The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism is a 1964 collection of essays and papers by Ayn Rand and Nathaniel Branden. The book covers several issues of the Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand. Some of its themes include the proper function and funding of government; the true nature of selfishness and its role in ethics; and the evils of compromise and altruism being practiced as virtues. An essay is a short work that treats a topic from an authors personal point of view, often taking into account subjective experiences and personal reflections upon them. ... It has been suggested that The Ayn Rand Collective be merged into this article or section. ... Nathaniel Branden is a psychotherapist and author of psychology books and multiple articles on ethical and political philosophy. ... Objectivism is the philosophical system developed by Russian-American philosopher and writer Ayn Rand. ... Selfishness is, at base, the concept and/or practise of concern with ones own interests in some sort of priority to the interests of others; it is often used to refer to a self-interest that comes in a particular form, or above a certain level. ... Ethics (from Greek ἦθος meaning custom) is the branch of axiology, one of the four major branches of philosophy, which attempts to understand the nature of morality; to distinguish that which is right from that which is wrong. ... Altruism is the practice of placing others before oneself. ...

The book was selected as the greatest non-fiction book of the Twentieth Century in a Modern Library reader's poll. The Modern Library, a current division of Random House publishers, was founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright. ...