Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead

Atlas

8 (21.6%)

Fountain

15 (40.5%)

Either

8 (21.6%)

Neither

6 (16.2%)

Total Members Voted: 13

[Brian Wolf]

I want to read "Atlas Shrugged", but I haven't yet.
Someone told be that I should read "The Fountainhead" first.
Is this person right? Does it matter? Which book is better?

[Taors]

I got both for Christmas. The Fountainhead is sitting on my bookshelf and Atlas Shrugged is sitting under my bed (where I put books I'm currently reading for easy access). That should be self-explanatory.

[Bill Brasky]

I want to read "Atlas Shrugged", but I haven't yet.
Someone told be that I should read "The Fountainhead" first.
Is this person right? Does it matter? Which book is better?

I honestly dont know, but I would read them in chronological order.

Which ever one was published first.

[sms5150]

I doubt it matters. I read Atlas Shrugged first, and then The Fountainhead. 

[YixilTesiphon]

I don't know, but I need to read both of them again. I read them in seventh grade.

[Brian Wolf]

Someone voted 'neither' but did not explain why.

[Johnny_]

I got both for Christmas. The Fountainhead is sitting on my bookshelf and Atlas Shrugged is sitting under my bed (where I put books I'm currently reading for easy access using to masturbate). That should be self-explanatory.

Fixed.

(I keed, I keed... )

[bonerjoe]

I listened to the Atlas Shrugged ABRIDGED audio book and it was still excrutiating.

Wait for the movie...

[rabidfurby]

I read Anthem first. Still my favorite Rand book. Short and sweet.

Barely made it through the Fountainhead. Haven't touched Atlas Shrugged yet.

Not sure what happened as she got older, but she lost the ability to express herself concisely that she had in Anthem.

[Jason Orr]

I read Atlas Shrugged first, and it remains my favorite book.  The Fountainhead, I'm told, is better literature, but I found some of it to be downright disturbing.

[YixilTesiphon]

Oh yeah, Anthem is by far the best. That's what got me started on Rand.

[gandhi2]

It depends on your level of libertarianism.  I read the Fountainhead a while ago and was able to read it from an artist's point of view(the selfish incapability to betray one's own aesthetic) and the discussion on martyrdom/altruism.  There's a lot of Roark I can relate to.

I started Atlas Shrugged, but at the time wasn't able to stomach her heavy-handed Objectivism.  Haven't started up again.

[gandhi2]

Lol, I'm an evil Objectivist, so careful there.

Fine by me, I just don't care to read political dissertations for fun.  She was supposed to be writing a novel.  I guess that in Fountainhead, the characters had something more to them.

[Taors]

Please. No fucking spoilers. There's obviously people here who haven't read either book. Make a new thread if you want to discuss spoilers.

[zebraflood]

I don't think it matters that much. Rand considered Atlas Shrugged to be her magnum opus, so I do recommend that you read it at some point, but whether it's before or after The Fountainhead is irrelevant. Both of them stand on their own, they don't need the other to retain their value.