20251231 - PART ONE - Peter Keating, p15
To hide the joints in wood - when columns were made of wood, only these aren't, they're marble. p23
It's hard to believe that the archtects in 1940s didn't change their design with new materials coming out, such as steel and concrete, considering that Empire State Building was build in 1931.
Howard Roark follow the first principles. That's good.
He doesn't care other people's opinion, if those opinions are obviously wrong. That's also good.
But no need to let other people realize that directly.
We can stay humber, and ignore the objections from others.
For example, he should take one year break from school, instead of being kicked out of school.
Howard Roark lacks soft skill, such as communication skill and empathy.
Keating has both soft skill and hard skill, although his hard skill is far behind Roark.
Howard Roark is the modern version of Nikola Tesla, and Keating is more like Thomas Edison.
Most of CEO only have soft skill. What a shame.
Elon Musk is the mixture of both of them.
Meme is powerful. It needs time to evolve.
We cannot accelerate it.
How about self-driving and robots? Only if they are good enough to work independently and autonomously.
20260110 - Chapter 9 - p102
20260111 - Chapter 11 - p102
The main difference between Howard Roark and other people is independence.
Most of people rely on the comments from others to observe themselves. But Roark doesn't need that. He follows the first principles at extreme level.
However, he should not expect others to act independently. Most people don't have strong mind.
20260112 - Chapter 12 - p138
......and how much money did he suppose her monther had actually left her. p148
So it's tradition in western societies that the asset get passed to the children when one of the spouse die.
That's smart.
20260112 - Chapter 13 - p158
"It's not you, Mr. Janss. It's the way most people feel. They have to take a chance, everything they do is taking a chance, but they feel so much safer when they take it on something they know to be ugly, vain and stupid." p165
Not really. In many cases, they really don't know what's beautiful and what's ugly.
If people is immortal, could culture evolvement stop?
Many people don't like the interior of Tesla cars. Is that caused by the same reason?
What Howard Roark needs are two things:
1. Advertisements;
2. Sales people.
There are surely some people's mind is more open.
And, what's wrong to design some traditional, "ugly" building guarantee survivement?
The house of Mr Sanborn is a failure. What does it teach us? We should reject the clients/projects if they don't smell good. Surely Howard Roark learned a lot from it.
20260114 - Chapter 15 - p182
Howard Roark's business model is a unbearable joke.
Hard to imagine such smart person made such mistake. This problem make the whole book dropped out of the first class level.
Money is an accelerator of our own life.
https://x.com/chaojidigua/status/2011378785070026992
20260201 - PART TWO - Ellsworth M. Toohey, p201
Just noiced that some simple pergola in the park nearby still treat steel material as wood.
Hard to imagine that workers in quarry can soak in bathtub after work. More likely it would be showers in public place.
Without proper nutrition and rest, especially if inhale the rock dust, workers in quarry will get sick quickly. No way that Roark can remain strong and healthy.
Toohey referred to the house as "a cosmic joke." p241
As architect, Peter Keating is willing to comprimise with anything, but Howard Roark is not willing to comprimise with almost anything.
We need to give up a lot of things to gain more.
If you learn to love everything, the humblest, the least, the meanest, then the meanest in you will be loved. p293
I wish that Ayn Rand could describe Ellsworth Toohey a bit differently. His life philosophy should be based on "diversity", instead of "hatred of excellence". That would make this book so much better.
When you thought of architecture, it was a purely selfish choice, wasn't it? Have you considered anything but your own egotistical satisfaction? Yet a man's career concern all society. p302
This is agains "The Wealth of Nations".
Ellsworth M. Toohey wants to turn everyone into ascetic.
"Mercy is superior to justice. The heart is our most valuable organ. The brain is a superstition.", p304, by Ellsworth M. Toohey.
The only enemy/competitor of Howard Roark is Howard Roark himself.
He should read in all his spare time in this book.
"The Fountainhead" is actually all about philosophy of life, disguised as novel.
20260315 - PART THREE - Gail Wynand, p391
He hired a sensitive poet to cover baseball games. He hire an art expert to handle financial news. p414
Ayn Rand underestimated the chainreaction here. In real world, talented people will leave Gail Wynand, and his commerical empire will collapse. He is just slightly better than his competitors. There are a lot of geniuses, Gail Wynand is only one of them.
Ayn Rand doesn't know much about entrepreneurship, sadly.
"Where did you get this?"
"In some art shop, you know, one of those places on Second Avenue." p417
Mr Toohey knows how smart Gail Wynand is, then why lie on minor things? What's wrong if he mentioned Stoddard Temple? There is no way that Gail Wynand haven't heard of Stoddard Temple.
Mr Toohey cannot win trust from smart people.
Brainwash people is easy. Gail Wynand is smart, and he should know that!
People have the capability to build a wonderful world, and also have the ability to ruin the world.
20260428 - PART FOUR - Howard Roark, p504
We live in our minds, and existence is the attempt to bring that life into physical reality, to state it in gesture and form. For the man who understands this, a house he owns is a statement of his life. p517
Is this true? No. For most people, a house he owns is a statement of the life he wants.
"You see, this is what I think of the Stoddard Temple. I'm through with it. You're not." p527
This is standard Koan. It is also my goal.
"I hate incompetence. I think it's probably the only thing I do hate. But it didn't make me want to rule people. Nor to teach them anything. It made me want to do my own work in my own way and let myself be torn to pieces if necessary." p529
Howard Roark is a real Zen Master.
Ellsworth Toohey: "To protect the field from men who would become irreplaceable." p569
If there was a war, one side has genius level general, and the other side only has replaceable general, which side is going to win?
Do anyone want a replaceable engineer to build a bridge, or a replaceable surgeon to do the operation? This idea is quite dumb.
Katie Catherine is happy because she is busy in something meaningful. Attention and action together are everything.
He thought: I haven't mentioned to him the worst second-hander of all - the man who goes after power. p608
Power is illusion, like money, or relationship. They are important, but none of them should be our ultimate goal.
That's the reason that Gail Wynand tried to commit suicide. It's emptiness when the goal is reached.
It stands to reason that where there's sacrifice, there's someone collecting sacrificial offerings. p637
Anyone who speak of sacrifice without skin in the game, is lying.
He thought of the moment in his bedroom when he had almost pulled a trigger. He knew he was pulling it now. p658
It's all right to give in temporally, if move toward the right direction in the end.
How should we understand this Union Strike? It's not really a big thing. Problem is hard to fix in a few days, but easy to handle in a few years.
This book describes the conflict between Communism and Capitalism. What percentage of people can think independently? 1%? 5%?
When automation take over the world eventually, what can normal people do to live a decent life?
Comments
Post a Comment