… and the world she made (2009)
by Anne C. Heller[1]
Well executed book on an iconic figure by Ms. Heller, who certainly wasn’t an insider with the ‘Objectivist movement’ or blown away by Rand’s work—Heller bestows no glowing accolades on Ayn Rand or her achievements, yet respectfully reports on them with a discernible general sympathy. I find the author’s objectivity valuable, yet necessarily giving an incomplete Gestalt of ‘Who is Ayn Rand.’ Heller is too young to have experienced the rush that Rand’s passionate articulation of heroic individualism provided, mainly, in Baby Boomer prime time (late 1950s into the early 1970s)—with The Fountainhead (1943, movie 1949) and Atlas Shrugged (1957), then the nonfictional politics oriented writings from Rand and her coterie. Continue reading
Editor’s note: This is an early column (from April 2007) where cellphones with texting while driving was becoming a common problem. GPS systems and dash panel cellular phone connections were in their infancy, indeed, so were the earphone systems that enable hands-free driving. The problem has gotten worse, however, as texting while driving becomes no big deal for tens of thousands of inattentive, unskilled drivers behind the wheels of mastodon-sized vehicles. These are the same individuals who feel ‘he-said, she-said’ is soooo much more important that paying full attention to the road; the process of natural selection will eventually weed these individuals out… unfortunately, taking plenty of innocent persons with them. Great argument for mass transit and jitneys. — bw