About Ayn Rand
A novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter.
The Secret Life of Ayn Rand
The Fountain head
Anthem
Atlas Shrugged
The country’s top banker, a leading oil producer, a once-revered professor, an acclaimed composer, a distinguished judge. All vanish without explanation and without trace. A copper magnate becomes a worthless playboy. A philosopher-turned-pirate is rumored to roam the seas. The remnants of a brilliant invention are left as scrap in an abandoned factory. What is happening to the world? Why does it seem to be in a state of decay? Can it be saved — and how?
Frequently Asked Questions
How is "Ayn" pronounced?
It is a single syllable that rhymes with 'mine' and 'fine'.
Is "Ayn Rand" her real name?
No. She adopted this name when she left the Soviet union but her real name (translated to English is, Alisa Zinov'yevna Rosenbaum
How successful was Rand as an author?
If success is measured in terms of books sold, then Rand was eventually very successful, although not as much as some authors. As of 2008, the total sales of Rand's books were over 25 million copies
Did Rand have any children?
No. Barbara Branden described Rand's attitude towards having children thusly:
It was a responsibility that she was not interested in assuming. When she was writing Atlas [Shrugged], she would sometimes say that she was "with book." The only children she wanted were her books
What did Rand read?
The accusation is sometimes made that Rand did not read philosophical or intellectual works from other writers. One critic went so far as to declare that she "read almost nothing but detective novels." Such claims are exaggerated at best. Although Rand apparently did not read extensively in contemporary academic philosophy, she clearly read much more than "detective novels."