The Virtue of Selfishness (Signet) [Paperback]

Ayn Rand (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Signet; 1ST edition (November 1, 1964)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451148398
• ISBN-13: 978-0451148391
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,594,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic collection of essays about the human condition, December 24, 2004

By 

Steven A. Kalifowitz - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Virtue of Selfishness (Signet) (Paperback)

This book is awesome - but I don't recommend it as the first of Ayn Rand's work for one to read. I suggest starting with "The Fountain Head" and then "Atlas Shrugged". After reading those two, if you want some practical / real life applications and views on the philosophy elucidated in those two novels, pick this book up. It is a great collection of essays and speaches written by Rand and others. A fast read, great for short trips on the subway or bus.

2.0 out of 5 stars The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand, February 19, 2012

By 

Elliott - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Virtue of Selfishness (Signet) (Paperback)

The Virtue of Selfishness without a doubt is a good book to read if you're looking to understand a an egoistic philosophy. The book adequetly voices its opinion, however, it is at times hard to follow. The reader may tend to trial away from the work. Yet, Ayn's ideals are worth attempting to understand.

1.0 out of 5 stars PHARAONIC APOTHEOSIS, ANYONE?, January 25, 2012

By 

V (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Virtue of Selfishness (Signet) (Paperback)

Dismayed by the fact that people see through you as through a pane of glass; instantly and infallibly intuit your deepest, most embarrassing secrets your, every personal limitation and character flaw; can spontaneously recite in excruciating detail, mere seconds after initial contact, the complete history of your most colossal failures and most egregious blunders, exactly as if they had been present to witness every faux pas of your life, and always with the encyclopaedic thoroughness of a pathologically vindictive ex-spouse? Is THIS what's getting you down, Binkey? Well, WEEP NO MORE!

Yes, your salvation is at hand, courtesy of AYN RAND, who sets the standard of genius for the civilized world. Ms. Rand's best-selling book THE VIRTUE OF SELFISHNESS (Signet Books, 1964) is your ticket to apotheosis. Just follow three steps. First, MEMORIZE THE ENTIRE BOOK. Then PRACTICE RECITING EXTENDED PASSAGES CHOSEN AT RANDOM until you can deliver them so smoothly and easily as to convey an impression of perfect spontaneity. Finally, WORK THESE PASSAGES INTO YOUR EVERYDAY CONVERSATION in such a way that you can pass seamlessly from ordering an entrée at a restaurant or informing your physician that you haven't had a normal bowel movement in months to illustrating how subscription to Ms. Rand's philosophy of Objectivism fosters the universal adulation and untrammeled omnipotence you've always craved.

Imagine yourself beaming with pride as everyone stares slack-jawed and bug-eyed in open admiration for the working of your mind, jumping up and down on one leg and sputtering: "Oh, GOD! Oh, DEAR God! I sized up this person initially as a mere simpleton, as the very incarnation of mortal inferiority! How could I have been so WRONG? This person's just so...so...INTELLIGENT, so...fascinatingly SOPHISTICATED! Yes, an individual of many moods and interests, enshrouded in elements of mystery..., so...so...AYN-RAND-LIKE! Oh, my LORD! I...I can't control my impulse to immolate myself on the altar of this person's transcendent excellence. PLEASE! Somebody HELP ME! I'm about to sign over my LIFETIME INCOME!"

That's right: Ayn Rand's THE VIRTUE OF SELFISHNESS! Buy it. Memorize it. Regurgitate it. Do it--NOW! After all, why stumble through life being mistaken for YOURSELF, when you COULD be mistaken for...AYN RAND?