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I have read this book 3 times. The first time when I was 19. It is a classic tale of individuality to the extreme. Howard Roark is an uncompromising architect who owes nobody anything and asks for nothing. He is self sufficiency personified. A wonderful book but a bit harsh as I look back on it. Rand could be cruel, I think she would have agreed with some of the Nazi ideas of forced sterilization and or extermination of say, people with Down's Syndrome. Still, this is her best book and many of the ideas in it I wholeheartedly agree with.
It was Rand who “saved my life.” I opened one of her non-fiction books to a random page and read as one woman passionately stood for my life and defended my right to live for my own happiness. In that moment I found the freedom and power to own my life and go forth and create. I read her fiction after her non-fiction. I read Fountainhead before Atlas and The Fountainhead is my favorite. Read it for the power to head boldly into the world with your own vision and the courage not to compromise.
You know how some books voice out your thoughts in a manner that you had never been able to quite express? This is what this book did for me! After having interacted for so many years with people who beleived that the gifted needed to be apologetic for their genius, boy! was this a breath of fresh air!
I still go back to it from time to time when I'm feeling a little deflated or when I need a self beleif boost!! This is defintely a book I end up reading once every alternate year at the very least!!
Ayn Rand definitely has some interesting ideas. I've read Anthem and the The Foutainhead. Personally, I preferred Anthem (I'm not entirely sure the reason why, but it may have something to do with the length :D). There were a lot of parts in The Fountainhead that caught my interest, but others… I read the Rand books (I need to now work on Atlas Shrugged) because of the contests that are out there for high school and college students. It is a suggested read, but not on the top of my list - but hey - not everyone likes to read the same stuff!