But that's not the way he was talking in 2005, when he gave a speech to the Atlas Society, a group dedicated to promoting Rand's beliefs.

CNN: Is Paul Ryan for or against Ayn Rand?

In a 2005 speech to a group of Rand devotees called the Atlas Society, Ryan said that Rand was required reading for his office staff and interns.

NEWYORKER: Fussbudget

Dr McNamara, for example, plans to analyse a database called the Ethnographic Atlas to see if he can find any correlations between the amount of cultural co-operation found in a society and the intensity of its religious rituals.

ECONOMIST: The science of religion

The society is appealing for help from bird watchers across Devon to complete its fact-finding process for the atlas, which will be published in 2014.

BBC: Devon bird spotting 'atlas' to be produced