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)

What if all work was art?

Or to put it a little more precisely, what if every occupation was accorded the same creative respect as art? I think that is the key idea needed to accept this book on its own terms. Rand sort of lays this out in her preface. She imagined a man who took his calling completely seriously, and then worked out what would happen to that man in our world.

It seems sometimes that Rand is being repetitive or simply filling space with philosophical speeches. But there are a lot of questions raised by her subject, and it is important to pursue them all and address them. This she does, and it makes for a rather long book. As it is a philosophical novel, there is a sense in which her characters are merely symbols for a certain type of person. But there is also a sense in which her main characters are the most intense individual beings as well. That, I think, is the key to understanding and accepting the very odd actions that they occasionally take. That doesn't mean anyone is likely to get attached to any of her characters. If you want warm and fuzzy, go someplace else.

This theme between the individual and the collective is at the core of this novel. Rand builds a strong case that collectivism is inimical to all that is potentially great about mankind. She is less convincing in justifying the crime that sends her protagonist to trial at the climax of the book. Be that as it may, the speech that results is as clear and concise a recap of her theme as one could wish for.

Leaving aside Rand's philosophical bent, the writing about architecture is intriguing in its own right. The potential of architecture to create a sense of space and control light and interact with the environment is inspiring here. And the derision for meaningless borrowings from the past and clumsy compromises.

Even those who don't buy into Rand's vision of the world will have to admit there is a certain validity to the way she lampoons certain intellectual institutions, self-satisfied pundits, and committees in general.

Perfect

Fantastic story, great read for leadership and being true to ones self. Very well written, to keep you captivated and to feel like you know the characters personally

One of the best. Well narrated.

A beautiful first look into Rand's objectivism through a truly captivating story. Hurt is a great narrator and brings life the story in a way many other narrators can't.

Best book ever

If you want to understand the challenges of this world then read this book. Should be required reading for all.

world beware

Again Rand shows that progressive liberals are the scourge of the earth!!! sounds like our liberal government today

Visionary.

Although originally published in 1943, one might think it was written 6 months ago. Chilling

If you like philosophy, you will like this book.

I have recently starting reading the classics. I liked this book even though it was 32 hours of reading. However, it is filled with long speeches about philosophy which I didn't enjoy so much. The idea was about being an independent and self motivated person. But seems they used 1,000's of words saying that. The main character, Howard Roark, was supposed to be the ideal of this philosophy but seemed quite unreal to me. But it was worth reading.

Inspiring

Some say that Rand is excessively blunt, but I've always found that she conveys nuances of human behavior in ways that are superlative in both accuracy and perspective. Another criticism is that her villains are comical in their conduct, but I believe this is simply because people are most often blind to their deepest principles; her shortcoming is in understanding these people better than they do, themselves, or are willing to admit. To support this, I would simply ask: do you know someone who publicly behaves as these alleged caricatures do?

INCREDIBLE BOOK, monotone narrating.

The book in itself is incredible, one of the best books I ever read, if not THE best. It is full of philosophycal views on life and mankind which were fascinating to listen to.
However, the narration is monotone. The narrator sounds too much the same all the time for a book this long, which takes away from the experience, but not drastically.
Would definitely recommend.

Amazing story!

Absolutely LOVED Atlas Shrugged and this story was just as captivating. The editing during the middle portions of the story failed to give the pauses between story and chapter names which gave rise to some confusion. The performance was excellent.