most of us know Ayn Rand as the author of two
classic novels that we have seen a thousand times
when browsing through bookstores; books with
eye-catching covers and provocative reviews such
as this one,

. . . it seems clear that the book is written out of
hate. . . . Perhaps most of us have moments when
we feel that it might be a good idea if the whole
human race, except for us and the few nice people
we know, were wiped out; but one wonders about
a person who sustains such a mood through the
writing of 1,168 pages and some fourteen years of
work.
- New York Times Book Review
Granville Hicks (10/13/1957)

underlying Rand's novels is a controversial
philosophy, Objectivism; one that has been
both highly praised and harshly denounced

we can find dry and esoteric summaries of
Objectivism on the net; like this one from the
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy -

Rand’s philosophy is in the Aristotelian tradition,
with that tradition’s emphasis upon metaphysical
naturalism, empirical reason in epistemology, and
self-realization in ethics . . .

or, thanks to YouTube, we can see Rand describe
Objectivism in plain terms, herself; as she does in the
video below

here, in a 1959 television interview, Ayn Rand clearly
and unapologetically lays out her philosophy for a
young Mike Wallace, who confronts her with the
media's criticism of her work