The Fountainhead

At 18 years old, this book taught me that it was okay to be different and that it was okay to aim for greatness and success without worrying about what other people thought of me.

The book also taught me the value of perseverance and the importance of staying true to oneself even in the face of adversity.  

Did I lose you? Why am I recommending this one? It doesn’t seem to fit with my other recommendations. And yes, I know, this book is a problematic one given much of its subject matter. And I’m not advocating extreme individualism at the expense of the collective. But when this one came across my radar, my young film student self was strongly attracted to the concept of individuality. I was newly arrived to Los Angeles from Kentucky and still trying to figure out my own identity. So, to discover a book about a guy who’s brilliant but underappreciated who goes… show more.

If I could recommend one book that impacted my life, it would be The Fountainhead. It changed the way I approached life and had a profound influence on where I stand today. The reason is finding the best three-dimensional protagonist I’ve ever read. What I admire about Ayn Rand’s character building is I have never read a protagonist with so many flaws who embraces his ugliness and stays true to himself. I also feel Howard Rourke inspired Don Draper from Mad Men. This is a character that will remain with the reader forever. The drive to seek revenge… show more.

This classic’s background is integrity, while its foreground is architecture.

Howard Roark is an innovative architect who always follows his own ideas over what other people think, even when everyone turns against him.

Reading this story never fails to motivate me. Achievement, striving for perfection, and determination are qualities I love. There’s a powerful message here for any individual who prizes these values and an exciting demonstration of how human thought, like the form of a building, must always follow function.

So many people hate Ayn Rand’s work. They consider her a right-wing lunatic. Whatever. I’ll run as a democrat in the next Presidential election, and I absolutely love Ayn Rand. What people fail to understand is Rand is not a political person, but a person of integrity. Such is never more clear than in her classic The Fountainhead, where Howard Roark is challenged by the entire city for his rebellious architecture. But Roark would be willing to destroy his career in order to preserve his precise vision of what architecture should be. For him, the integrity of the artist… show more.

I loved this book for its attitude. The character of Howard Roark is etched in my memory to date from the time I held the book first in my hands. I have admired the book for its realistic nature as it brings out what challenges a go-getter, who cares little about what others think of him, faces. It does not promise a bed of roses for a man marked by his individualism, but made me feel one with Roark.