Ayn Rand and the orcs

There's an interesting article from Satyajit Das, a risk consultant, about the libertarian writer Ayn Rand, whose book Atlas Shrugged is extremely popular in offshore-land. Das' article is a fun and irreverent piece. Two comments underneath it are also worth pointing out. The first is this comedy sketch from the Colbert Report.

The second, following our wizard-filled Harry Potter blog, is this:

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

Just a bit of fun. But the points are serious enough.