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Ayn Rand saved my life. As a young man suffering from the bad influence of a poison philosophy, I was heading down a dangerous path. A path that, if it didn't kill me, would have left me with a "life" not worth living.

I remember well the day I first encountered her ideas. I was wandering through a used bookstore in South Lake Tahoe back in 1990. I happened upon a book with a curious title, "The Virtue of Selfishness". I added it to my stack with little thought, paid the cashier and went on "home".

Home at the time was a sleeping bag on a cement floor of a friends garage, in between the garden rakes and the garbage cans. I didn't start reading it immediately, having much more excitement over one of the other books I purchased that day, a 1966 copy of "The Psychedelic Experience" by Leary, Alpert and Metzner. How is that for contrast? Leary was all "kill your ego" and Rand was obviously saying just the opposite. My excitement over the Leary book should give you some insight into the path I was on.

Thankfully, I eventually got to her book and read it intently. From that moment on, my life got better as I could no longer evade the many contradictions within myself. It was like I had encountered a truth that I could not hide from. Like the proverbial bell that cannot be un-rung, once exposed to these ideas I could not help but integrate them. Four years later I got my college diploma.

My son's eighth birthday is tomorrow. His name is Roark, so yeah, the lady inspired me :)