At ARI, we work daily to spread Ayn Rand’s ideas and improve the state of the world one mind at a time. Recently, we received an email from an entrepreneur who watched Yaron Brook’s interview with Patrick Bet-David at OCON 2018—and became intrigued with the ideas discussed in the interview.
“I got the blue one, which one did you get?” “I’m reading the red one first.” This is some of the chatter I hear as a group of about thirty high school students rush up to the front of a Santa Ana classroom to choose a free book from a cardboard box. These students have just listened to Yaron Brook, chairman of the board of the Ayn Rand Institute, speak to them about selfishness.
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, we asked Jeff Britting, curator of the Ayn Rand Archives, to supply us with images and text from an article he wrote that originally appeared in the Ayn Rand Institute’s newsletter, Impact, in 2012. The feature commemorates Valentine’s Day, discusses Ayn Rand’s view of romantic love and the bond between Ayn Rand and her husband, Frank O’Connor. The images that accompany this feature are from the Archives collection.
To celebrate Christmas, we asked Jeff Britting, curator of the Ayn Rand Archives, to supply us with images and text from an article he wrote that originally appeared in the Ayn Rand Institute’s newsletter, Impact, in 2010. The article was devoted to anecdotes about Christmas visits, letters from Ayn Rand’s family in Russia about Christmas, images of Rand and her husband, Frank O’Connor, at Christmas and Christmas cards she and Frank gave and received.
Rise & Fall: How Ideas Move the World, a podcast hosted by ARI’s Amanda Maxham, looks at the power of ideas to shape human affairs. Here are some of our favorite moments from the show so far.
Merion West’s Alex Baltzegar interviews Steve Simpson, director of Legal Studies at the Ayn Rand Institute, on Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, how it applies to free speech and foreign policy, and whether one can reconcile Christianity with her philosophy.
As the world celebrated a national day of giving, #GivingTuesday, on November 28, ARI launched its own campaign, #TradingTuesday, in honor of what Ayn Rand calls the “trader principle.” We encouraged fans of Rand to advance their values by contributing to ARI's Free Books to Teachers program. The program places Rand’s novels in the hands of students across the country.
Since 2012, the Tuesday following “Black Friday” has been publicized as “Giving Tuesday.” Touted as a remedy for the selfish commercialism of the holiday shopping season, the idea is that charitable contributions (“giving back”) will relieve the guilt you're expected to be feeling.
