Benjamin Scharf
Introduction ==== I heard Tim Ferrriss and the likes so often talk about The Fountainhead and Ayn Rand that I had to try it. Now I know why they recommend it. Content ==== The Fountainhead is about the architect Howard Roard and his life. The common theme of the book is the comparison between the protagonist and other men's way of living, especially his study colleague and later star architect Peter Keating. Further main protagonists are * Dominik Francon, the daughter of Guy Francon (Star Architect) * Ellsworth M. Toohey who writes the most important column on Architecture in the newspaper The Banner * Gail Wynand, the owner and editor of The Banner It resolves around the conflict of Individualism and Collectivism. While Howard is what you would call "true to yourself" and "not interested in people's opinions", Peter is following the classical part of the star architect and exemplary student. While Howard drops out of college, Peter passes his college career as the best student. While Howard works for the once-famous architect Henry Cameron in a small and shabby office, Peter works for the star architect office Francon & Heyer and quickly is promoted to become a partner. While Howard lives in poverty but still declines architecture offers where he cannot "be himself", Peter starts to be the architect for more and more prestigious projects. But still, Peter relies on Howard when it comes to architecture decisions and when he is in trouble. As a reader, the contrast makes you think about yourself. Are you rather Howard, or Peter? Whom would you like more? Who would you rather be? At the same time, there is a second story revolving around Dominique and Ellsworth who create a strange alliance that wants to do anything to stop Howard from becoming famous. The reasons are left a bit unclear in the first place. Later on, it becomes clear that Toohey, although being a socialist, seaks for broader power to promote his political and economic ideas of socialism and egalitarianism. At the same time, Dominique follows similar ideals as Howard but does not believe them to be able to survive in this world and hence tries to convince her that the likes of Peter Keating are the right people to pursue to lead a happy life. Only at the later parts of the novel she accepts that her values can lead to a happy life and she turns away from Toohey. In the later novel, Toohey gets a second big rival with Gail Wynand, the owner and editor of The Banner and hence the boss of Toohey. Wynand, a self-made man himself, recognizes the greatness and ideas of Howard and his work. Howard and Wynand build an alliance together with Dominique who In contrast to that, Toohey tries to destroy or take over The Banner and uses the power of unions and public opinion to build a front against Toohey... Review ==== positive: * great story, always turns that you do not anticipate * great characters with lots of depth * a lot to think about after reading negative: * sometimes, there is too much description and too much side detail that could be left away. I just jumped over a lot of pages just to come to the essential parts Summary ==== Would I recommend it to someone * who likes to read something to make you think: yes * who likes easy literature: no Would I read it again? Probably not, but just because it was really heavy to read and took a lot of time. At the same time, it makes you think about your own life and what to pursue in life. Whether you are rather the Howard or the Peter... That is the great thing about the novel!
