• • 4 of the 10 books that influenced me most 
Matt Steinglass, True/Slant Anthem  Ayn Rand, Anthem. [....] I read this on a bike trip through Cape Cod when I was 15, and found it so stupid and inferior (I’d read Animal Farm the week before) that it put me off Ayn Rand and any form of libertarianism forever. So I’d consider that pretty influential.     Share on Facebook

• • • Yevgeny Zamyatin: Libertarian novelist 
Jeff Riggenbach, Mises.org Daily Article Anthem  Atlas Shrugged  We The Living  Personal life  Whatever we decide about whether Rand read We in the '20s or '30s, there's simply no getting around the obvious similarities between Zamyatin's novel and Rand's Anthem. Both are set in the far future in a completely collectivized totalitarian society. Both are told in the first person by their main characters, in We by the mathematician and engineer D-503, in Anthem by the engineer Equality 7-2521. Anthem is the only work of fiction written by Rand to be written in the first person. In We, D-503 meets a woman, I-330, and is led inexorably down a path to rebellion against the government of the society in which he lives. In Anthem, Equality 7-2521 meets a woman, Liberty 5-3000, and is led inexorably down a path to rebellion against the government of the society in which he lives.     Share on Facebook

• • SXSW 2010: The Low Anthem 
Jesse Ship, Spinner Anthem  Interview with Ben Knox Miller of the folk rock band The Low Anthem.[Q:] Where did the name come from? [A:] The name comes from an Ayn Rand book by the same title. We didn't realize this until we had been together for quite a while because it was thought up by one of the original members, an old childhood friend, who no longer plays with us. I have actually read the book and I don't like it much at all, so it is a bit strange to have that name, but at least the name is abstract enough to be interpreted in different ways.     Share on Facebook

• • • Debating merits of Ayn Rand philosophy 
Spencer Case, Idaho State Journal (Pocatello, ID) Anthem  Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  Capitalism  Egoism  I think of Objectivism as a kind of intellectual chicken pox; most smart people get it when they're young, but usually it runs its course before causing any permanent damage. Don't get me wrong, I think "Atlas Shrugged" is well worth reading , just not as Holy Scripture.     Share on Facebook

• Google Books: Great resource or scary monopoly? 
Mark Leslie Lefebvre, The Mark Anthem  I’m going to continue contemplating this while I listen to the Rush album 2112. Perhaps you’re familiar with it. Lyricist Neil Peart acknowledged Ayn Rand (author of Anthem) in the liner notes to the album, a futuristic tale about a single ruling power that controls “all the gifts of life” – in other words, all literature, music, and art.     Share on Facebook

• • Okemos teen wins Lansing Symphony Orchestra contest 
Lansing State Journal (Lansing, MI) Anthem  The Lansing Symphony has announced that Okemos High School student Chris Newman is the winner of its annual Young Composers Contest. Newman won the contest with his orchestral composition "Prelude to Anthem." Newman's composition was inspired by the novella "Anthem" by Ayn Rand. He is an avid reader. "The mood of this piece was spawned from the almost heroic feeling I got from reading 'Anthem,' " Newman said.     Share on Facebook

• All the tales of the fair 
Ed Lake, The National (Abu Dhabi) Anthem  Egoism  For the past three years, Yann Martel, the author of the Man Booker-winning novel The Life of Pi, has been mailing a book a fortnight to Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada. The idea, says Martel, is “to make suggestions to his stillness” and generally relieve the hysteria of high political office. Given the stated goal, some of the selections have been surprising. Book number 38 was Ayn Rand’s hymn to radical selfishness, Anthem. Book 54 was The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea, a short and unpleasant tale of murderous children written by the suicidal Japanese militiaman Yukio Mishima. Number 46 was a book of Paul McCartney lyrics. Martel claims that each of these titles “has been known to expand stillness”, but looking down his list, the suspicion grows that he’s just throwing wads of paper at a wall to see what sticks.     Share on Facebook

• • FHS Forensics students present theatrical trio 
Heather Mays, Farragut Press (TN) Anthem  Farragut High School will present three plays this week at Ferguson Theater on campus. Each night, FHS drama students will present “Anthem,” “Pride & Prejudice & Zombies” and “Trophies.” [....] “Anthem” is an adaptation of the novel by Ayn Rand, and FHS senior Peter Jones adapted the novel and will direct the play. “I’m kind of impressed he chose to do that,” [drama teacher Lea] McMahan said. “He adapted it himself from the book; it’s a 100-page novel. … It’s a big deal. He put in a lot of work.” “Anthem” is a “serious piece, a dramatic piece, about an individual standing up to a group,” she added.     Share on Facebook

• Campaign spending and big business 
Amanda Conklin, Associated Content Anthem  Today, citizens are forced to form an opinion of a candidate based on his or her ability to raise money. In a perfect world, money would magnetically flow to the most eligible candidate, but unfortunately, utopias do not work out, as shown by George Orwell and Ayn Rand.     Share on Facebook

• • The writers’ group: First we must have something to say 
Deborah Hansen, Times-Union - Interact (Jacksonville, FL) Ayn Rand Institute  Anthem  Essay Contests  WritersMarket.com lists more than 1,000 contests and awards for a range of writing genres, including fiction, nonfiction, journalism, poetry, writing for children, scriptwriting, and more. Here are three with March deadlines: The Ayn Rand Institute offers the Anthem Essay Contest for 8th, 9th and 10th graders. With a 1st Place prize of $2,000 and more than 200 lesser prizes ranging from $30-500, this contest has a March 20 deadline.     Share on Facebook

• • The end of the world as we know it 
Richard Lam, Gauntlet (U of Calgary, AB) Anthem  Ayn Rand's Anthem takes place in a society of absolute brotherhood and collectivism where non-conformity is impossible. Individuality has been suppressed to the point where the word "I" has disappeared from the language, thus making the novel's first-person usage of "we" throughout a disorienting first read.     Share on Facebook

• • The Missourian’s top commenters of 2009 
Andrew Van Dam, Columbia Missourian (MO School of Journalism) Anthem  [John] Schultz should be gratified to know that in 2009 he typed almost three times as many characters as Ayn Rand squeezed into her 1938 sci-fi novella "Anthem." He would likely be even more gratified to discover that the libertarian heroine herself has apparently overcome her 1982 heart failure to become the Missourian's fourth most prolific poster in 2009.     Share on Facebook

• • • Ayn Rand popularity spurs release of lost film 
Duncan Scott, NewsMax.com Anthem  Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  We The Living  Rumors continue that Ted Turner is considering a remake of the 1949 Gary Cooper film, “The Fountainhead.” Film rights to Rand’s novelette, “Anthem,” have been acquired by Hollywood producer, Kerry O’Quinn. But perhaps the most unusual example of the Rand on-screen phenomenon is the recent DVD release of “We the Living,” the long-thought-lost movie version of her first novel.     Share on Facebook

• • Living on a lighted stage 
Jason Anderson, The Walrus Anthem  [Neil] Peart’s early Randian enthusiasm got [Rush] branded as crypto-fascists in the British rock press.     Share on Facebook

• • • Ayn Rand’s significance: A reply to Douglas Rasmussen 
Neera K. Badhwar, Cato Unbound Anthem  Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  We The Living  Capitalism  Egoism  In spite of the perseverance of some Objectivists, there is no coherent way to show that to survive long-term is to survive qua man is to achieve eudaimonia. This is not to deny that there are connections between them, or that a plausible ethics must have instrumental value and be generally compatible with long-term survival. How could it be rational to be moral if morality were, in principle, useless for our ordinary human purposes or a threat to survival? Moreover, it is easy to see that no one could survive very long, or achieve a life worth living, if most people were irrational and unproductive (Anthem, Atlas Shrugged). We are all better off in a society of moral individuals. Since, however, the immoral can survive long-term, the justification of a plausible ethics must go beyond long-term survival.     Share on Facebook

• • BioShock 2 developer interview 
Nick Cowen, The Telegraph (London) Altruism  Anthem  Objectivism informs the game's past and altruism informs the motivations of the game's chief villain, but [BioShock 2 creative director Jordan] Thomas says the player will be exposed to far more philosophical viewpoints than these two extremes in BioShock 2.     Share on Facebook

• • New year is time for new compassion 
Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Anthem  Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  After a bout of intense disillusionment with President Jimmy Carter, which I eventually got over, I flirted briefly with adopting a libertarian form of conservatism. I even read Ayn Rand's "Anthem," but found her writing so turgid that it dissuaded me from moving on to "Atlas Shrugged" or "The Fountainhead."     Share on Facebook

• • • Ayn Rand flawed, but her novels still shine 
John F. Di Leo, Illinois Review Atheism  Anthem  Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  We The Living  Inaccurate  Ayn Rand’s four masterpieces are “Atlas Shrugged,” “We the Living,” “The Fountainhead,” and the marvelously slim “Anthem.” Works of fiction, they tower among the greatest novels of the 20th century. Like any work of 800 pages, Atlas and the Fountainhead drag a bit here and there – the two or three 20-page speeches in each are sometimes worth skipping past – but otherwise, they are monuments to great storytelling.     Share on Facebook

• • Wossman High School is proud to annouce to our community exciting events & accomplishments 
Rose Lee, Monroe Free Press (LA) Ayn Rand Institute  Anthem  Essay Contests  Terranisha Hiley (11th grade) was a semi-finalist in the Ayn Rand Essay Competition. This is a competitive event in which students nationwide read the novel, Anthem, by Ayn Rand, then write an analytical essay on the book and its philosophy.     Share on Facebook

• • The conservative gift guide 2009 
Mike Seuffert, The Examiner Anthem  Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  We The Living  Capitalism  In light of this economy, Ayn Rand is making a comeback. Not that she ever totally went away. Rand’s philosophy has been at the core of many conservative’s beliefs. But lately, with markets crumbling and the country turning to government for solutions, many are finding Rand’s key works like Atlas Shrugged to be frighteningly familiar. Even John Stossel is kicking off his new job at Fox with a special about Ayn Rand, noting that this year her Atlas Shrugged reached #15 on the New York Times Bestseller list, more than 50 years after it was first published.     Share on Facebook