Rating: 
Summary: An Extremely Interesting Biography
Review: This is the extremely interesting story of the life of an intellectual, self-centered, highly driven and accomplished writer who appeared (based on this and Nathaniel Branden's account) to psychologically smother the people close to her. Despite what other reviewers have said, I think it is valuable to explore, in addition to factual details about Rand's life, the opinions harbored by those who knew her best.It's also indicative, in one way or another, to see Barbara Branden's repetitive use of words and phrases Ayn Rand developed and employed -- expressions such as "benevolent" and "sense of life" and others. On one hand that appears fawning and imitative, but another point of view might arise from understanding one of Rand's goals, which was to supply the language for describing and justifying the principles she illuminated. If those words and expressions function as intended, hey, by all means go with them. (But I did hear or read someplace that Leonard Piekoff conferred to such extent with Rand while writing his first book, "The Ominous Parallels," that she hammered on his wording so much that it became indistinguishable from her own.) It's also noteworthy to see those who attack Rand's so-named philosophy of objectivism by attacking her personally, much of their verbal weaponry supplied by this and Nathaniel's books. Rand did not develop the principles of objectivism any more than Isaac Newton developed gravity; rather, they both simply recognized what existed and worked to define it. That, I think, is why so many people feel inspired by Rand's writing -- they recognize principles by which they have lived, but have never actively contemplated... thus we return to the notion that Rand supplied the wording for their thoughts. An acquaintance of mine read this book without knowing anything about Ayn Rand, and proclaimed it a riveting biography (though she still hasn't bothered to read any of Rand's books). I read the bio after reading several of Rand's works, thus I was attentively watching for various milestones and background along the way. It's therefore evident that whether or not you already know Ayn Rand, this is a book well worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: The Cowardice of Barbara Branden
Review: Whoever has carefully read Ayn Rand's fiction and non-fiction is in a position to implicitly value her:
1. as a writer, for the ideals she projected in her novels, and
2. as a thinker, for the principles she presented in her philosophy.
Moreover, such a person is also in a position to implicitly value Ayn Rand as a person, for her intellectual honesty. By intellectual honesty, I mean that the truth personally mattered to Ayn Rand because she was always committed to knowing it and acting on it.
Contrast this with Barbara Branden's attempt to publicly smear Ayn Rand's character by claiming to disclose certain aspects of her personal life, which do not concern the public at all.
Had such a defamatory book been written during Ayn Rand's lifetime, it would have been properly taken by her as a vicious attack on her privacy, which she could have then dealt with both morally and legally.
Given the above, and also given the fact that Barbara Branden has completely rejected both Ayn Rand's heroic ideals and Objectivist principles, her action tells us much more about her than about Ayn Rand!
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