Ad Astra Per Aspera

One of the frustrating things about being not-exactly-Objectivist-anymore is how hard it is to find intelligent criticism of Rand that isn't instantly off-putting to her fans. I want constructive criticism, but it's basically impossible to find outside of the rationalist community (and even then...).

Nathaniel Branden's writings are the only major exception that I'm aware of, and the library doesn't carry much of his interesting stuff. Apparently there's plenty of copies on the second-hand market, though, so hopefully I can fit some of his books into my reading schedule soon.

In 1943, a friend of Ayn Rand's suggested her readers needed a non-fiction summary of her philosophy. Rand's response ("Oh, do they? What if I went on strike?") gave her the idea for Atlas Shrugged. Despite that being the last work of fiction she ever wrote, it wasn't until nearly a decade after her death that Leonard Peikoff published the first book-length account of Objectivism. Which is quite unfortunate, because he didn't do a terribly good job of it.