I want to respectfully step into this comment, and fully disagree. I’ve long said every young man SHOULD read Atlas Shrugged in their ‘20’s, but have abandoned it by their ‘40’s.

Ayn Rand - as I read Atlas Shrugged - was a remarkable narcissist who wrote about how great people should be left alone by the lesser folk to just keep being great. It is intellectually sophisticated but soulfully naive.

Ayn Rand, obv IMO, was frustrated with how the world works when it doesn’t pay full attention to you/her.

The Mandibles is a far more humble women writing as a way to struggle with an understanding of why the world doesn’t let anyone be left alone, and how it doesn’t care about you, even when you’ve achieved remarkable success and want to do the right thing. For me, and I don’t need a primer on economics or finance, it was soulfully and emotionally mature.

Very different narratives. Rand, imo, feeds answers. Shriver asks questions.