Ayn Rand





Ayn Rand

Author profile


born
February 02, 1905 in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

died
March 06, 1982

gender
female

website

genre

influences
Aristotle, John Locke, Thomas Aquinas, Friedrich Nietzsche, Victor Hug...more


About this author

Alisa Rosenbaum was born in pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg to a prosperous Jewish family. When the Bolsheviks requisitioned the pharmacy owned by her father, Fronz, the Rosenbaums fled to the Crimea. Alisa returned to the city (renamed Leningrad) to attend the university, but in 1926 relatives who had already settled in America offered her the chance of joining them there. With money from the sale of her mother's jewellery, Alisa bought a ticket to New York. On arrival at Ellis Island, she changed into Ayn (the name of a Finnish writer) Rand (taken from the brand name of her Remington-Rand typewriter). She moved swiftly to Hollywood, where she learnt English, worked in the RKO wardrobe department and as an extra, and - fuelled with Dexamy...more


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Average rating: 3.74 · 206,244 ratings · 16,620 reviews · 68 distinct works
The Fountainhead
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3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 avg rating — 80,774 ratings — published 1943 — 78 editions
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Atlas Shrugged
3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 avg rating — 72,495 ratings — published 1957 — 79 editions
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Anthem
3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 avg rating — 32,429 ratings — published 1938 — 152 editions
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We the Living
3.8 of 5 stars 3.80 avg rating — 8,063 ratings — published 1936 — 42 editions
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The Virtue of Selfishness
3.45 of 5 stars 3.45 avg rating — 3,053 ratings — published 1961 — 34 editions
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Atlas Shrugged & The Fountainh...
4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 avg rating — 1,761 ratings — published 1995 — 2 editions
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Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 avg rating — 1,170 ratings — published 1967 — 22 editions
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For the New Intellectual: The...
3.51 of 5 stars 3.51 avg rating — 997 ratings — published 1961 — 22 editions
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The Romantic Manifesto
3.61 of 5 stars 3.61 avg rating — 969 ratings — published 1969 — 17 editions
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Philosophy: Who Needs It
3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 avg rating — 820 ratings17 editions
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More books by Ayn Rand…
“The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.”
Ayn Rand

“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swaps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists.. it is real.. it is possible.. it's yours.”
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.”
Ayn Rand

Polls

Which Book would you like to read for our next Contemporary Chunkser? Please vote here to get our top 5 and I will post another "Top 5" poll on 6/27.

 
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93 total votes
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