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Atlas Shrugged. I'm not a Rand groupie but seeing some of the core ideas of what I always felt but never could quite articulate literally changed me as a person.

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I think my father tried this exact experiment with me. He gave me a copy of Atlas Shrugged when I was twelve and asked me to read it and tell him what I thought.

Neither of us were (or are) objectivists, but it's one of those books that poke your buttons. Either you agree[1], you disagree[2], or you think it's insipid[3]. :-)

[1] Yeah, screw those looters who aren't as smart as I am! I mean, he is!

[2] Jeez, I hope someone drops a rock on these anti-social bastards. And what a floozy!

[3] You needed 80 pages for that speech? Weren't you reading this book while you wrote it?

Another vote for Atlas Shrugged. And like you, I found it put a lot of things I already felt, properly, albeit at times rather verbosely.

Along with this, I would insist on The Law, by Frederic Bastiat. Written in 1850, this book still wows me.

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