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Comment by IsaacL | Hacker News Reader

You've persuaded me to take another look at her philosophy. If you're still here, any books you'd recommend? Is Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology worth the read? I read Virtue of Selfishness which was OK -- I preferred the Romantic Manifesto as I felt her ideas in there were better worked out.

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I would recommend Rand's Philosophy: Who Needs It then Peikoff's Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. The Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (ITOE) is good but is a bit technical and not everyone has the interest and motivation to read it. At the very least, if you can find it at a bookstore, read the intro because it does a good job of setting the historical context on why the theory of concepts is so important.

BTW, in some ways The Romantic Manifesto which you mentioned is more difficult than the ITOE.

Difficult in what way? (I ask as it's possible my unique mix of interests made it more accessible to me.)

I'll take a look at your other books. Also, do you have an email address? I'd like to chat more. Mine is in my profile.

I'd be curious to know your background such that The Romantic Manifesto was an "easy" read. It was not easy for me.

As for the difficulty of that book, the topic is one of the widest possible integrations in that she explains the psychological purpose of art, something I don't think anyone has ever done before. She connects the nature of concepts and abstractions to the nature of consciousness (finite) and the psychological (motivational) need to concretize our widest philosophic beliefs. It is truly an historic achievement.

I will contact you privately.

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