After all these years I am still trying to read Kant - who comes across to me as a pompous inpractical guy with a questionable grasp on reality. And Karl Popper - an essential read for anybody with an interest in the hard sciences - just simply confuses me sometimes.

Just another bit of trivia on why it may be important to read Rand. Her ideas and writings had a strong influence on the formative years of one young Alan Greenspan.

you have a point. It doesn’t speak too well of me that I closed my mind off to her ideas simply because I don’t agree with them on the surface.

perhaps I can try to read her writings and keep an open-mind about it. I still can’t help but feel she’s somewhat of a nut though… lol

It is her ideas that I find interesting. The fact that they are considered distasteful and that they argue for a moral viewpoint not commonly accepted is interesting to me. We will not otherwise be offended unless something we believe strongly in is challenged. For me personally, Rand falls in the same mental box as Machiavelli (i.e. I try hard to make up my own mind based on the author’s original works and try not to be too influenced by others’ reviews).

Best comment I have had on Rand’s works: “It is important to read her (works), but you do not necessarily have to agree with her.”

PS Her non-fiction works are a lot more palatable.

i’m pretty sure you would’ve seen this by now, an audio of lessig’s free culture lecture combined with the appropriate slides from the presentation

i have a few book recomendations myself but i know you’re too swamped with work to be joy reading now.. so next time then.

She called Hayek a traitor for conceding that governments have SOME role to play in maintaining the stability of society, and she decried libertarians as being a bunch of wannabes.

And then she came up with something called Objectivism, whatever the hell that is.

She might be quite fine as a writer (I have yet to read Atlas Shrugged, but I’ve read good reviews of that book), but as a thinker? She comes across as a nutcase.

You make wish to add a couple more to the list.

I think Graham’s _Security Analysis_ should make that list as the top reference. It is not as easy to read as _The Intelligent Investor_ but it goes into much more detail about the practical applications.

And what about Philip Fisher’s _Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits_. That one ties with _The Intelligent Investor_, in my opinion.

And of course the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder letters are the best introduction I can recommend for anyone looking to take up the stock market hobby.

***

Heh.. and given your libertarian slant I am surprised not to see any Ayn Rand books up there.