Mark Cuban's Crush On Ayn Rand

In a new story as part of "college week" on Slate.com, various "famous people" talk about the books they read in college that made a huge difference in their lives. 40 Year Old Virgin writer and director Judd Apatow says A Death In The Family. Chris Matthews says A Thousand Days. Bill Simmons even drops a little Raymond Carver on us, fully establishing his lit cred.

And then there is Mark Cuban. What's Mark Cuban's favorite book? Well, we'll let him explain.

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. It was incredibly motivating to me. It encouraged me to think as an individual, take risks to reach my goals, and responsibility for my successes and failures. I loved it. I don't know how many times I have read it, but it got to the point where I had to stop because I would get too fired up.

The mental picture of Mark Cuban sitting in a dorm room somewhere, being forced to put down his copy of The Fountainhead because he was pumping himself up too much ... it's too overpowering for us to take. We need to sit down.

My First Literary Crush [Slate]