Jeff said:
Everything Ayn Rand ever wrote is on my bookshelf. In fact, I was tempted to say that Ayn Rand's books are among my favorites but that wouldn't be completely honest. They changed the way I looked at the world when I was seventeen, but as an adult, I re-read The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged only to discover that the wonder of them was gone.
I read them in college and still have every one. I got so into Ayn Rand, that I even subscribed to Nathaniel Brandon's Objectivist Newsletter, and I have an audio cassette of Rand's last lecture/seminar.
But you're right, Jeff, as we grow older, the wonder goes away. It's no longer a new discovery and there are many other paths still to explore.
I remember reading Wuthering Heights when I was 17 and I was struck with the power and passion of the story. I reread it in my 30's and thought that Heathcliff and Kathy could have used a good dose of B vitamins.
Still, these are classics are available for young people to discover and explore. There are forums around for discussing Atlas Shrugged.
Did you read John Galt's speech the first time? What was it? About 50 pages? Most people I know didn't read it straight through. It was probably my fourth read that I went through it.
