The Fountainhead
Prior to starting Prep, I read The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand. It took pretty much the most of the first half of December. Although it was 700 pages, it didn't feel long. The Fountainhead is one of those books that I should have read in high school, but didn't. Maybe it was on your highschool book list.
It was kind of a hard book to digest. I loved it though. It was a very insightful look into human nature. I have to admit, I read sparknotes' analysis along with the book to help me digest it. After I read the last word, I actually sat and thought a lot about the book. I thought about the characters, I thought about Roark's trial, and I thought about myself. The basic premise of the book is that there are two main kinds of people: the creators, and the "second-handers", or the parasites. The people that feed off of the creators and live on others' ideas and approval. I am afraid to say that I see myself a lot in Peter Keating (the second-hander). Of course, life is never as absolute as what was portrayed in the book, but it is a lot of food for thought.
Apparently, Ayn Rand has an annual Fountainhead essay contest for high school students. I did a quick search and some of them were very good. Most of the analysis was the same, but I enjoyed the disection into a lot of the quotations. I then did a search on IMDB and there was a movie a few years after the book was published. I doubt it was very good though. It's a hard book to turn into a movie.
It was kind of a hard book to digest. I loved it though. It was a very insightful look into human nature. I have to admit, I read sparknotes' analysis along with the book to help me digest it. After I read the last word, I actually sat and thought a lot about the book. I thought about the characters, I thought about Roark's trial, and I thought about myself. The basic premise of the book is that there are two main kinds of people: the creators, and the "second-handers", or the parasites. The people that feed off of the creators and live on others' ideas and approval. I am afraid to say that I see myself a lot in Peter Keating (the second-hander). Of course, life is never as absolute as what was portrayed in the book, but it is a lot of food for thought.
Apparently, Ayn Rand has an annual Fountainhead essay contest for high school students. I did a quick search and some of them were very good. Most of the analysis was the same, but I enjoyed the disection into a lot of the quotations. I then did a search on IMDB and there was a movie a few years after the book was published. I doubt it was very good though. It's a hard book to turn into a movie.