Very estute observation Dave...
My vote is probably a little bit of both... My Dad had read the book a long long while back and when he heard there was a movie coming out (part 1) he began re-reading it...
Because I saw all the time he was pouring into reading this long... 4 inch brick of a book I began to wonder what it was all about and picked it up for myself... I tried getting into it but as you know due to all the verbose imagery Rand uses... It was slow going and I even gave it up for a while till I saw the first movie...
My curiosity got the best of me and I continued reading... After getting half way in it gets it's hooks into you and I am now vowed to finish the book before the end of the year...
So there ya go... A bit of both... In my case anyway...