Till I get around to narrowing down the 5 most cringe-inducing moments in TPARC - it's what you call a target-rich environment - my Amazon review is here:
J Goard: >How evil must Barbara Branden be! to make a generalization about someone's personality that does not apply to every waking moment of that person's life.
This sort of thing is typical of the entire book. James Valliant would have you believe this is because Barbara Branden,being evil, does not think A=A.
That is a subtheme of the book. The Brandens have allgedly abandoned Objectivism so they can't be trusted. So when they think that Rand was too judgmental, they believe that judgment is per se evil, when they think Rand got too angry, they believe that anger is per se evil.
Thanks for sharing your review, Daniel. I dislike Valliant a great deal just from reading his arrogant posts on SOLO but I thought his book was a long overdue corrective to the self-serving BS of both Brandens and between the two it's hard to say who is more contemptible. Obviously Nathan is smarter but they both share Rand's bad politics on the Mideast and other issues. And while it's true that Valliant strains to give Rand the benefit of the doubt on everything, it is a damning indictment of the many lies of both Brandens. It could only be compared to Walker in the sense of a reverse mirror. Just as Rand is the anti-Marx. If you have been following the extensive debate here the Randroids have been winning it hands down. I remember Nathan's 1971 interview with Reason in which he stated that it would have been easier for him to make a name for himself without Rand. Right. I couldn't stop laughing for a week. NO one would ever had heard of either Branden except for the association with Rand.
You can download an interview with James Valliant from this page.
ReplyDeleteJ Goard:
ReplyDelete>How evil must Barbara Branden be! to make a generalization about someone's personality that does not apply to every waking moment of that person's life.
This sort of thing is typical of the entire book. James Valliant would have you believe this is because Barbara Branden,being evil, does not think A=A.
Mark Plus:
ReplyDelete>You can download an interview with James Valliant from this page.
I listened to most of it. Naturally he sounds quite calm and reasonable. Just like David Icke....;-)
Daniel,
ReplyDeleteThat is a subtheme of the book. The Brandens have allgedly abandoned Objectivism so they can't be trusted. So when they think that Rand was too judgmental, they believe that judgment is per se evil, when they think Rand got too angry, they believe that anger is per se evil.
Thanks for sharing your review, Daniel. I dislike Valliant a great deal just from reading his arrogant posts on SOLO but I thought his book was a long overdue corrective to the self-serving BS of both Brandens and between the two it's hard to say
ReplyDeletewho is more contemptible. Obviously
Nathan is smarter but they both share Rand's bad politics on the Mideast and other issues.
And while it's true that Valliant strains to give Rand the benefit
of the doubt on everything, it is
a damning indictment of the many lies of both Brandens. It could
only be compared to Walker in the sense of a reverse mirror. Just
as Rand is the anti-Marx. If you
have been following the extensive debate here the Randroids have been
winning it hands down. I remember
Nathan's 1971 interview with Reason in which he stated that it would have been easier for him to
make a name for himself without Rand. Right. I couldn't stop laughing for a week. NO one would
ever had heard of either Branden
except for the association with Rand.
when i was 18 to 24 i read everything ayn rand wrote. big devotee. now, 17 years later, i noticed my thinking has changed 180 degrees. wow.
ReplyDelete