The Fountainhead

[SmileOfTheShadow]

No..this isn't about the movie "The Fountain," which I did just see and was considering making a topic about also. But I just finished reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, and wow, it's so empowering for a lack of a better word.

Rand's books are pretty lengthy, and a times I feel like she could use an editor, but given what the book's subject is about, I doubt that she'd be very happy to have someone else editing it. Funny enough, I agree with most of her ideas about "second hand living" and being an individual, though she does take it to an extreme to get her point across.

I liked Atlas Shrugged a little better, because I felt like her philosophy was a little more clear than this one, where I can't tell if I should hate or love Dominique Francon, and same with Gail Wynand until the end of the book.

I'm sure some of you kind folk have read this, thoughts?

[Dr Maturin]

Rand was a fantastic libertarian. A suggestion: The Virtue of Selfishness. She was what America should be all about.

[Karachi Vyce]

I just can't bring myself to read her works.

[Lunan]

I just can't bring myself to read her works.

agreed, for some reason i just can't

[Dr Maturin]

You commies.

[Lunan]

You commies.

i much prefer libertarian in the heinlein sense

[Dr Maturin]

The thing with libertarianism is that it's all or nothing. You cannot be for social freedom and against economic freedom and call yourself one. Same goes with vice versa.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Well, I was looking more toward thoughts on the book and work itself rather than a critique of Ayn Rand's personal beliefs...

[Radhil]

I've read Atlas Shrugged, and it had some illuminating points, even if they were blunt points driven in with a 1,000 page sledgehammer. She desperately needed an editor, but most driven writers with "vision" or what have you are like that.

I haven't studied her further, although I imagine I eventually will. The morals presented in Atlas Shrugged - there's one line that sums it up by one of the characters, and damned if I haven't lost it in my head - is something I should try to remember every now and then, as it's something far too relevant to my current situation. I have a copy of the Fountainhead, and I think even of Virtue of Selfishness, and I will start to read them as soon as I forget the experience of reading Atlas Shrugged. God, that was like pounding nails in my head. Woman could have written a book half the size and twice as powerful. *sigh*

[SmileOfTheShadow]

I've read Atlas Shrugged, and it had some illuminating points, even if they were blunt points driven in with a 1,000 page sledgehammer. She desperately needed an editor, but most driven writers with "vision" or what have you are like that.

I haven't studied her further, although I imagine I eventually will. The morals presented in Atlas Shrugged - there's one line that sums it up by one of the characters, and damned if I haven't lost it in my head - is something I should try to remember every now and then, as it's something far too relevant to my current situation. I have a copy of the Fountainhead, and I think even of Virtue of Selfishness, and I will start to read them as soon as I forget the experience of reading Atlas Shrugged. God, that was like pounding nails in my head. Woman could have written a book half the size and twice as powerful. *sigh*

It's not so bad if you take out the speech and the first 300 pages

[Capt.Montoya]

Well, I was looking more toward thoughts on the book and work itself rather than a critique of Ayn Rand's personal beliefs...

You think that's a critique of Ayn Rand?

If you want a critique of Ayn Rand's personal beliefs then read Michael Shermer's "Why People Believe Weird Things".
It has a whole chapter devoted to the unlikeliest cult, the one that developed around her.

(The book is well worth the money, but if you wanted to just read the "randy" stuff the original essay that became the book chapter is online)

And BTW, I'm in the "can't bring myself to read her stuff" camp. Having read more than one critique of Rand and her ideas has only reinforced that.

I have many other things to read, and if I wanted to read philosophy disguised as a novel I'd re-read Jostein Gaarder's "Sophie's World" instead.

[Dr Maturin]

I have many other things to read, and if I wanted to read philosophy disguised as a novel I'd re-read Jostein Gaarder's "Sophie's World" instead.

Well, yeah, if you want to read the works of an anti-Semite, go ahead.

[I love Lyta]

Who gives a flying fuck whether or not he is anti-semite, anti-vegetarian, the anti-christ or whatever as long as the story is well written and doesn't contain any propaganda?

Btw, do you happen to have read the Mission Earth tetralogy or did you happen to see the movie Battlefield Earth?

[Radhil]

I did read the first out of the Mission Earth series. I don't know what else to call Hubbard but for that one experience he's an utter crap writer.

So, is Hubbard anti-christian/anti-semitic because he rolled his own religion? Or just a kook? And which one makes him a horrid novelist?

Does the same apply to Gaarder? Is the book any good? I can ignore the op ed pieces where he makes an ass of himself if he actually has some insight/entertainment in other areas.

[Garibaldi's Hair]

So, is Hubbard anti-christian/anti-semitic because he rolled his own religion? Or just a kook? And which one makes him a horrid novelist?

Question on a different, but related, point ...

I have tried on a couple of occasions to find any specific reference to Hubbard's alleged comment that the best way to get stinking rich is to found your own religion, but haven't managed to track one down.

Did he actually say that?