Not being much of an intellectual, I am not ashamed to admit that my second encounter with anything related to Ayn Rand was her interview in Playboy which comes to mind today on Heffner's passing. First my roommate had tried to get me to go to her lecture on campus a year before and I didn't bother (I kick myself). Second was the interview. I used to force myself to read Playboy interviews so I could claim that I didn't subscribe just for the pictures (I was lying). I related her interview to the fact that I missed her lecture and thought I should have gone but it did not inspire me to read her books. I was too busy trying to figure out what I wanted to be, while taking courses towards a degree in Electrical Engineering. I never intended to become an EE but graduated before I picked something else. I was going to just keep going to school but fell for this girl and decided to get married and become a responsible citizen.
Several years later a colleague asked if I read Atlas Shrugged because he thought I had already read and accepted it. When I said no, he bought me a copy and left it on my desk. 50+ years later I am retired, still reading the same book and married to the same girl. Somehow all this comes to mind because of Hefner. His interviews were amazing, the articles on style, travel, music, food and drink increased my awareness of a greater more sophisticated world, also but I still liked the pictures.