minnie8's Full Review: Ayn Rand and Leonard (AFT) Peikoff - Fountainhead
There are times one's true principles matter--a principle that cannot be crushed even by the heaviest and the strongest power of society...and Howard Roark lived his life as if it was the last time he'll be able to stand up to what his instinct and principles told him--not the rotten society, in which rotten people live their daily lives.
In a way this book is an architecture book, in a way this book is a mind-tricking book, in a way this book is a love story, and in a way this book is a story too brutally honest there's no conflicting with its main ideas and morals. I personally very much enjoyed this book, "The Fountainhead". Despite being bought and read nearly a year ago, it's still sitting on my bed table, quitely waiting for the day when my instinct will force me to open it up once more...and every time it doesn't take too long for that to happen.
Howard Roark is an architecture...a true architect, shadowed under the name of a "student". When about to be expelled from the most prestigious architecture school, he's called to the Dean of Students' office and asked to make a decision--conform to the ways of society, or follow his instinct and lead. Howard chose the second choice, abandoning the huge opportunity that would have made him the biggest success in architecture in a matter of time. However he does not look back. He doesn't even roll his eyes to see what's behind him, and just looks forward, to a firm owned by the ex-biggest-thing-in-architecture-now-ruined-and-wasted. He believes that man was the person that he could truly learn something from and co-operate in projects that will once again brighten the world of architecture--away from the conformed and sold up fundamentals of architure that has been used so repeatedly. The work doesn't mean much but proves what it should--that one's true principles, not a conformity to what is practical will eventually make a person a trueself.
Being a person who constantly deals with people judging my work, I could very much relate to this book. I'm an artist. I paint, I draw...etc. Realist art that I do fascinates people and it can be satistfying to me sometimes, but because of the recognition I get, I guess that's why I do it more often than my heart desires. I love fantasies and loves the images inside my head. People don't like what they see in my own images...they say it's too disturbing. I know they think it is...because it's too honest and sees right inside people's mind and tell to much about things that should be inside and not let out. I have conformed before and I still do from time to time when my heart allows me, but I have become more open to the images in my head, calling out. "Don't let people see what they want to see, but rather, show what they are afraid to see." This book proves this quote...and this book truly inspires me everyday of my life.
General Fiction - When it was first published in 1943, The Fountainhead--containing Ayn Rand’s daringly original literary vision with the seeds of h...More at Barnes and Noble
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