I recently stumbled upon the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels list, which was interesting to skim through for a couple of minutes but not overly surprising... If not for the list right next to it: the readers' 100 best novels list.
Check it out:
1. ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand
2. THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand
3. BATTLEFIELD EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
4. THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
6. 1984 by George Orwell
7. ANTHEM by Ayn Rand
8. WE THE LIVING by Ayn Rand
9. MISSION EARTH by L. Ron Hubbard
10. FEAR by L. Ron Hubbard
Ayn Rand and L. Ron Hubbard dominate. Okay, I know the objectivists are pretty hard-core, and then there's that whole Fox News corporate America demographic that believes that Atlas Shrugged changed their lives. But the Scientologists? They're brainwashed alright, but I didn't think they had the sheer numbers to sway a voting like this. Wikipedia quotes outside sources estimating about 500,000 Scientology adherants in the U.S. and I don't know that it's wildly popular elsewhere.
Did the Church of Scientology have some kind of task force out there casting votes?
