On another note, I am absolutely stunned how much this book has touched our culture recently. I first heard about it and read it when I learned that Paul Ryan ( last May, way before he was Mitt's VP) supposedly gave it as a gift to people who worked in his congressional office.

I thought if this book has affected such prominent people I want to know what is the underlying philosophy so I can better understand them. After reading it I can see why this is such a controversial book. People in Ryan's camp are basically on the exact opposite philosophical camp as people on the Occupy side.

I have had at least 3 personal experiences with friends or family telling me they are reading or want to read this book without them knowing that I was also in the process of reading it. I also ran into this Quora Post today on my feed. There must be some sort of demographic filtering effect going on here because the kind of opinions that I see online about Rand and Atlas Shrugged are not the kinds of opinions I get when I talk to people about her and the book in person.

Give it a chance, I guarantee that you'll learn something even if you don't agree.