Astonishingly bad. I'm frankly flabbergasted that a reputable organization like CliffNotes would allow this to be published under their name. Bernstein is a philosophy professor. Possibly he knows something about literature. The two pages he spend discussing this book as literature were pretty good, and I wish he had devoted some of the additional 119 to the literary techniques of Ayn Rand instead of talking incessantly and repetitively about how wonderful Ayn Rand's philosophy is. I laughed when I saw Bernstein define collectivism as "the theory claiming that an individual exists solely to serve society, and that he possesses no right to his own life." But things became more serious when Bernstein defines Nietzsche's philosophy as "certain superior men [are] beyond the traditional precepts of good and evil, and [have] the right to seek power over others." It is scary to think that a philosophy professor would mistake Hitler's distortion of Nietzsche's philosophy for what Nietzsche actually said.

I read this because I wanted to better understand an author who is distressingly influential on current U.S. politics... but I didn't want to waste the time or brain cells on the actual book. It took me weeks to read this little book because I'd throw it at the wall every few pages. I hate everything about it. The protagonist is the original Mary Sue special snowflake, and that's supposed to be what we all strive for. Barf.

Giving the Cliffs Notes 3 stars because it seems to be a decent overview of a bad book, though perhaps overly fawning. I would have liked more criticism (in the literary sense) and less repetitive synopsis.

It was good.... philosophical .... people who want to be unique can read this :)

Provided great insights to understand the novel of Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead.