I remember coming across Ayn Rand and Rothbard at the same time back in 2007/8. It was a discussion on an online forum for Ron Paul’s 2008 campaign. It was the first time I heard minarchist and the first time I heard anarchist positively… Not knowing much about the people or terms I googled it. Anarchism/Minarchism: Is a Government Part of a Free Country? by Roderick T. Long and Tibor R. Machan came up. I had a friend purchase it and ship it to me overseas. I was a minarchist for a long while because of Ron Paul and Machan.
The joke about libertarian/minarchist to anarchist only being six months was more like four years for me. Tom mentioned it in a video and made me give Rothbard and anarcho-capitalism another look. Reading more Rothbard directly led to the selling of the book, haha.