Who has read Ayn Rand?

[LWolf]

29. I read Atlas Shrugged 30 or so years ago.

That was my early 20s.

I didn't get into her. I'm just a voracious reader, and grew up reading everything in sight. My first impressions of that book? I could see why some people are such big fans. I was raised by fiercely independent working people who viewed taking charity in any form to be shameful; when things got hard, we stiffened our spines and endured. We worked for what we wanted.

I'm a huge proponent of independence and personal responsibility, so those elements struck a chord.

I'm an even bigger proponent of balance, and that happens when personal and collective responsibility are more or less equally joined.

I also value empathy, compassion, kindness, and generosity.

So, by the end of the book I wasn't a fan. I moved on and didn't look back.

I was reading Hesse in middle and high school...he was on my mother's book shelf. He's still on mine.