I have to admit, I saw (Jimmy Stewart) and read the Fountainhead years ago. I was aware of Ayn Rand, but not in detail. Didn't really understand the Fountainhead, partially due to my youth when I read it. When the First AS movie came out, I grabbed it, and became an instant Randian. All uphill from there.
Looking, waiting, hoping for the third movie, I came across the movie site, and it led me here.

Still have a broken "no longer fiction" coffee cup that the site didn't make good on!

My thanks to you all for the various education, insightful discussion and camaraderie.

I grew up in a religious household. The denomination where we were right and everybody else was wrong. You know that one? The sermons were 10% bible and 90% why everybody else was wrong about it. Bad things only happen because your faith is not strong enough. And all the guilt that that implies.

8 or 9 years ago my quest to find and learn Objectivism began with the question "if there is no god, where would morality come from?" I had heard Hannity or Rush or someone make their standard statement that there could be no morality without god and I just couldn't fall for it any longer. I had to ask myself that question out loud, several times before it finally sank in that I really needed to find out.

As a fan and daily reader of the Peoples Cube I had noticed a lot of references to atlas shrugging in the satirical commentary at the time and I went searching for information. I found the book, ordered it, fell out of my chair when it arrived and was 1200 pages, and proceeded to read it. Every spare moment that book was in my hands for three months. I read slowly but life was busier then, too. I passed it on to my wife and children and proceeded to devour everything I could find by Ayn Rand and the Ayn Rand Institute which had I discovered while looking for her non-fiction works. Morality, minus the guilt. Now that's freedom.

I think I found out about the movies being made from a kickstarter notification and I have been a producer ever since. I've only recently become more active in the Gulch and constantly find myself looking through my collection of Rand's books for references on different subjects. I have also been poking around on the Atlas Society page on occasion. Thank you for the recommendation and the link. Oh, and the video just the other day.

And thank you for not letting me pawn my ideas off on you to post. :)

K I'm reading Introduction to Objectionist epistemology the expanded second edition, I've completed objectivism the philosophy of AR, Anthem, Fountain head, Ayn Rand for the new intellectual, and of course Atlas Shrugged.
Unknown to me at the time in the early 80 s I got into Rush s 2112 which was inspired by the Fountain Head however was not into reading at the time but being raised on a farm hard work and being a productive person was instilled at an early age. After my parents separated I was moved to the city. After many years I got tired in the corporate world and shrugged before I even knew about Ayn Rand and bought a small cattle ranch. Surfing Netflix I found Atlas Shrugged part one at the end credits I seen it was a book and haven't stopped since. I'm now eyeing more books including yours.

I went to the "The American Dream Summit" in (the belly of the beast) Washington DC I believe nearly 3 years ago, before the first movie. There was a "Who Is John Galt" t-shirt sitting on the chairs for one of the presentations. I asked a friend what it was all about and he explained the link to Atlas Shrugged, a book that I had never heard of. After the presentation I was so interested in the message I returned home, ordered AS on Kindle and started reading it. I don't remember if I finished the book prior to seeing the movie but I think I did. I do remember after reading the first 60-100 pages, I had a hard time putting the book down. If my memory serves me well, about every 5 pages I kept repeating the words, "this is happening right now in America". By the end of the book I had realized how much insight Ayn had on what was happening to America and was completely hooked on Objectivism. I also realized that those were my natural beliefs. I was hooked on the AR message from that point forward. I have more AR books but have been so busy that I have been unable to read them but I will. That is guaranteed.

I had previously read AS years ago and after seeing the movie I found the Gulch.

I have read other books by authors who promote Ms. Rand's views example Terry Goodkind and have recently picked up all of Ayn Rand's books to read them.

Read most books 30 years ago. Really liked movie: AS1. AS2 was okay. Missed AS3.
My brother, who introduced me to AR, is rereading AS.

I first read AS 49 years ago... then in my twenties, then in my forties, THEN (and I recommend this to everyone who has read the book) listened to it narrated from Audible (VERY different experience, almost Shakespearean) and enjoyed it even more... Then I saw the movies!!!

I first read Atlas Shrugged in 1980. Went on to read a bunch of Ayn Rand's non-fiction, then read AS again about 1984 and understood it much better.

I think I've read pretty much everything she ever wrote now. I have seen the movies but they can't do the story justice in three 2-hour films; a well-made mini-series may do it. But it's not really a story that's easy to adapt to video.

Who is Rand again?

Sounds like you want specifics so here goes.
We saw Asp3 at the movies, then purchased the limited Blu-Ray set with all of the extra lectures, etc. Watched all of that and loved it. We both read Atlas Shrugged. I then read "The Early Ayn Rand" and "Ayn Rand Answers". I am now making my way through her "Newsletters", and two collections "The Objectivist" and "Letters and Essays on Objectivism". Yes, we have done a lot of looking at other sites as well, and started watching Ayn Rand on Youtube. We have picked up several more books to read. Thats the Cliff Notes version.

I've been thinking about watching the 1949 classic "Fountainhead", but don't know if it closely follows the book. Otherwise, I'll most likely get the book...add it to the others I have on my "to read" shelf.

Since around 1979 I have read and re-read AS every five years or so. I assume everyone knows that the Fountainhead is also a movie. I had to record it from cable, my copy is kind of fuzzy but works for me. I need to re-read AR.s Non fiction works again, when I get done studying the founders.

I started with "The Fountainhead" and moved on to "Atlas Shrugged" during college. I gave those books to my younger sister when she graduated high school. Then, whenever AS the movie came to Dallas for a Freedom Works event, my sister was chosen as a volunteer, and that's when I probably came around here to check out the site. Since then, I've read only a few of her non-fiction works but have not visited any other Objectivist sites. I am reading Dale's non-fiction now, though.

More just re- affirrmed I try to re-read Atlas and Fountainhead at least every other year, Her non-fiction work I've gone back to many times

I did the read first, and waited the 30 years for the movie. In the meantime I have started at least 7 businesses, only one failed, but at 70 I'm on #8 and looking to move on to #9.
That's what we do , take it to 90% and move on to a new idea or challenge.
Hopefully we become "infectious" in society.
Tom

First started hearing about AR in high school- she was taught in senior AP English, which I missed because I graduated early. One of my friends got to see her live once. Didn't think about her much for many years. Early in Obama's first term, I started hearing how much real life was starting to look like AS, so I picked it up. Read it almost-straight through, then immediately started reading again with a pen for margin notes and a highlighter. Scared the p!ss out of me. This was shortly before AS1 came out. Have read it repeatedly since, and have a collection of Now Non-Fiction T-shirts that I wear everywhere. Hope to read We The Living and some non-fiction in the near future, just been stymied by a combination of busyness and laziness. I'll get there eventually.

Currently working on increasing self-reliance and eliminating debt.

I'm another of those who finds no personal conflict between faith and reason, but I'm willing to live and let live.

Wow. There are some great stories here but it seems almost everyone came upon Rand by accident. No wonder there are so many that are unenlightened,

When I was in high school I read Atlas Shrugged as a romantic novel. Ha ha But the ideals stuck with me. I have reread it since 2 times, one since coming here to the gulch. "We the living" is a great book my Marine grandson recommended and I am trying to get my communist Co worker to read. I love reading all the posts here. Most profitable.

I read AS and The Fountainhead as a teenager and immediately bought all her books. Then again, I was already a libertarian.

Extremely late to the thread but figured I would comment anyway.

I think I had seen Atlas Shrugged in book stores and been drawn to it, but never read it. Then I went to Vegas for a special book signing event with Terry Goodkind where someone asked about "Faith of the Fallen", which is my favorite Goodkind book, and he said it was his own version of Atlas Shrugged and his most blatant attempt to portray Objectivism.

No this isn't right, I know I had read it before that.

Maybe by now it's been 10 years?

I'm not sure now.

I try to read Atlas Shrugged at least once a year. Fountainhead as well if I can get it in.

I've read We the Living, Virtue of Selfishness, Anthem, and another thing or two. I have whatever I don't own on my Amazon wish list to finish out my collection.

It has always just identified so deeply with me when I read it that I couldn't help it.

So the movies have had no effect on my reading. I enjoyed them with an understanding that they were trying to achieve something very difficult.

Should mention that when I was living in Auckland New Zealand I showed AS1 movie to two friends who were immigrants from Poland. Both were good at speaking English but still had an occasional question about the principles behind AS.
One was so interested that she bought a copy in Polish a few months later, when she had a vacation there.