“There are two novels that can transform a bookish 14-year-kld’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish daydream that can lead to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood in which large chunks of the day are spent inventing ways to make real life more like a fantasy novel. The other is a book about orcs.”

UPDATE: I’ve written a post here at Tikkun Daily looking more closely at JRR Tolkien as an alternative to Ayn Rand– see here.

UPDATE 2: John Rogers, screenwriter, film producer, comedian and comic book writer, is the original author of this statement. Raj Patel heard it from a friend without knowing it was published earlier, and quoted it in his The Value of Nothing. Like many others, I thought Patel was the author. I’m grateful for two Tikkun Daily readers who pointed out the need for a correction. You can find the original statement here: http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2009/03/ephemera-2009-7.html


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