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Title: The Fountainhead
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Manufacturer: Signet
List Price: $8.99
Our Price: $1.25
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| Customer Reviews: |
| The Fountainhead by Signet Completely redifined "selfish" | At first, this book's size was intimadating but it flowed wonderfully. The story is incredibly deep and if you're not in the mood to read something that will make you think then you definitely need to look elsewhere.
The characters are incredibly well thought out and possess such strong presence that it's easy to get a clear visual of everyone of them. I often found myself smiling at the constant mental acrobatics that took place between them and their fervent need to one-up each other. If people truly spent this much time analyzing one another, I don't think we'd actually get anything accomplished.
At the heart of this novel is Rand's theory of objectivism which completely asks us to redefine what we believe to be "selfish". Often many people who are considered selfish are those who seek money/power/recognition from others, but if your concern is primarily based around the preception of others then you're not really focused on yourself and so how can you truly be "selfish"? All drive and motivation needs to come from within and stay there.
I found myself reevaluating some of my past (and current) decisions throughout the entire time I was reading this book. I was completely enthralled in Rand's world and will definitely pick up Atlas Shrugged to see where she went next. | | The Fountainhead by Signet Ayn Rand's The Fountanhead | I havent read a great deal of books on my own during my 18-years of life. Most of the novels I've read have been requirements for school, with the stuff I read on my own being things like Michael Jordan's bio and Mark Bowden's "Black Hawk Down."
With that said, The Fountainhead is easily, and I stress *easily*, the best book I've ever read. I'm not even finished yet, as I'm around page 506 of 727... and I can tell.
This is something that every teenager in America should read by their Senior year in high school -- regardless of intelligence level or religion, etc. REGARDLESS if one does not agree with Rand's stance on society, the world and her philosophy of Objectivism that plays such an integral part in her classic novel, The Fountainhead should be a book that all read.
10/10 in my book. | | The Fountainhead by Signet Memorable | | This book has been reviewed to death. I can't remember how I came across it, but I'm glad I did. It is awkward reading, yet it sucks you through. The characters seem to be be either black or white with a supporting cast of gray. It is a worthwhile read. | | The Fountainhead by Signet Celebration of the creative individualist | According to Ayn Rand, there are two kinds of people: the creative individualist who discovers new ideas, who does not go along with what is considered popular, and the altruist, who is a mediocrity, and goes along with concensus opinion. Ms. Rand says that government leaders and especially dictators, carry out policies thought to be for the good of the many, but. instead wind up causing mass destruction.
Rand's supreme individualist in _The Fountainhead_ is Howard Roark, a unique architect who is creative and eschews architectural designs accepted, for many years, by the public and other architects. Roark, as an architectural student, bucks the curriculum so much, that he is expelled from school. Given a commission to build a temple, Roark, his creativity in high gear, is sued by his client for "perverting" the final project into nothing at all his client had in mind.
Peter Keating, Roark's architectural rival, is the typical Rand collectivist: he goes along with what is accepted in building design, has no imagination and is more concerned with making money than with creating a work of art. Keating endeavors so much to become a partner in his architectual firm that he harasses an old and infirm partner until the partner dies and Keating gets his wish.
Another major character in this book is Gail Wynand, the extraordinarily successful publisher of the Banner, a scandal mongering tabloid. Wynand's enemy is Ellsworth Toohey, who writes a very popular column in the Banner and is considered the devil incarnate in the book. Wynand, the individualist backs Roark, whom the former considers a genius. Keating is given an assignment by Roark to build Courtland, a school for severely disadvantaged children, as long as Keating promises not change anything in the design. Courtland is going to be erected to satisfy the need of a certain segment of society, which, naturally goes against the grain of Rand's anti-altruistic philosophy.
What happens to Courtland is quite shocking and Roark goes to trial for it. Wynand initially supports Roark and is then forced to abandon Roark when Wynand's employees are so incensed by Wynand's policy that they strike. Wynand must compromise some of his ideals, including rehiring certain hated collectivist and altruistic individuals. Wynand, who thoroughly dislikes Roark by this time, asks the latter to build a monument to Wynand, who knew that he does not have the courage and imagination of Roark to accomplish all that Wynand honored.
This is a very powerfully written novel, with lots of interesting and well developed characterizations. I do not necessarily agree with Rand's philosophy and believe that she saw the world too much in all or nothing, black and white terms. The book deservedly has become a huge best seller throughout the years since it was published, and will continue to engender heated debate on both sides of the issue. | | The Fountainhead by Signet Foolishness and a waste of time | This book has nothing to recommend it - - it's silly and contrived, the characters are melodramatic and predictable and mostly lacking in what the rest of us call "humanity." The dialogue is just beyond awful. Think about a really bad movie from the 1940s and you're getting there.
I decided to read this after reading Tobias Wolfe's novel "Old School," in which he inserts Rand and her writing into the plot of the book. What he does with her and her goofy thinking is good fun.
To me the most interesting and fun part of this is the way in which the Ayn Rand followers, like all non-conformists, end up being conformists of the highest order (think of all of those ladies in red dresses and purple hats that you see on tour buses -- this is who I'm talking about). Rand rails against the masses and the bad taste of the public and, ironically, it's this public who embrace her work. Additionally, if she really feels that none of us should care what anyone else thinks, why did she bother to write a novel to impose her thinking on the rest of us?
My advice is, don't waste your time.
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| | The Fountainhead by Signet Amazon.com | | The Fountainhead has become an enduring piece of literature, more popular now than when published in 1943. On the surface, it is a story of one man, Howard Roark, and his struggles as an architect in the face of a successful rival, Peter Keating, and a newspaper columnist, Ellsworth Toohey. But the book addresses a number of universal themes: the strength of the individual, the tug between good and evil, the threat of fascism. The confrontation of those themes, along with the amazing stroke of Rand's writing, combine to give this book its enduring influence. |
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