The Fountainhead

By: Ayn Rand

Narrated by: Christopher Hurt

Length: 32 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

One of the 20th century's most challenging novels of ideas, The Fountainhead champions the cause of individualism through the story of a gifted young architect who defies the tyranny of conventional public opinion. The struggle for personal integrity in a world that values conformity above creativity is powerfully illustrated through three characters: Howard Roarke, the genius who is resented because he creates purely for the delight of his own work and on no other terms; Gail Wynand, the newspaper mogul and self-made millionaire whose power was bought by sacrificing his ideals to the lowest common denominator of public taste; and Dominique Francon, the devastating beauty whose desperate search for meaning has been twisted, through despair, into a quest to destroy the single object of her desire: Howard Roarke. Dramatic, poetic, and demanding, The Fountainhead remains one of the towering books on the contemporary intellectual scene.

©1943 The Bobbs-Merrill Company; 1968 Ayn Rand; 1993 Leonard Peikoff (P)1994 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"Ayn Rand is a writer of great power. She has a subtle and ingenious mind and the capacity of writing brilliantly, beautifully, bitterly." ( New York Times Book Review)

exceptional

one of the best stories that I have read awesome awesome awesome thank very much

a remarkable book and reading. I highly recommend

this book has inspired me to listen to my own truth and find solice in myself rather than looking to others. I felt very connected to he misses character and felt as though he understood me better than anyone I have met

Outstanding

A masterpiece of mind that applies to all. Easily one of the best audio books I’ve listened to.

Great Performance for a Heroic Book

The Fountainhead is a story about larger than life characters and their reason for living.

great!

It's a great homage to evolutionary means in which the present day circumstances present. Shows what, how, and why we see such corruption in the world today, and to where it started from.

Great read

It is a great book! It makes you look at today's time with a whole new meaning.

I highly recommend it.

What made the experience of listening to The Fountainhead the most enjoyable?

Hearing the story itself, especially all the questions that were raised by the story.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The hero who was able to maintain his ideals throughout.

What about Christopher Hurt’s performance did you like?

I thought it was great, especially allowing this listener to keep the characters apart.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The moments when the hero had to face the wrath leveled by those who were always in opposition.

I will read this AGAIN

Would you consider the audio edition of The Fountainhead to be better than the print version?

I never read the print version

Who was your favorite character and why?

Roarke

Have you listened to any of Christopher Hurt’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When she goes to look for Roarke in the small town he's working in

Any additional comments?

I can't believe it took me so long to come around to reading this book. It's exceptional and no doubt why its considered a classic.
I will be reading it again.

Excellent Performance of an Excellent Book

Would you consider the audio edition of The Fountainhead to be better than the print version?

I am in love with Ayn Rand, I read Atlas Shrugged and then listened to it. With The Fountainhead I did the opposite. The experience is different when reading or listening, but if you are a person who spends a lot of time in the car or doing mindless tasks listening is certainly the faster way to do it. Christopher Hurt is obviously familiar with the story as his narration does nothing but add to the enjoyment, and the understanding.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I couldn't choose just one character to be my favorite, but my top two would have to be:1. Roark - He is pure. The ideal. His character is similar in stature to Reardon or Dagny or even Galt himself. He is the physical manifestation of the ideals Rand believes in. 2. Dominique - She is the embodiment of the feeling you get when you see the world through Rand's eyes the first time. There is so much anger and sadness. Anger at the countless masses who are ok with the world as it is. Sadness that you can't have the world you know should be.

What does Christopher Hurt bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He brings the story to life. His voice and the effects he uses to show the nature of each character is simply spell-binding. You don't get that same effect when reading in your head.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

At 30+ hours there is no way this is a one sitting read or listen.... But it was all I listened to on my drive to and from work for three weeks.

Any additional comments?

If you had a hard time swallowing Atlas Shrugged for length, plot, or it's unrealistic world, try this first. I guarantee you will go back to AS afterwards. The plot and characters are more realistic, and the characters who can "See" react differently to their knowledge as opposed to AS where you are either 100% good or 100% evil. Dominique and Wynand especially deal with the "Truth" in very interesting ways. Unfortunately Jim Taggart makes an appearance in the guise of Peter Keating... Brilliant book, brilliant listen.

Some ideas discredited, but some still hit hard.

It is a joy to read a sample of the type of thinking that built America.

The Fountainhead tells the tale of two architects, one who goes with the flow, plays the political games, designs what 'society wants' and another, Howard Roark, who designs buildings for the simple reason that it gives him pleasure. We learn from this tale how aspects of our society will act to punish those that would try to outdo what has gone before, and reward those who sell their soul to the will of others.

The pace is brisk, yet a slower tale unfolds between the lines, the tale of the hollowness of of the easy victory and the true virtue of original thought; this sense of foreboding grows and turns the tale into a classic of modern literature.

The reader is left with a curious self-confidence and bizarrely, the message taken away is very similar to that left by Steve Jobs who stuck up for the misfits who wanted to create things people didn't even know they wanted yet (many others have noticed the parallel's between Jobs and Roark).

Of course, reading this book after so many years, and after so many more lessons in the strengths and weaknesses of capitalism, we see that some of the ideas proposed have failed the test of time - for example, we have seen how the problems of pure selfishness are probably worse than those from pure selflessness (Rand created a false dilemma).

The strengths of the book allow me to forgive that weakness. Firstly, it reminds us there is virtue in our so-called 'selfish' ambitions - secondly, it gives confidence to people to break from tradition, to question dogma and to develop their own personal set of principles. Last but not least it creates hope - hope that a society of individuals can be coherent and not hostile.

To conclude, this book remains a fabulous tool to teach us to question why we do what we do, and to ask ourselves who exactly we are trying to please. It is worth 5 stars for that alone.