Rating: 
Summary: don't waste the half hour it takes to read this book
Review: This is the only book I've ever thrown across the room upon completion. I wanted my 30 minutes of life that I'd spent reading it back. I'd like to believe that this novel (and I use the term very loosely) is a colossal joke that only Richard Bach gets, but I think that's giving Bach too much credit. I can't believe anyone would ever find this simplistic piece of fluff motivational, inspirational or enlightening. If I hadn't also forced myself to endure American Psycho (around the same time period, in fact - I must have been in a masochistic frame of mind then), I would rate this the worst book I've ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: If at first you don't succeed....
Review: ..and that applies to understanding the book as well. I first read this book 25 years ago and thought it no more than an interesting little read about a seagull who tried harder to succeed. Each time I read it as I get older, I recognised the deeper metaphors embedded within a supremely elegant piece of writing. Richard Bach challenges each of us to have and hold our personal vision, to believe in ourselves, to find and trust a mentor, to experiment until we succeed and to never give up on ourselves. If at first you don't see the meaning, put the book down and read it again five years later!
Rating:
Summary: Hmmm, lousy, but mercifully short.
Review: For the reviewers that claim it is a motivational book, you missed a large portion of the story; remember, it is about seagulls. I was forced to read this for my 10th grade english class. People claim that this book is actually about their lives. Obviously, since they don't even know Richard Bach, it's not. The story is about a seagull that likes to fly. He flies. The rest of the seagulls all hate him. He is banished. He flies some more. Then he meets a spirit gull, and becomes a hero to all other seagulls. He continues to fly. The problem with assigning this for high school reading, is that it takes up spots that a good book with redeeming value could be read. Students don't read outside of class, and if we continue to assign this sort of dribble, we will have a world of underread idiots trying to fly.
Rating:
Summary: Lessons on Flight And Life
Review: Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a very brief, easily readable tale about a young seagull who is always stretching beyond his limits. Never satisfied with being "average", Jonathan wants to fly faster, wilder and better than any other seagull. Over the course of this short story Jonathan is enlightened about his own existence and teaches other gulls like him. This beautiful, heart-rending story is a page turner and a quick read. It is also well worth the time spent reading it and is a good story to keep nearby for reading again and again. I found that this book changed my perspective greatly. It's a very uplifting and heartening work. It's also interesting to note that Richard Bach wrote this story for a fellow friend of his, a pilot named Jonathan Livingston who died in the 1970's. This is a book about limits, precisely, about never letting them hinder you. It's a terrific story.
Rating:
Summary: "I'm Gonna Fly Like An Ea- sorry, Seagull into the Future!"
Review: As a teen, I treated this story literally (imagine the look on my physics teacher's face when I told him I understood 'terminal velocity', because of a story about a seagull). Well, the physics lessons are long gone, but the true essence of Richard Bach's work lingers forever - namely, those of us who choose to fly where other would squat, who seek the clear unfettered skies rather than settle for the fish scraps, who dare to break away from the rank and file and forge their own path, are more likely to look back on their life and proudly say: "This I Have Done." The Moral of this story is undoubtedly: "Fly with the Eagles (in this case Seagulls), or scratch with the Chickens."
Rating:
Summary: Eye opening experience that helps you see the true universe
Review: This book is simply amazing! If you are an individual who believes deep in your heart that there is much more to life than what people perceive, this is the book for you. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a fictional book, (to an extent, to the naked eye) whose concepts and ideas can be applied to any area of our lives. As a result, one will begin to reach a new level of excitement, awareness, and happiness in your life. Try it and you'll see; I guarantee you that you will have an infinite number of things to gain and absolutely nothing to lose.
Rating:
Summary: I keep missing something important in the reviews...
Review: Being the 103rd reviewer of this wonderful book I do not think there is much more to say. However, I find something important missing from the other reviews (at least those I have read) and that is the notion of the "liberation of desire" as Sebastian Moore would say. I mean to say, we should be more open to realizing that the most important of Jonathan's characteristics was that he was the least affraid of learning ever... He trusted the mysteries of life. That was his source of courage to be an outcast.
Rating:
Summary: A remarkable journey into higher truths
Review: This is one remarkable book. A true masterpiece. If you are a a point in your life where you've lost your purpose for being or you want to achieve more or change a career etc...this one is for you. More than that, anyone who is on a journey of self discovery and higher states of counciousness will find this one a great motivator. Richard Bach is one of the most talented writers of our time and writes from the heart. 5 stars all the way!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Metaphorical Story
Review: I honestly don't know how anyone can give this book a bad review. It is an exellent story about a seagull who is unhappy with day-to-day survival, and wants to learn to fly (literally and figuratively). He eventually is outcast, and slowly attains a higher statte of consciousness. He then returns to bring others into the light, and relieve them from the darkness and drivel of ordinary survival. This is an interesting and inspiring story, and the semi-spiritual element is something that we would all like to believe.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but lacking real truth
Review: My teacher recomended i read this, and I was really looking foreward to reading it. But after starting I was dissapointed. The whole thing was about a Bhuddist seagull. Basically taking the theory of bhuddism and explainging it through an example of seagull civilization. It was an interesting book to read in less than an hour, but it had no real truth, and no real meaning.
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