The Objective Standard Blog
Author: ARI Media
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
‘Atlas Shrugged’ Survey Delivers Surprising Results
A recent Zogby national online survey indicates that 24.8 percent of the 2,232 respondents have read Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged.”
When asked why they chose to read “Atlas Shrugged,” 37.6 percent of respondents in the online survey said it was recommended by a friend or colleague, 18.4 percent had it assigned or recommended in school, 9.9 percent read or heard about it in a print/Internet article or radio/TV program, 8.4 percent saw it in a library, and 1.9 percent noticed it in a bookstore.
The survey also indicated that 19.8 percent of respondents have read Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead,” 6.9 percent “Anthem,” 4 percent “We the Living,” and 3 percent “The Virtue of Selfishness.”
In the past two years, national telephone surveys of about 1,100 people have indicated that 8.1 percent of respondents had read “Atlas Shrugged.” The latest online survey was randomly drawn from a pool of several hundred thousand people while the telephone surveys were drawn at random from larger lists of people who own telephones.
Copyright © 2009 Ayn Rand® Institute. All rights reserved.
Posted in: Ayn Rand and Objectivism, The Arts
Monday, August 3, 2009
Invitation: Upcoming Ayn Rand Institute Event—The Atlas Shrugged Revolution
While Washington rapidly expands its control over our lives—exacerbating an economic crisis that was caused by government control in the first place—a hopeful countertrend is underway.
Ayn Rand’s classic best-selling novel Atlas Shrugged is flying off bookstore shelves at an unprecedented rate.
Hundreds of thousands of concerned Americans are turning to Atlas Shrugged—and discovering Ayn Rand’s morality of rational egoism and her uncompromising defense of laissez-faire capitalism.
Why is this happening? And what can those of us who uphold reason, individual rights and capitalism do to encourage and support this trend?
For an evening devoted to the discussion of these questions, we invite you to join us in New York City on September 15, 2009, for a special dinner event, The Atlas Shrugged Revolution.
At this benefit dinner event, Yaron Brook, president and executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, and John Allison, chairman of BB&T Corporation, will discuss why Americans are turning to Rand’s magnum opus—and why the novel’s revolutionary ideas are crucial to the future of freedom in America. You’ll also learn what the Ayn Rand Institute is doing right now to promote even greater public interest in Atlas Shrugged and Ayn Rand’s philosophy.
We hope you’ll be able to join us on September 15th for The Atlas Shrugged Revolution!
Sincerely,
Mark Chapman
Vice President of Development
The Ayn Rand Institute
P.S. In addition, a number of rare Ayn Rand books and manuscripts will be auctioned at the event. Images and descriptions of the items are available for viewing on the Web site for this event at www.arievents.com.
Copyright © 2009 Ayn Rand® Institute. All rights reserved.
Posted in: Announcements, Ayn Rand and Objectivism, Business and Economics, Events, Individual Rights and Law, The Arts
Friday, July 24, 2009
Ayn Rand Institute Announces $2 Million Fundraising Campaign—the Atlas Shrugged Initiative
Ayn Rand Institute Announces $2 Million Fundraising Campaign—the Atlas Shrugged Initiative
IRVINE, CA, July 24, 2009—The Ayn Rand Institute has announced a $2 million fundraising campaign—the Atlas Shrugged Initiative—in an unprecedented effort to increase readership of Ayn Rand’s best-known novel, Atlas Shrugged.
The impetus behind the Atlas Shrugged Initiative, explains ARI President and Executive Director Yaron Brook, is the fact that “At no time in history has there been greater public interest in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. And its message has never been more urgent.
“The torrent of destructive, statist policies emanating from Washington represents both a crisis—and an opportunity. Through the Atlas Shrugged Initiative, we intend to capitalize on the soaring grassroots interest in Ayn Rand and her ideas.”
Adds Dr. Brook, “The Atlas Shrugged Initiative is off to an outstanding start. A very generous benefactor has already offered to match every dollar donated to this Initiative—up to a total of $500,000—and as a result of early and substantial funding, the bookstore promotions that are a key component of the Initiative are already well underway.”
Key elements of the Atlas Shrugged Initiative include significant bookstore promotions of the novel; an expansion of ARI’s web-based efforts to spur readership of Atlas Shrugged; expansion of ARI’s long-running educational programs for high school and college students; and targeted outreach to pro-liberty, pro-capitalist activists around the nation.
Visit the Ayn Rand Institute’s Atlas Shrugged Initiative campaign page to learn more or to support this campaign.
### ### ###
Dr. Yaron Brook is available for interviews. To interview Dr. Brook or book him for your show, please e-mail media@aynrand.org.
For more articles by Yaron Brook, and his bio, click here.
Copyright © 2009 Ayn Rand® Institute. All rights reserved.
Posted in: Announcements, Ayn Rand and Objectivism
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
ARI Free Books to Teachers Program Shatters Record
The following is a reprint of a message from Yaron Brook to ARI donors.
Dear Contributor:
Since the first of the year, you’ve read a great deal about the work that ARI has done—primarily through the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights—to bring public attention to the economic and political problems facing our country.
Our work on that front continues—and I will continue to update you, through letters and e-mails, on the great strides we are making in ensuring that Ayn Rand’s ideas are given increased consideration among policy-makers and the media.
But while we are all preoccupied with the news of the day, and the ever-increasing assaults on freedom and capitalism coming from Washington, ARI has continued to keep the long-term picture in clear focus.
Even as ARC has capitalized on an unprecedented public and media interest in Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, and her ideas, ARI is completing what appears to be another marvelously successful year in our efforts to introduce young readers to Ayn Rand’s novels.
Results to Date
As of this writing, the total number of copies of Anthem, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged shipped to classrooms this school year is 342,984. This represents a 17 percent increase over last year’s total of 293,295—and represents a new all-time record for the program.
Since we inaugurated the Free Books to Teachers program with a pilot program in late 2002, the success of the program has been truly staggering. Adding the results above to the results from previous years, we can report the following for the lifetime of this program:
- More than 1.4 million copies of the novels have been sent to teachers.
- More than 30,000 teachers have participated in the Free Books to Teachers program since its inception.
- Ayn Rand’s novels are being taught in an estimated 40,000 high school classrooms in the United States and Canada.
- And because many of the novels are read in subsequent years by new groups of students, we now estimate that a total of nearly four million students have been introduced to Ayn Rand’s novels since this project began.
These achievements would not have been possible without the continued financial backing of our donors; so I thank you once again for your support of this program.
Feedback from Educators
Nearly every day we hear from teachers participating in the Free Books to Teachers program. Below are a few comments from the more than 300 we received from teachers this year. These are the impressions of teachers actually using the novels in their classrooms.
Their remarks, I believe, eloquently attest to the real impact that this program is having on students.
My students primarily come from lower-socio-economic homes and would have never had the chance to engage in such a rich lesson during these hard economic times when money for books is not available to us. I have seen a true personal and educational growth as students learn about Ayn Rand’s philosophy through her characters, plot, and the lessons provided for us.
—Bakersfield, CA
The Fountainhead started out as a road to the essay contest and college funds for my seniors, but has become so much more. The critical thinking and literary engagement that has come from reading this text is of amazing worth! . . . Rand was an amazing author; her texts are timeless.
—Baltimore, MD
I have never seen my students so excited about reading a book. Tenth graders who have refused to read any of the books that we’ve done so far finished reading Anthem weeks before it was required. Students who read The Fountainhead came in everyday to tell me how excited they were about the book. . . . Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
—Springville, UT
Thanks! Please keep this amazing program going! Over the past 7 years I have introduced over a 1,000 students to the work of Ayn Rand through the use of these books . . . I know it has helped to produce some exceptional debaters and influenced the writings of countless students. THANK YOU!
—Hope Mills, NC
I’m sure that you hear it all the time; however, I must tell you that my students cannot stop talking about Anthem. In fact, one student read it seven times! We have had some fascinating group discussions.
—Cocoa, FL
Thank you so much for the copies of Anthem and The Fountainhead. Our students will greatly benefit from the instruction of Ayn Rand’s contributions to world literature, and her enduring message of the triumph of the individual against all restrictive systems.
In an age of repetitive sound and thought, it is certainly a privilege to have Ayn Rand’s books in America’s classrooms.
—Laurel, MS
I am so appreciative of the Institute’s generosity and concern for education. I have been using the book for the past 5 years and will continue to do so in the future. I truly believe that the lessons learned from reading the book are totally applicable to the direction that our society seems to be moving in. Students enjoy reading the book and discussing how it is applicable to their lives, today. Once again, thank you for all that you do in providing an invaluable service to our students.
—Rosemont, PA
Conclusion
At the beginning of this letter, I alluded to the work we are doing at the Ayn Rand Center to combat the immediate challenge we face in Washington.
Make no mistake—the immediate challenges we face are severe.
But these challenges—among them the unprecedented intrusions of government into nearly every conceivable sector of our economy—represent a symptom, albeit an alarming one.
So while we will fight on the level of immediate, concrete political symptoms—and with ARC we have never been better able to do so—we must continue to treat the underlying disease of collectivism and unreason. The political battles must be fought now; but the culture must be repaired in the long term.
Through the Free Books to Teachers program; our essay contests (which have set new all-time records this year); the continued growth and success of the OAC and the Anthem Foundation for Objectivist Scholarship, we are continuing to work to address the fundamental, underlying problems that have led us to the political challenges we currently face.
It’s for this reason that I hope that I can count on your continued—and if possible, increased—support, as we prepare for the eighth year of the Ayn Rand Institute’s Free Books to Teachers program, and the 25th year of our annual essay contests.
Your continued and increased support will allow us to continue to tackle both the immediate problems—and ultimately, cure the underlying causes.
Thank you in advance for your consideration and your support.
Sincerely,
Yaron Brook
President and Executive Director
Copyright © 2009 Ayn Rand® Institute. All rights reserved.
Posted in: Announcements, Ayn Rand and Objectivism
Thursday, April 2, 2009
A Critique of Global Warming Science and Policy: A panel discussion at UCLA
What: A panel discussion challenging widely accepted views on global warming science and policy, followed by a Q&A
Who: Keith Lockitch, fellow of the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, and Willie Soon, geoscientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Where: UCLA Campus, Ackerman Grand Ballroom, Los Angeles, California
When: Monday, April 13, 2009, at 7 p.m.
Admission: FREE. The public and media are invited.
Sponsored by: LOGIC, the UCLA Objectivist Club
More information: Visit http://www.clublogic.org/ or e-mail info@ClubLogic.org
Description: It is now widely believed that man-made greenhouse gases are causing an unnatural warming of the earth that will have devastating consequences for human life. Environmentalists and politicians are pressing for severe restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions aimed at preventing global warming. But are these beliefs and policies justified? What does the scientific evidence actually support regarding the causes of climate variability and the role of anthropogenic greenhouse gases? Are the predictions of catastrophic changes supported by scientific fact? Is government economic intervention aimed at severely restricting greenhouse gases an appropriate policy response? Panelists will address these critical issues in a lively discussion.
Bio: Dr. Keith Lockitch has a PhD in physics from University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and is a resident fellow focusing on science and environmentalism at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. He lectures publicly on these topics, and his writings have appeared in such publications as the Washington Times and USA Today magazine. Dr. Lockitch is also a professor in the Objectivist Academic Center, where he teaches undergraduate writing and a graduate course on the history of physics. Before joining the Ayn Rand Institute in 2003, Dr. Lockitch was a postdoctoral researcher in physics at the University of Illinois and at Pennsylvania State University.
Bio: Dr. Willie Soon is an astrophysicist and a geoscientist at the Solar, Stellar, and Planetary Sciences Division of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He is also the chief science adviser of the Science and Public Policy Institute (based in Washington, D.C.). He writes and lectures on issues related to the sun, other stars, the Earth as well as general science topics in astronomy and physics. He is the author of The Maunder Minimum and the Variable Sun-Earth Connection published March 2004. (All views expressed are strictly of his own and do not reflect upon any other persons or institutions.)
Copyright © 2009 Ayn Rand® Institute. All rights reserved.
Posted in: Announcements, Environmentalism, Events, Science and Technology
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Objectivist Summer Conference 2009 early registration discounts expire soon!
We are writing to remind you that the deadline to take advantage of our deepest price reductions is just twelve days away.
Objectivist Summer Conference 2009 will take place from July 3 to July 11, 2009, bringing you nine days of social and intellectual stimulation that you’ll find nowhere else during the year.
This summer’s conference will be hosted at Boston’s Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center, known for its comfortable and enjoyable accommodations and meeting spaces. In the surrounding downtown area attendees can explore fine dining, shopping, and historical landmarks.
Recent months have poignantly demonstrated the importance of philosophy in human life, as current events seem to spring directly from the pages of Atlas Shrugged. As most Americans look towards government to rescue them, our speakers show what alternative solutions Ayn Rand’s philosophy can offer to today’s world with presentations such as "The Separation of Church and State," by Onkar Ghate; "Principled Leadership," by John Allison; “’Humanity’s Darkest Evil:’ The Lethal Destructiveness of Non-Objective Law," by Tara Smith; "Free Minds and Free Markets," by Peter Schwartz; and "Property Rights—and Wrongs," by Thomas A. Bowden. Other stimulating topics will be available as well, including history, psychology, drama, epistemology, mathematics, and the nature and necessity of friendship. In all there will be ten general session lectures and sixteen optional courses. Attendees may register for the entire nine-day conference, or use à la carte registration options to choose those parts that best fit their schedule and budget.
As usual, we also bring you a variety of special events and social opportunities, including two different dance worshops (Swing and Salsa), our annual opening and closing banquets and a special Independence Day celebration.
We look forward to creating a unique and memorable conference in Boston, and we hope to see you there!
Discount reminder: Even if you missed out on our special advance-planning bonus this year, you can still claim early registration price incentives (price reductions available through March 31). Details are available on our registration options and pricing page.
For more information visit the Objectivist Conferences Web site.
Copyright © 2009 Second Renaissance, Inc. All rights reserved.
Posted in: Announcements, Ayn Rand and Objectivism, Events
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Ayn Rand Institute Now Offering Impact Newsletter Free on the Web
Impact, which remains available in a print edition for ARI donors of $35 or more each year, delivers the latest news and progress reports on ARI’s programs, along with interviews of Objectivist intellectuals and monthly highlights of different aspects of Ayn Rand’s philosophy.
The new, free electronic format will serve as an excellent way of introducing newcomers to ARI’s goals and programs. Additionally, visitors may now view a three-part introductory video on ARI’s home page, which provides information about Ayn Rand, Objectivism, and the Ayn Rand Institute.
Copyright © 2009 Ayn Rand® Institute. All rights reserved.
Posted in: Announcements, Ayn Rand and Objectivism
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Universal Health Care: The Cure or the Disease?
What: Informal debate between Professor Mark Kleiman (UCLA Department of Public Policy) and Dr. Peter LePort, M.D. (Ayn Rand Institute Board of Directors)
Where: UCLA Campus: Moore 100
When: Thursday, October 30, 2008, from 7 to 9 PM
FREE Admission
For maps and directions, click here: http://www.ucla.edu/map/
Health care has been an important issue in politics, especially in the last several years. Amidst much specific policy analysis and political quibbling over superficial issues, the fundamentals have been ignored: What are the underlying philosophic and economic considerations? Is universal health care moral? Does it achieve its stated goal? Is there an ethical and practical alternative?
Come hear Professor Mark Kleiman and Dr. Peter LePort answer your questions about the issue of universal health care.
Please note: The above event is organized, hosted and sponsored by an individual campus club. Although ARI provides financial support, educational materials and speakers for eligible student clubs, campus clubs are organizations independent of ARI. ARI does not necessarily endorse the content of the lectures and sessions offered.
Copyright © 2008 Ayn Rand® Institute. All rights reserved.
Posted in: Announcements, Events, Health Care
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Totalitarian Islam and the Threat to Free Speech
What: A panel discussion on the nature of totalitarian Islam and its threat to free speech, followed by a Q&A
Who: Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute; Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum; and Flemming Rose, cultural editor of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten
Where: Ward One, Auditorium One, American University, Washington, D.C.
When: Thursday, October 23, 2008, at 6 pm
Admission is FREE and open to the public.
Description: What is the nature of totalitarian Islam—is it limited to terrorism or is it a broader movement? Are non-Muslims its only victims? Who precisely is the enemy? Does the West bear responsibility for creating this movement? What policies can defeat it?
Defenders of Islam around the world have striven to silence critics with threats, protests and acts of violence. How should the West respond to demands for censorship, as in the Danish cartoon controversy?
Panelists will address these critical issues in a lively discussion.
Bios:
Dr. Yaron Brook is executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute and a recognized Middle East expert who has written and lectured on a variety of Middle East issues. Dr. Brook has discussed the Israeli-Arab conflict and the war on Islamic totalitarianism on hundreds of radio and TV programs, including FOX News, CNN, and a C-SPAN panel of experts on terrorism.
Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum. Abroad, he appears weekly in Israel’s Jerusalem Post, Italy’s l’Opinione, Spain’s La Razón and monthly in Canada’s Globe and Mail. His Web site, DanielPipes.org, is one of the most accessed Internet sources of specialized information on the Middle East and Islam. Mr. Pipes has appeared on ABC World News, CBS Reports, Crossfire, Good Morning America, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Nightline, The O’Reilly Factor, The Today Show, the BBC and Al-Jazeera.
Flemming Rose is a Danish journalist, author and the cultural editor at the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. In September 2005 Mr. Rose commissioned a series of cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad. He was concerned about the tendency toward self-censorship in Europe and some Muslims’ insistence on special treatment of their religious sensitivities in the public domain, which he wanted to bring forward for debate. The backlash from Muslims around the world caused an international crisis and the Danish government experienced its worst foreign policy crisis since the Nazi occupation during WWII.
For more information: e-mail media@aynrand.org
Please note: The above event is organized, hosted and sponsored by an individual campus club. Although ARI provides financial support, educational materials and speakers for eligible student clubs, campus clubs are organizations independent of ARI. ARI does not necessarily endorse the content of the lectures and sessions offered.
Copyright © 2008 Ayn Rand® Institute. All rights reserved.
Posted in: Announcements, Events, Foreign Policy and War, Individual Rights and Law, Religion
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The Looming Crisis over Free Speech
What: A lecture examining the escalating censorship in America and explaining what is needed to protect our freedom of speech
Who: Eric Daniels, research assistant professor at Clemson University’s Institute for the Study of Capitalism
Where: 101 Morgan Hall, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720
When: Monday, October 6, 2008, 7 pm
Description: In this lecture, Dr. Daniels examines the state of free speech in America and finds that it is under serious threat. From campus speech codes to anti-discrimination and harassment law, from campaign finance to commercial speech, Americans today enjoy less and less freedom in communicating their ideas. Today’s colleges and universities have become a hotbed of censorship, producing generations of Americans who have accepted suppression of speech as the norm. Daniels argues that the emerging crisis is a result of the lack of a proper understanding of individual rights, especially property rights. Only by understanding the proper basis of rights can we act to secure our freedom of speech and to protect the rights that give rise to it.
Bio: Dr. Eric Daniels is a research assistant professor at Clemson University’s Institute for the Study of Capitalism. He has lectured internationally on American history, particularly on American intellectual history, business history and political history. He taught for five years at Duke University’s Program on Values and Ethics in the Marketplace, where he was nominated for a university-wide teaching award. Dr. Daniels was a contributor to the recently published Oxford Companion to United States History, and wrote a chapter in The Abolition of Antitrust. He has appeared on C-SPAN and Voice of America Radio.
For more information on this lecture, please e-mail media@aynrand.org.
### ### ###
Eric Daniels is available for interviews now and after his lecture.
Contact: Larry Benson
E-mail: media@aynrand.org
Phone: (949) 222-6550, ext. 213
For more information on Objectivism’s unique point of view, go to ARI’s Web site. The Ayn Rand Institute promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.
Please note: The above event is organized, hosted and sponsored by an individual campus club. Although ARI provides financial support, educational materials and speakers for eligible student clubs, campus clubs are organizations independent of ARI. ARI does not necessarily endorse the content of the lectures and sessions offered.
Copyright © 2008 Ayn Rand® Institute. All rights reserved.
Posted in: Announcements, Events, Individual Rights and Law
TOS Updates & Commentary
Sign up to receive TOS updates & commentary.
Featured Posts
- Who Deserves Credit for Tebow’s 316 Yards?
- Santorum Stands for Big Government because He Stands for Collectivism
- When Ayn Rand Meets Patrick Henry
- The Justice of Income Inequality Under Capitalism
- The Beauty of Ayn Rand's Ethics
Blog Archive
Blog Topics
- Announcements (165)
- Ayn Rand and Objectivism (107)
- Business and Economics (234)
- Education (57)
- Environmentalism (56)
- Events (100)
- Foreign Policy and War (217)
- Health Care (84)
- History (55)
- Individual Rights and Law (352)
- Philosophy (139)
- Presidential Candidates (17)
- Productivity (2)
- Psychology (10)
- Religion (131)
- Science and Technology (70)
- Sports (2)
- The Arts (40)
- Week in Review (12)
Ideas presented in posts on TOS Blog are those of the authors of the posts and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Objective Standard. TOS Blog is powered by WordPress.
