How did I get to Ayn Rand? Not the usual way. I was listening to an episode of the podcast Uncanny Valley, “Is Silicon Valley Actually Libertarian” and they were discussing how Atlas Shrugged is one of the foundational Ur texts of the so-called libertarian tech bro movement. I realized I’d never read it and sought out to do so. I had an idea of what it was about but I wanted to evaluate to source text for myself .

I think I’ve always had an unconscious bias against Rand because of how she’s referenced historically, and imagined a dry, preaching tome of ideology. And even if that might be true to some degree, I found that instead I was surprised by how delightfully compelling her writing and narrative turned out to be. I’m really enjoying this book.

This is not a review and just the first impressions of the first several chapters, but the examples of autistic traits are so clear to me, and so finely wrought in prose.

Dagny Taggart is autistic:

Hank Reardon is also, totally autistic, in this scene hyper-focused on the new type of steel he had developed, during a social situation:

And here is Hank suffering from autistic overwhelm:

Just wanted to get these thoughts out for now. I may have more to say after I’ve finished the book. (Editor’s Note: I drafted this post months ago so I have since finished it.) I also have a whole, long piece I’m envisioning on the intensely autistic themes of Octavia Butler’s oeuvre, but that will need to remain in draft for now.