Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Fountainhead

I just finished Ayn Rand's Fountainhead, probably my favorite book that I've read so far. This book is required reading for life. Do yourself a favor and go read it.







The story of Fountainhead primarily follows the journey of Howard Roark, an architect who's blessed with an uncanny ability at architecture. He attends the most reknown architecture school in the land: Stanton. Roark soon runs into a dilemma: his school preaches the importance of using techniques of the ancients such as Roman themed buildings and French styles and such things as those, but Roark has other ideas. He believes that instead of just regurgitating the styles of the old, we should be developing our own style. We have more advanced minds, tools, and materials than back then, so why are we settling for their work? Disagreeing with the outdated methods of the school, the dean expels Roark from his university. On the flip side, Peter Keating, the school's top student who follows instructions to the letter, gets recruited to the top architectural firm in the country even though he often is forced to ask Roark for help on some of his assignments.



That's just the beginning of the novel, A LOT more happens and the ideas of the book are just spot on with my beliefs. Roark's financial struggles that he chooses over compromising his natural talents, his visions, and his work really open your eyes and allow you to put things into perspective.

Go read it.

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