Books, Books, and More

Lately I've been amassing a collection of books here at school. It appears to have the effect of a double-edged sword. The moment I get them I want to look through them and start reading them. This of course takes away any time I have that could be put towards my studies. It's very frustrating in that sense, but I really just like reading my books. College textbooks are too dry.

Since I have such a strong interest in Objectivism, I want to read up on it as much as I can and the primary source for current scholarly work on Objectivism has to be the Ayn Rand Bookstore. Whenever they come out with their annual catalog I peruse through it looking for lectures or books that pique my interest. So as you might guess, by this time I have a fairly long wish list going (I'll accept any size amount of gift donations that you may wish to give me). Over the summer I was able to save up a fair amount of money and was able to get some really good stuff from the ARB. Let me list them:

• The Passion of Ayn Rand's Critics by James Valliant
• The Romantic Manifesto by Ayn Rand
• Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist by Tara Smith
• The Objectivist Forum Edited by Harry Binswanger
• Religion vs. Man by John Ridpath (CD)
  
• Selected Topics in the Philosophy of Science by Harry Binswanger (Audio)
  
• The Philosophic Corruption of Physics by David Harriman (Audio)
• The History of America-Complete Series by Eric Daniels (CD)
• The Foreign Policy and Terrorism Collection (DVD)
  

Of course that's not all the books I got recently. From separate sources I bought:

• The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z Edited by Harry Binswanger
• Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life by Michael Paxton (DVD)
  
• The Abolition of Antitrust Edited by Gary Hull
• A Brief History of Science by A. Rupert Hall & Marie Boas Hall
• Aristotle by John Herman Randall, Jr.
• The Aristotle Adventure by Burgess Laughlin
• Essays on Ayn Rand's Anthem Edited by Robert Mayhew
• Essays on Ayn Rand's We the Living Edited by Robert Mayhew
• Essays on Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead Edited by Robert Mayhew

Also too add to these lists are books I've recently checked out from the library and might buy later:

• John Adams & the Spirit of Liberty by C. Bradley Thompson
• Ayn Rand and "Song of Russia": Communism and Anti-Communism in 1940s Hollywood by Robert Mayhew
• Viable Values: A Study of Life as the Root and Reward of Morality by Tara Smith

I'm beginning to see this post has become just one long list. I'll have to clarify which one's I've read and which one's I haven't later. I can say that I'm currently reading Mayhew's Essays on Ayn Rand's Anthem. So far I've really enjoyed the essays by Tore Boeckmann, "Anthem as a Psychological Fantasy", and John Lewis, "'Sacrilege toward the Individual': The Anti-Pride of Thomas More's Utopia and Anthem's Radical Alternative". And just today I received Essays on Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. I was able to read one essay by Andrew Bernstein, "Understanding the "Rape" Scene in The Fountainhead". I'm really glad they decided to discuss this about The Fountainhead since it is easily one of the most misunderstood aspects in the novel. Dr. Bernstein did an excellent job putting in clear terms what Dominique's motivation was and her reasons for such "an engraved invitation". I can't wait to read the rest of the essays.