes for a work Rand started after THE FOUNTAINHEAD, called THE MORAL BASIS OF INDIVIDUALISM. It's over 60 pages long. Particularly revealing are the notes for an early story called "The Little Street" which is highly Nietzschian in tone, as even the editor had to admit. (Peikoff's forward attempts to downplay the influence of Nietzsche on Rand's thought.) One thing I found interesting is that most of the journal entries are before 1955. However, Rand didn't start writing philosophical essays until after that. JOURNALS includes some notes for the articles that make up INTRODUCTION TO OBJECTIVIST EPISTEMOLOGY, but that's about it. Editor Harriman tells us that Rand made only brief outlines for her philosophical essays, and felt that publishing them wouldn't add much. I would like to take Harriman's word for it. But was there no benefit to publishing these outlines? This might be a minor point, but for the fact that there are reasons to question the accuracy of the JOURNALS. Prior to this book, some small portions of Rand's journals were published by ARI-associated scholars. In an entry dated January 20, 1947, the previously published version contains a reference to Albert J. Nock, which is left out in the version published in JOURNALS. There are other changes as well, such as the removal of "duty" in a passage on ethics. [Sciabarra,"Bowlderizing Ayn Rand", Liberty, Sept. 1998.] This isn't a big deal to fans and casual students, but to scholars attempting to sort out the influence of other thinkers on Rand's thought, it is a big problem.
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3: Interesting background material but her novels are better
I was initially disappointed. The early pages are difficult to read and mostly seem to restate stuff that shows up in more polished form later. However, you can see the transition from quasi-Nietzschean ideals to a more mature Objectivism, and in particular the transition of the primary virtue being independence (The Fountainhead) to rationality (Atlas Shrugged). Interesting elements: Rand's notes for a movie about the invention of the atomic bomb, including what she was trying to convey and what she learned from her interviews. Her notes on books about architecture, her response to what she considers silliness, and her adaptation of what is said to characters in the book.Most of the notes from Atlas Shrugged deal with analyzing the psychology of the "parasite." This goes on for pages and seems rather tedious since it comes across as largely speculation-no evidence is cited. More interesting are the notes from the interviews she conducted about how to depict a steel mill and other settings that occur in the book. Also noted that she wants to believe in the existence of a soul (i.e., the element of a human being that thinks and is not part of conventional matter). That was rather striking! I am inordinately proud of myself for finishing it in one day, though I wonder at the same time how much I missed. Can't see myself rereading it anytime soon, though. If I reread anything, it will probably be Atlas Shrugged or possibly The Fountainhead.
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4: An essential take on the evolution of Ayn Rand!
I agree with Stephen Cox, who writes on The Daily Objectivist website: "One of its best features is the large amount of plain good writing that one discovers here, much more than one might expect to find in an author's working notes. Rand does very well in the medium of brief and (as she thought) temporary comments. The volume contains many shrewd observations, vital expressions of personality, and spirited confrontations with intellectual problems." A great insight into a great mind!
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5: Dear Diary
Interested in Ayn Rand's personal life as well as her philosophy? "Journals" offers an interesting look at the famous author.
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