Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: What a great and powerful book on the value of individuality, character and value of art.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Book
Review: I recently read this book, having picked it up at a friend's house, reading a page, and heading straight to the store to buy a copy. An excellent book, introducing a truly unique, empowering philosophy. Whether you agree or disagree with Ayn Rand's objectivism, I believe this book makes a point about the importance of self-reliance.
Rating: 
Summary: Good fiction, bad philosophy.
Review: The first of Rand's two 'masterworks,' The Fountainhead is undeniably an interesting piece of fiction. It is the story of one Howard Roark, a visionary architect and rugged individualist, and his encounters with "moochers, second handers, and thieves." Overall, this is a page turner, with an engrossing plot and strong ending.If you are not familiar with the philosophy that spawned from Rand's fiction (Objectivism), it should be stated that all of Rand's heroes (Roark included) live the Objectivist lifestyle. So if you're wondering why all the flat dialogue and generally stiff characterizations, it's due to the didactic nature of this work. Some of the flow of the novel is interupted rather abruptly by Rand attempting to make philosophical points, and that, more than anything, is what inevitably keeps The Fountainhead (and Rand's other works of fiction) from ever being anything more than just slightly above average. My general warning when recommending Rand applies to The Fountainhead as well. Impressionable people (both young and old) have been sucked into the world of Objectivism through Rand's fiction - very much akin to L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics creating Scientologists. Objectivism is a swiss cheese philosophy at best, and a dangerous cult at worst. Read The Fountainhead for what it is - an interesting piece of fiction. Enjoy it, but I don't recommend The Fountainhead as a guide to life.
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Summary: Discover how to think for yourself
Review: This book contains incredible psychological insights into the motivations and basic premises that produce a variety of character traits. It is essential for discovering how to think for yourself rather than going through life as a people pleaser.
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Summary: Critical reading to understand freedom
Review: Ayn weaves a story with philosphy that will impact the way
you view your freedom forever. She has remarkable insite on human nature and addresses how power corrupts and how a compromise on personal resposiblity leads to loss of freedom for everyone. A very long read, but I still pick up the book and reread dogeared pages..
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Summary: So you think you're smart. I'll prove otherwise.
Review: The essence of The Fountainhead is that a). There is a creative individualist with integrity. b). There are people who resent the creative individualist and go through great lengths to bring them down. This happens not only in this book but everyday in the real world. Ask yourself a simple question. Why are such unreasonable and painful things happening to me at my office? (Or at school?) How come I do my best and someone else (the most undeserving sycophant) almost always gets the credit? Is this person very persuasive, vindictive, and intimidating on one side and full of superficial charm on the other? Do you dread every interaction with this person? If your answer to these questions is in the affirmative, then you are interacting with parasytic personalities as described in "The Fountainhead" like Peter Keating, Ellsworth Toohey and Gail Wynand. This book will make you a lot wiser - and give you strength for your lifetime. Howard Roark will be a source of tremendous inspiration for you. To understand more about yourself and the unfairness you are experiencing, you may find many answers in the books "Please understand me" and "Bully in sight". These books will help you take charge of your life. Good luck.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as Atlas Shrugged
Review: The Fountainhead does a commendable job of telling a reasonably good story and showcasing Rand's Objectivist philosophy. Unfortunately, it fails in doing what Atlas Shrugged did--and that is really interest me. All the characters in the Fountainhead are nearly carbon-copies of all of Rand's characters--either emotionless egotists or maddening socialists. It's to Rand's testament that she manages to still make an interesting novel despite the lack of broader character development. The characters she does have are done well, but they're just all the same. Still, The Fountainhead is a beautiful nexus between pounding out a novel-as-philosophy and making it an interesting thing to read. Atlas Shrugged also did this very well, but it had the added advantage of a wider array of character types and a streamlined plot line. Both novels drag in places when Rand shifts into soapbox mode, but this can easily be forgiven since even the dullest moments in a Rand novel are greatly multiplied in creativity than most other novels that attempt the same thing.
Rating:
Summary: Spiritual Independence vs. Social Metaphysics
Review: This novel is a literary masterpiece. Ayn Rand, who was born Alice Rosenbaum in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1904, wrote arresting dialogical novels every bit as detailed and interwoven as the novels by Dostoevsky. Her characters are constructed in a similar manner to the way in which Victor Hugo constructed the characters of his novels; that is, she created a smorgasbord of characters representative of different ideals. Each character consciously or subconsciously acts in accordance with a philosophy and sense of life. As in real life, some of her characters vacillate between contradictory principles. Her main characters, however, are ideal types. In the course of the narrative the characters are brought together in situations in which their integrity is tested. Only few could fail to understand the purpose and theme of this novel, which is to show how pseudo-individuals gauge their self-worth according to how others view them. Some rely on the evaluation of the opaque ubiquitous majority; some feel they need to subordinate others to themselves. Only the main character, Howard Roark, does not assess his self-worth and the meaning of his person according to how others evaluate him. He is the self-reliant individual. In short, this is a novel of ideas in which the concrete implications of these ideas are demonstrated in the actions of the characters. For those who believe that ideas have no consequences, this novel surely will be a chore to read. On the other hand, those whose souls are set ablaze by all that relates to the human spirit may find inspiration in this book.
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Summary: Much more than one of the best books ever written
Review: This is about a very young friend who means the whole world to me, but whom I shall not name. There was a time - not very long ago - when he had lost all hope. He felt an immense guilt for what he was. He reached a point of depression where he was convinced that not only was he incapable of realizing his dreams and attaining happiness in life, but a greater monstrosity-that he did not deserve to be happy. Every night he went to bed with a blade in his hand thinking that he wouldn't see the next day's sunrise. Once he walked down to the chemist for sleeping pills. He punished himself in many other ways. I needn't mention the cause- he wasn't always like that- this state of mind had its own reasons -arising from his view of life, of mankind, of man, of himself. Then he picked up and read "The Fountainhead".
Since then his motto has been-"I can, I will, I shall triumph."
He has never looked back; he told me that he was sure that that phase will never return-because the image of Howard Roark is always in his mind.
Later I learnt that this had happened to more people than just him.
Then I realized that this novel has a power which hardly any other has - a power to make a man fall in love with this world, with life, with himself.
(Another novel which achieves, in terms of the broadest abstractions, the same effect is Henryk Sienkiewicz's "Quo Vadis?") "The Fountainhead" gives man the courage to dream and to fight to realize his dream, the courage to live your life on your own terms, the courage to say "Yes" when everything around you is screaming "No".
It tells you that this world is a place where every man, provided he has a vision and is passionate about it, will achieve his values- however hard the struggle- the pain of the struggle does not matter, only the joy of its fruit; where good shall triumph over evil.
It glorifies-above all- independence and integrity.
It salutes the man of intelligence, of competence, of genius.
It is a hymn to the treasure house that is this world, the beautiful experience that is life and the hero that is man. Ayn Rand has said, in this novel: "Whatever their future, at the dawn of their lives, men seek a NOBLE vision of MAN'S NATURE and of LIFE'S POTENTIAL."
(The caps are by me).
This is precisely what "The Fountainhead" accomplishes-in the character and story of Howard Roark.
This is greatest gift that a thinker and a visionary can give to the youth who shall shape the world tomorrow-and to a human being at the threshold of life.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book
Review: The Fountainhead is a guideline for life. If everyone were more like Howard Roark, the world would be a better place. He is shameless, passionate, and uncompromising. Read it and then read it again.
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