Gideon Reichs Profil

Complete and Accurate Presentation of Ayn Rand's Ideas, 30. März 2000

Leonard Peikoff's *Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand* is a magnificent work that manages to completely present Ayn Rand's philosophy in a few hundred pages. The presentation is clear and complete, covering all the important points of the philosophy. It is generally recommended that readers have previous exposure to Rand's works, especially her novels *The Fountainhead* and *Atlas Shrugged*, but also her nonfiction works such as *Virtue of Selfishness*, *Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal*, and *The Romantic Manifesto*. This book will not disappoint those who were seeking a more complete exposition of Ayn Rand's ideas in one convenient volume.

Well worth reading several times.

Rigorous Presentation of a proper Metaethics, 26. März 2000

The basic question asked in this book is: Why be moral? The author, Prof. Tara Smith reviews and critiques the various historical positions on this question before providing what I consider the only valid answer. This was the answer provided by novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand as part of her Objectivist philosophy. Prof. Smith writes in the last two sentences of the book: "Life sets the standard of value, life is the goal of morality, life is the reward of morality. What stronger answer can one imagine to the question of why we should be moral?"

The meat of the book is devoted to detailed argumentation for the above points and a reader would be well rewarded by carefully… Mehr dazu

An clear presentation of mechanics, 24. September 1999

I saw the excellent Mechanical Universe Television series while I was in high school and I recently purchased this book. I've just finished reading this book and am simultaneously doing problems in Schaum 3000 Physics problems. This is a great reader to use as it puts the physics in the historical context and traces the reasoning these great scientists used in inducing their conclusions in the first place. The explanations are mostly very clear. Some of the historical interpretations are questionable but they do not detract from the overall value of the historical approach. This is how all physics should be taught.