Finished listening to ‘The Fountainhead’ this morning. I am glad I chose to listen rather than read. I would never have finished a paper copy. I know that many people worship Ayn Rand, her books and her philosophy. If you are one of them, you won’t like my take on it and so, stop reading here.

There are some nice thoughts and concepts in the book, but a lot of Rand philosophy is just bullshit. I agree that nothing gets done in committees, boards and meetings, but, that doesn’t mean that collaboration and co-operation has no place in any original work. Try telling that to Watson or Crick or numerous contributors to the field of Quantum Mechanics, which would not be where it is if it was developed by just one egotist. Maybe, the individuality concept makes sense for art or architecture (which is an art, too), but can’t be generally applied to everything. The way this notion of individuality is extrapolated to every walk of life in the novel, is nonsense. The egotists in the novel are almost like a cult. There are only 5 people in the world who know what is right and evryone else is a horse’s arse. Howard Roark’s attitude about his work is just like Geroge W Bush’s “You are either with us or against us”. Being good at what you do doesnot give you the right be an arrogant jerk. Anyway, this ‘every man is an island’ kind of philosophy is good to read and get influenced by as a teenager, but, in real life it doesn’t work.

The proponents of individualism in the novel, Roark and Wynand (spellings may be wrong as I didn’t read the book), were conveniently without any tangle of relationships. Their parents were killed off at an early age or didn’t contribute to their upbringing. It is also nice for Roark to start off a romantic relationship with a rape and not spend any energy on developing a relationship. When you can save yourself from all the relationship tangles, and not feel indebted to your family or society, then you can be an individual without much concern for the people around you.

I have always believed that I am set for failure in life because my mother loved me, my father wasn’t an abusive drunk and they provided me with a safe and happy home while I was growing up. Only if I didn’t have this relationship tangle with my daughter, wife, parents, other relatives and friends, I could be so successful in life…. just kidding ;)

I would like to see how Roark deals with a two year old’s tantrums or change a diaper with his high and mighty principles and rules.

The third proponent of individualism in the novel, Dominique Francon, had no purpose to her life, other than being a masochistic lover of Roark. One can easily do it if they have a wealthy daddy to take care of them or a string of wealthy husbands to keep them home comfortably.

I do understand that this novel was written during the second world was and there was the big threat of fascism and communism taking over the free world. That is the real villain that the egotists are fighting in this novel.

Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with the book eventhough it is well written. I couldn’t swallow the whole philosophy bit. I’ll wait some time before attempting to read another Rand book.