@Tweetfiction @RickiTarr I think, in a lot of ways, Rand is optimized to be a bit of a tar pit for precocious youths. it has a veneer of philosophical discourse without challenging many fundamental assumptions about the world, so you feel like you're elevating yourself without being made uncomfortable. Adults will praise you for reading it. And it centers the ego at a time when ego development and individuation are part of one's cultural arc of development.