The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Fountainhead
Book Review: "Inspiring" "Five thumbs up!"
Summary: 5 Stars
As a student of architecture (now recently graduated), I found this book inspiring, powerful, elegant and philosophicaly rich. Although it sometimes feels long and slow, the philosophy, struggle and goals of the characters are quite convincing and exhilarating. I recommend it to architecture students who want to find a source of inspiration and a connection between architecture and its creator.Book Review: "The Ego in the Infinite"
Summary: 5 Stars
The title for this review is from that other favorite book of mine, Oswald Spengler's "The Decline Of The West". I do not myself profess to be an Objectivist. I'm too much of a selfish individualist to follow anybody, even Ayn Rand -- and I largely have "The Fountainhead" to thank for that. This book shows why you and I must think for ourselves, hold our own values as sacred. And it expresses this idea in the concrete form of a splendidly stylized architecture, reminding me of the stylized art of Kandinsky and Mondrian. Read the book for yourself. Read what kind of a thing Roark says: "That was the most selfish thing you'll ever see a man do." (Could as easily have been a woman.) The true meaning of "selfish". Far from the conventional meaning. As another character says later, to do what you want is the hardest thing in the world, takes the greatest courage. Quite so. I also love one of the sex scenes in which Ms. Rand describes the tremendous intensity of the passion between Roark and Dominique, like electricity. The paradox of ecstasy so violent it's like agony. My feeling exactly. I like "The Fountainhead" better than "Atlas Shrugged". The characters, particularly Dominique and Wynand, are more complex. A powerful book. When I read it, I felt like I was looking at a city at night, in all its glory. "Ego": _not_ a "dirty word", but "the fountainhead" of our noblest values.Book Review: "There is no such thing as a collective brain"
Summary: 4 Stars
Yet again, a story about the ideal man. Yet again, a tale of a hero. And again, individual versus society. Been there, done that.But never with these epic proportions, and never as well written as this.
Like the rest of Rand's novels, you either love it or hate it. I just started reading Rand this year, and although I disagree with her philosophy in many areas, I have to revere her brilliant, bitter writing style; it made her book live and breathe in a way that few other books do. I found the character of Roark to be decent, but I think that too much emphasis was placed on his cold selfishness and his indifference toward most people. Dominique Francon and Gail Wynand, on the other hand, were much more human and convincing. The philosophy when Roark was on trial could be cut, but ultimately, this novel casts a ray of hope when there seems to be none.
Book Review: "oh god, it's worse than I thought", i thought holding a gun
Summary: 1 Stars
"oh god it's worse than I thought", I thought holding a gun to my own head.Book Review: -
Summary: 5 Stars
However spectacular this novel is, the fact remains that it is not a novel. It is propoganda.