read the Fountainhead

i need to read this for school, and i forgot in my locker ha

I had to read this in high school, and it is my favorite book! I have re-read it several time since then, and each time I find something new to love about it! It has had a significant impact on my life.

I finished Atlas Shrugged this summer and loved it. I’m on page 105 in the Fountainhead now.

I had purchased the book on my best friend’s suggestion – but have not gone beyond 5 pages. I want to finish the book within the next 40 days.

It will inspire. It changed my outlook on life. Need I say more? (not to say I had a negative outlook before I read it. know what I mean?)

I had trouble talking to people for a few weeks after reading this book. I suppose it just impressed upon me such a paradigm shift that I had to think it through many of my relationships.

Reading either Atlas Shrugged or Ayn Rand’s other acclaimed novel The Fountainhead is certainly “worth doing” for anyone that wants to expand their views of the world. Even if one doesn’t agree or plan to live by Ayn Rand’s objectivist teachings, many do, and learning the viewpoints of any belief system, whether one agrees or not, certainly makes for a better humankind.

As for the constant question of which Ayn Rand novel is better: Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead, I believe the sequence in which they are read can play a role in one’s enjoyment of the novels. Choose with purpose; read other opinions and synopsis and decide which is more appropriate for you to tackle first. And if you find fulfillment in reading one – I suggest reading the other as well.

As for me, I loved the eye opening I experience reading The Fountainhead first. I wonder if I would have experienced the same excitement had I read Atlas Shrugged first instead? Both are very repetitive, even moreso when you compound it over the course of two novels. Perhaps since The Fountainhead was shorter and “first” for me, it was an easier read. Also, I think the architectural subject matter in The Fountainhead appealed to me more than the general industrialism theme in Atlas. So, I will claim The Fountainhead as my favorite of the two for now.

i thot it was a wonderful book.
i’m not much of a reader. reading for pleasure makes me shudder.
but this book was amazing. i couldnt put it down, and not jst cos i’m drawn to architecture. it was the reason i picked it up, but def not the reason i finished it. it took me about a week to read. [i would read it in class and on my way to skool. i jst could not put it down]
ironically, i hated the book. [its concept] the whole ego-tism and how dominique married men she hated yet met roark in secret. how roark never compromised.it was revolting. but at the same time it was sooo good! after i read it, i was like whoa!
also, while reading it, i’v noticed that JK Rowling picked up a few things from Rand. ;)

I’ve just always wanted to read this….

I tried to listen to the philosophy in the book. It was boring at parts, captivating at others, glorious in the end. Romantically unrealistic, like Atlas Shrugged. The reading of Roark’s defense at the end was better than the movie.

Most positions Rand held were readily apparent: anti-communism, anti-altruism, anti-collectivism, anti-Europe, pro-smoking. I don’t yet have the necessary economics wisdom to say that rational self-interest applied on a large scale would fare well, but some elements of Rand’s philosophy seem very unrealistic in the light of modern times. One of them is the emphasis on the complete independence of the creator, and Rand’s rant against collaboration.

While 70 years ago, the creator could stand alone, they can rarely do so nowadays. Science has become so complex that some form of collaboration (and I’m not talking about the contracting or delegating kind) is absolutely necessary. The Open Source Software is a stellar example of fruitful collective work and collaboration without direct monetary gain. I’m curious what die-hard objectivists have to say about open source software, and more precisely about the collaboration it pressuposes.