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Summary: Courageous, honest, can provide an epiphany of self-awarenes
Review: This is much more literally autobiographical than Bach's other works, very personal and frank. With a lot of honesty Bach allows the reader a front row seat for his maturation and evolution from a relationship cripple to a man who can walk upright as husband, lover and friend.
I've loved many a man (and known a few women), who would recognize themselves to a significant degree in the Richard who protects himself from emotional risk by creating an unrealistic ideal of a 'perfect woman' and satisfies his pursuit of that ideal by detached relationships with a stable of women who each represent a facet of Ms. Perfect. He gives us a very honest peek into the inner dialogues and disputes regarding emotional risk and self-protection that many people struggle with.
Along the way we learn about the often rocky path this apparently successful author had to negotiate with the IRS and the rights to his books that is, in large degree, a parallel in material terms to his emotional journey.
Bach is to be respected for describing himself, warts, scars and all, in such a forthcoming manner. It makes the result of his evolution that much more significant. It encourages us to think, "I can get there, too." This is a valuable book for those who are struggling with similar challenges, and for the people who love them.
Rating: 
Summary: Good... not Great!
Review: This book was recommended to me by a close friend, and as I really enjoyed Illusions, I thought I would try it. While it was good.. I found it just under the radar screen of being great. It had a few moments.. but not sustaining enough to keep me fully engaged. While bored in some places, I found myself reading on, hoping to be inspired by something on the next page. It didn't really happen.... though after reading the entire book.. I did feel that something quite subtle had occurred in that I did 'get it'.. I understood overall where he was coming from and what he was trying to share with the reader.. So, thinking positively, I've already started reading "One".. will let you know..
Rating: 
Summary: Nice until the end
Review: Nice romantic novel, kitchy but nice. But than comes the end, and that is one stupid ending. The last chapters of the book are a disgrace to the human intelligence.
Don't read it. Richard Bach as a man is one who lives in a fantasy world without any knowledge of modern psychology.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not great.
Review: If you're going to buy your first Richard Bach book. Get Illusions or Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Two of the best books EVER written.
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Summary: Soulmates & true love do exist! Believe in dreams & majic!
Review: This is the most mystical magical enchanting love story I have ever read! I first read this when I was seventeen and have been looking for my soulmate since.I have been fortunate enough to have finally met him and we were married in our new backyard on Saturday. I even had the one of my other wishes come true and rode up in my lace wedding dress on my new paint horse. I "thank you" Richard and Leslie Bach for helping me believe in magic!!! P.S. "Never settle for leass than the best!"
Rating:
Summary: don't give up on love until you read this
Review: My experience of this book is that it explains many truths you know, but never thought about when it comes to love and relationships. It is a great help if you are feeling lost in a long relationship and feel like getting out - it can give you the answers you need to stay and fight on for the sake of your love.
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Summary: Warms the heart with hope...
Review: When I picked up this book off the shelf I simply wanted to read more Richard Bach. I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull a couple of times and as changed. I picked up Illusions and that changed me as well. This being the third in my Bach obsession (that has yet to end) allowed me to have hope again, that maybe finding your "true love" is possible, if only you don't follow rules at all. In today's society there are too many expectations, and this book is an example of how to overcome so many of them in different ways. People often have church, or religion, and this book helps those of us that might not fit into those categories. I loved it, and will read it again, once I've found I've run out of other Bach books to read.
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Summary: Only Book I've Re-read
Review: I'm not a reader. I bought this book because every time I went to the bookstore I could not take my eyes off the cover. Then I read the opening pages and could NOT put it down. Over the last 20 years, I've read and re-read this book a number of times. It is compelling.
Rating:
Summary: Worth owning and reading for Leslie's letter
Review: Leslie Parrish nails it when she writes, "Obviously, the development section is anathema to you. For it is where you may discover that all you have is a collection of severely limited ideas." Richard Bach's books "simply state and restate and restate themselves." He tends to seek magical solutions outside of himself, rather than plow within himself to unearth new and deep truths. The best part of "The Bridge Across Forever," well worth the price of the book, is Leslie's letter to Richard. Is it a treasure to which I have returned many times over the years. And it is no wonder that Leslie and Richard are divorced, for Leslie nailed it right the first time. "The Bridge Across Forever" is well worth reading for Leslie's perceptive analysis of the state of their relationship. It is interesting to read Richard's response to her insight, and at the same time tragic, for ultimately, he never gets it. He returns to his same old habits of denial and wishful thinking. "You are one of the most selfish people I have ever known," Leslie says. "I've needed my anger to keep you from trampling right over me, to let both of us know when enough is enough ... It is by NOT always thinking of yourself, if you can manage it, that you might someday be happy. Until you make room in your life for someone as important to you as yourself, you will always be lonely and searching and lost." "Richard, how do you get someone to look around the corner when he hasn't reached it yet? I'd give anything if you could see what's there for us ... But if it's out of sight for you, I guess it doesn't exist, does it? Even if I'm looking at it, it's not really there." "The Bridge Across Forever" is a story of both hope and, ultimately, despair. "We have both had a vision of something wonderful that awaits us," Leslie writes. "Yet we cannot get there from here. I am faced with a solid wall of defenses and you have the need to build still more. I long for the richness and fullness of further development, and you will search for ways t avoid it as long as we're together. Both of us are frustrated; you unable to go back, I unable to go forward, in a constant state of struggle, with clouds and dark shadows over the limited time you allow us." Leslie's insight is a great gift. It is inspiring to witness her face her fear of flying, and despairing to watch Richard pride himself in being her flying instructor, yet never use her courage to support his own fear of flying in relationships. He tries, he gets off the ground, but he can't sustain the flight. Well worth the read, however, as a lesson in dysfunctional relationships founded on wishful and blithe thinking as opposed to courage and mutual commitment toward growth.
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Summary: Looking for someone you've never met? Stop here.
Review: I've been reading since I was ten, which was a decade ago, and this is still my favorite book of all time. Richard Bach is a brilliant writer mainly because of how down-to-earth his writings are. In this book, Richard is on the quest to find his soulmate, a woman he believes to be exactly like him...except for the woman bit, of course. What surprises him is the person most perfect for him is someone completely his opposite--his best friend, Leslie Parrish. Now he has to make a choice--the girl not quite of his dreams or a lifetime of searching. Anyone can relate to this book, whether you've never been in a relationship or you've just come out of one. You'll find hope within these pages...and love. So much love. I can't classify this a romance nor is it simply a book of philosophy. It's a book of love and the human heart. You won't regret the purchase of this treasure.
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