Turn the page
I came to a quick halt while looking through summer and fall books catalogs from publishers. On page 13 of NAL's Summer 2009 listings were these words:
"The first literary work of one of the most influential philosophers and novelists of the twentieth century -- available for the first time in trade paperback."
And right there before my eyes was a reproduction of a book cover: "We the Living" by Ayn Rand. In smaller type: Author of "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged."
My mind went reeling back into the 1970s, when I became obsessed with the rights, the privileges and the struggles of being a human being, as seen through the eyes of one head-strong woman with a philosophy as hard as a rock: Ayn Rand. Those days (and nights) were fueled by lots of coffee during the day and plenty of scotch (up, with a splash of water) at night, when friends and I would philosophize for hours, weeks, months about Rand's rigid belief system and her determination to make it known that every human being has the right to pursue their own happiness.
I tried in those days and through subsequent years to read every word Rand ever wrote, including some of her most esoteric rhetoric. And I mourned, in my own way, when she died in 1982.
I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal by Yaron Brook, who is executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. The headline reads: Is Rand Relevant? Take a look for yourself at the WSJ article.
Now I've got to hurry home and open my favorite book to that first line, "Who is John Galt?", and start getting my brain back in gear again, sans scotch. In my pursuit of happiness, I'm on beer now.