The reason this is becoming increasingly popular has a lot to do with Ayn Rand, one of Silicon Valley's favorite authors, and the “myth of the founder" her writings have helped inspire.

Yet the belief system constructed by Ayn Rand, who died 30 years ago today, has never been more popular or influential. Rand was a Russian from a prosperous family who emigrated to the United States.

She revered reason but spent her career appealing to emotion.

In her preface to For the New Intellectual, Ayn Rand writes: "I am often asked whether I am primarily a novelist or a philosopher. The answer is: both." All novelists are philosophers to some ...

I was always curious about Rand, both as a novelist of ideas and one of the few women intellectuals who most people know. When I was a graduate student in U.S. history, I decided to learn more ...

Worldview: Ayn Rand’s articulation of a brutal, amoral ‘greed-is good’ philosophy embodies the spirit of the new ...