Rating: 
Summary: Hmmm...
Review: It is unfortunate so many people don't understand how bad thisbook is. Roark, Rand's "ideal" man, is without kindness orhumor. He likes no one. He sees others as there to serve him. In fact, others barely exist for him at all. And he is a rapist. Don't believe me? Read the book carefully. It's all there. Roark is not a hero, he is an Anti-Social Personality--a sociopath/psychopath, just like the serial killers and serial rapists he has so much in common with. This is not surprising, since Rand suffered from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. A psychopath is just the extreme form of a narcissist. Rand's narcissism is why she split the world into such black-and-white terms. This is what narcissists do--everything is either grandiose or devalued. Rand was mentally ill, people. The evidence from her life is overwhelming, She was vicious, hateful, envious, vengeful, consumed with complete power and control over her unstable followers. And her philosophy, being narcissistic/psychopathic, will of course attract such people, as in the case of the Objectivist "psychotherapist" Lonnie Leonard, who was--guess what?--a serial rapist. By the way, Rand didn't invent the free market. She appropriated ideas from such free-market giants as Ludwig von Mises. Of course she never credited him or anyone else. In fact, she denigrated them. But then, this is what narcissists do.
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Summary: Howard Roark, Congenital Sociopath
Review: How does protagonist Howard Roark - a man who, according to Ayn Rand's JOURNALS, was 'born without the ability to consider other people' (i.e. a congenital sociopath) - nevertheless manage to design houses and other buildings which (also according to Rand) are so well adapted to the needs of their occupants that said occupants can't imagine ever living or working anywhere else?Simple: it's fiction. This novel takes place in Randworld, where congenital sociopathy is a virtue and the best way to fulfill other people's needs is to give them no consideration whatsoever. This grand doorstop of a novel might deserve a second star for sheer heaving-shoulders melodrama if it hadn't driven so many fat, pimply, nerdy teenage boys into the field of architecture, where they thought they could lord it over their clients and finally get the girls who wouldn't give them the time of day in high school. Any architectural school or firm will tell you that the LAST thing they want is an architect who became an architect because of THE FOUNTAINHEAD. Of course the book isn't *literally* about architecture, as such 'concrete-bound' mentalities may have thought; it's *actually* about being a self-absorbed putz in ANY CREATIVE ENDEAVOUR AT ALL. (Self-absorbed putzes, you see, are the 'fountainhead' of human progress in ALL fields.) Nevertheless this consideration does not suffice to induce me to award two stars to Rand's delusional projections. I doubt the practitioners of those other fields are thanking her either.
Rating: 
Summary: A MUST READ FOR ANY TRUE FAN OF FINE LITERATURE
Review: I must admit that even though I was an English major, I did not read this book until just recently. I was surprisingly pleased with the ideas and characters that Ayn Rand expounds upon in "The Fountainhead." This novel takes quite a while to get through, but it is well worth the effort. Be sure to set aside the time not only to read it, but to think about the material!
Rating:
Summary: absolutely fabulous
Review: Rand is undeniably influential. The book demonstrates its beauty and survives on its own merit, although the philosophy's beauty combined with the majestry of its presentation should not be the vehicle to sway anyone to immediately join her cult. Examine it, and think for yourself.
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Summary: Go with the unabridged!
Review: Aloha, The Fountain head is the most pleasurable audio tape I have never finished. I drive allot for pleasure about 1,000 miles a week. I borrowed this book from an east coast library, along with a lot of others. I loved living with the unabridged Fountainhead driving across country. I had recently seen the movie, so as I was loading the thirteenth tape, I could not understand, how they were going to wind it up in one tape. Was I surprised and delighted to find that I only had part one. Of course I will start it from the beginning and do all 24 tapes in a row next time. Not much to say. If you make the mistake of getting it abridged you will spoil the full version. This book needs to be complete. Go for the Unabridged version.
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Summary: Heroism based on Reason, Individualism, and Integrity.
Review: This book is about individualism and integrity. By individualism Ayn meant "A Primary orientation to reality", and by integrity Ayn meant "Loyalty to Rational Principles". This is what makes Howard Roark a hero. While many of the other characters in the novel derive their self-esteem and their beliefs from other people, Howard Roark is an individualist who fights for what he believes is true - not because "The Majority" say so, nor because of what God commands - but of his own reason and volition. This is a truely romantic and inspiring novel, and is almost a tribute to all those throughout the history of mankind whom have fought for science and reason.
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Summary: Great book.
Review: Shows most of us the goals we should set for ourselves...
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Summary: intellectual and exemplary of highest ideals
Review: this book is a beauty, and uncompromising and unapologetic coomentary on man's potential and his hatred of it. her hero defies that to focus on his potential and realize it against all odds.
Rating:
Summary: BAD
Review: this book made no sense it was the worst book I have ever read in my entire life.
Rating:
Summary: I Was A Teen-age Objectivist
Review: Well, not quite, but as the "Playboy" Ayn Rand interview explains, the ideas of Ayn Rand exert a strong hold on the minds of intelligent adolescents because intelligent adolescents are especially open to compelling new ideas. It is very difficult to read Ayn Rand and remain impervious to her Weltanschauung, and teen-agers are particularly susceptible. In any case, this is a well-written, imaginative, and cleverly plotted novel. Yes, some of the prose is flawed, but none of it is "purple", as a reviewer below has suggested. It is certainly significantly different from any other novel I've ever encountered. I hold it in high regard but recommend it guardedly. (I also recommend, for musicians, "Pentatonic Scales for the Jazz Rock Keyboardist" by Jeff Burns.)
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