Curse you Ayn Rand

So you've started work at a new place and you want to avoid hanging out with douchebags. Sometimes they are easy to spot. In the work place, unfortunately, they often hide their ways until it is too late. I have identified a simple way to determine if you are a dealing with a douche. Look at their desk. If they have a copy of Clausewitz's Art of War (and this isn't the Pentagon or an IR department) or any book by Ayn Rand sitting prominently on the desk, you have to avoid this person at all costs. In the former case, the person is likely a pompous ass, in the latter he or she is likely dangerously deranged.

While those willing to wade through cumbersome Teutonic prose can learn a lot about war from Clausewitz, the books of Ayn Rand are like the unholy texts in HP Lovecraft stories. Just a few pages and you go nuts.

Jonathan Chait has a review article about Rand and her nefarious influence on the ideology of many on the Right. If possible, I dislike her even more now.