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[0] checkbox [#] position [cover] cover [author] author Rand, Ayn [isbn] isbn 0451191153 [isbn13] isbn13 9780451191151 [asin] asin [num pages] num pages 720 pp [avg rating] avg rating 3.82 [num ratings] num ratings 216,874 [date pub] date pub 1943 [date pub (ed.)] date pub edition Sep 01, 1996 [rating] Elise's rating 4 of 5 stars [my rating] my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves [review] review I struggled through this book when I was about 20 and it was over my head. Eleven years later I liked it much better. I know many find this book to be I struggled through this book when I was about 20 and it was over my head. Eleven years later I liked it much better. I know many find this book to be heavily themed in political theories; I find its endeavors to be of a more religious/spiritual nature. Rand takes extreme motives on which a person may build an entire life (personal happiness and self, control over others, popularity, third-party approval) and personifies each in a specific character. Her character development is admirable but takes 700+ pages to get there. I would say it took me the first 75% of the book to become captivated enough to relax and let the last 25% unfold. Ellsworth is just as selfish and unhappy to me as Howard. The political interpretation puts Howard on a pedestal of democracy and the pursuit of happiness and individualism, while comparing Ellsworth to communists like Stalin. I think their characters are both equally as despicable so maybe politics shouldn't be personified? Or maybe my spiritual/religious interpretation puts Howard as such an extreme individual, unable to compromise at any level or with any person, as to be alone in a way that I find very sad and unhappy. Perhaps extreme commitment to one's personal self - to the point of losing community - is no better than extreme commitment to community - to the point of losing one's self. My favorite quote was from Ellsworth on the style of a soul: "There's nothing as significant as a human face, nor as eloquent. We can never really know another person except by our first glance at him, because in that glance we know everything. Even though we're not always wise enough to unravel the knowledge. Have you ever thought about the style of a soul? Do you remember the famous philosopher who spoke of the style of a civilization? He called it style. He said it was the nearest word he could find for it. He said that every civilization has it's one basic principle; one single supreme determining conception. And every endeavor of men within that civilization is true unconsciously and irrevocably to that one principle. I think that every human soul has a style of its own also. It's one basic theme. You'll see it reflected in every thought, every act, every wish of that person. The one absolute. The one imperative in that living creature. Years of studying a man won't show it to you. His face will. You'd have to write volumes to describe a person. Think of his face: You need nothing else. [It leaves people naked before you.] It's worse than that - it also leaves you naked before them. You betray yourself in the manner in which you react to a certain face, to a certain kind of face. the style of your soul. There's nothing important on earth except human beings. There's nothing as important about human beings as their relationships to one another." And I of course loved Howard's famous courtroom speech, although it spoke to me in the same manner Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken" does - reminding us to be genuine in life rather than follow the crowd, which in the end will be the difference: "Thousands of years ago, the first man discovered how to make fire. He was probably burned at the stake he had taught his brothers to light. He was considered an evildoer who had dealt with a demon mankind dreaded. But thereafter men had fire to keep them warm, to cook their food, to light their caves. He had left them a gift they had not conceived and he had lifted dardness off the earth. Centuries later, the first man invented the wheel. He was probably torn on the rack he had taught his brothers to build. He was considered a transgressor who ventured into forbidden territory. But thereafter, men could travel past any horizon. He had left them a gift they had not conceived and he had opened the roads of the world. That man, the un-submissive and first, stands in the opening chapter of every legend mankind has recorded about its beginning. Prometheus was chained to a rock and torn by vultures—because he had stolen the fire of the gods. Adam was condemned to suffer—because he had eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Whatever the legend, somewhere in the shadows of its memory mankind knew that its glory began with one and that that one paid for his courage." ...more [notes] notes Notes are private! [recommender] recommender none [comments] comments 0 [votes] votes 0 [read count] # times read 1 [date started] date started Aug 03, 2014 [date read] date read Aug 30, 2014 [date added] date added Aug 03, 2014 [date purchased] date purchased [owned] owned [purchase location] purchase location [condition] condition [format] format Paperback [29] actions view (with text) [title] 
title The Fountainhead
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