Here is a quote for whoever I forget was struggling with the recent libertarian friend. “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.” — [Kung Fu Monkey — Ephemera, blog post, March 19, 2009] ― John Rogers
I had a hardcore Objectivist English teacher in the 9th grade. She made us write an essay on Anthem for some scholarship contest. Mine was something along the lines of "this shit is like Anton LaVey but boring." I had the direction of influence wrong, but I stand by that 9th grade essay.