Books: Can You Really Love a Dog?
Jonathan Hoenig presents a new book featuring Peikoff and Rand on Pets
A new book bundles thoughts, ideas and advice by Leonard Peikoff and Ayn Rand on pets. Can You Really Love a Dog?, which I’ve had the pleasure to edit, is edited, published and presented by Capitalist Pig fund manager Jonathan Hoenig.
Jonathan’s an Autonomia subscriber, as well as a friend and client, and, besides offering guidance on money, finance and investing on Fox Business and other media, he’s made a career of showcasing applications of philosophy to life. I met him (and his dog, Bailey, pictured in the book) in Pittsburgh at an Objectivist Conference. We also met in Chicago at an OCON where he was a keynote speaker. I love that Jonathan rationally, actively and enthusiastically risks money, publishing and media.
At the risk of sounding self-serving, and this is not a review, Can You Really Love a Dog? is my favorite of his ventures. This book, segmented into three parts, combines remembrances, colorful and black and white pictures and thoughts of and by Ayn Rand and Leonard Peikoff and their cats and dogs with Dr. Peikoff’s intelligent podcast answers to pet questions. It’s bookended by Jonathan Hoenig’s introduction and an insightful anecdote by Ayn Rand’s veterinarian on euthanizing her cat. There’s more, including a new essay by Leonard Peikoff.
I’ve read Can You Really Love a Dog?, a hardbound volume suitable for repeat reading and display, several times. I gain more value each time. I’ve loved and lost dogs and cats, including my favorite dog in recent months, and I can honestly endorse Can You Really Love a Dog? as a healing, wise and joyful guide to thinking about the meaning, grief and proper care for the “substitute friend” you love.
The holidays can be emotionally affecting. Sadness is an emotion, too, and I think sadness undeservedly has a bad reputation. I think of Christmastime sadness as an utterly natural byproduct of a life well lived and in progress. If you’re living right, you’re bound to feel the loss of those you love and loved, particularly when you want to be held—and hold him—close. Pets make a measurable difference. Leonard Peikoff elucidates why this is true.
Can You Really Love a Dog? can—besides informing and prompting better pet care—mirror, ease and alleviate that which hurts and evoke and rekindle what you love. It makes me think of my beloved pets, including the little buttercup I loved and lost, and smile. It does a world of good for me.
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Rand would say no
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