Honesty, I believe people should start with

“the virtue of selfishness” first when it comes to Rand.

Have you read Anthem yet?

https://pastebin.com/QvcxREdJ

Or for long form argument:

Philosophy

Lao Tzu - Tao te Ching

Aristotle - Nichomachean Ethics

Leonard Peikoff - Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand

Richard Dawkins - The Selfish Gene (but IMO ignore his appeals to post-theist Christian ethics)

Liberty Politics

Etienne de la Boetie - Politics of Obedience

Mises - Liberalism, in the Classical Tradition

Rothbard - Anatomy of the State

Gene Sharp - The Politics of Nonviolent Action

Economics

Rothbard - What has Government done to our Money?

Bagehot - Lombard Street (as an enemy strategy)

One of:

Bylund - How to Think about the Economy (easy)

Hazlitt - Economics in One Lesson (intermediate)

Mises - Human Action (advanced)

Religion

(reflecting my own pantheistic/pagan, nonchristian views)

Nietzche - Antichrist

Alain de Benoist - On Being a Pagan

Spinoza - Tractatus Theologico-Politicus

Language

Marshall Rosenberg - Nonviolent Communication

Lakoff & Johnson - Metaphors we Live By (as an enemy strategy)

Fiction

Heinlein - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

How is it going?