Providence: The Story of a Fifty-Year Vision Quest

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Summary: A BRIEF MEMOIR
Review: What are the forces that shaped and molded the man Daniel Quinn to write such works as Ishmael and other moving texts of how life is to be lived? Quinn partially addresses that question in this brief tome of reflection. Quinn takes us on a backward look at the man that he was and the man that he became through two major incidents of his life; a dream as a six year old and a flirtation with the monastic life in a Trappist monastery.
Providence is funny, conversational and holds nuggets of information about a life of low self-esteem, questions about one's sexuality,failed marriages and trying to achieve perfection. Daniel Quinn paints a picture of a young man struggling to accept himself for whom and what he is. If you are a fan of Quinn's previous works this book will further affirm your loyalty to his books.
If you have read Quinn, appreciated his works and were looking for more depth and insight about the author, Providence will be disappointing. His memoir doesn't deal with any significance about his life under alcoholic parents, a indifferent brother and his formation under Catholicism. You will spend much of the time reading about how Ishmael came into being and less time knowing how Quinn came into being. Is Providence a great spiritual memoir rivaling that of other spiritual questors? No. Quinn needs to provide more depth. It is a good read but don't look for anything profound.

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Summary: Read this to understand the man who wrote Ishmael.
Review: For those of you who were also stunned and fascinated by Daniel Quinn's Ishmael, this book is required reading. It tells the marvelous story of how Quinn came to be the man who could write Ishmael. Part mystery, part comedy, Providence keeps you wondering how the story of Quinn's life will end (not completely, of course, just up to the writing of Ishmael). Written in an easy conversational style, Providence is the essential sequel to Ishmael, because it provides an extension and context for the ideas introduced in Ishmael. Read Ishmael first, and then you will read this book over and over again

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Summary: Providence by Daniel Quinn
Review: Having read and loved, Ishmael, The Story of B, My Ishmael, The Holy, After Dachau and Beyond Civilization I found this book to be a bit of a bore. Maybe this is because it is an autobiography, I don't know. Quinn is still an excellent author and visionary. We need to spread the word.

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Summary: The story behind the provocative and revolutionary thinker
Review: I enjoyed reading how the Ishmael stories came to be. In my opinion, he is a brilliant and unique thinker. No person can claim, as he said, that he 'wrote their book'. He changed my whole idea of looking at the world. I think his main theme in his life is helping people to assuage their suffering. Also to rid the world of religion seems to be his secondary goal. Religion is only for a justification for why the world is in the mess it is in. Especially Christianity. Religion is also for people to have an excuse to use other people. I don't know how the world is going to stop going on its doomed course of extinction. I also don't know if his ideas our workable that's in his other books but we obviously need all the help this world can get. Maybe there is someone or some people, maybe who are still children or not even born yet, that can implement his vision into reality. Still, I found how the path of his life lead him to write Ishmael fascinating. I'm also appreciate that he got to the point instead of rambling into people and places that hasn't any interest for the reader that some autobiographers indulge in.

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Summary: An interesting "how he got here" book
Review: If you are fan of Daniel Quinn (I am) then you will be interested to see his background. His monastic life seems more like an attempt to hide from the problems of the world than a desire to serve God, and he recognizes it. If you want to read the story of how a man could get from feeling as powerless and victimized as the rest of the world to finally seeing alight at the end of the tunel, this is your book. If you want to know what the light looks like for yourself: read Ishmael, The Story of B or My Ishmael.

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Summary: Finally, a religious perspective that makes sense!
Review: In PROVIDENCE Daniel Quinn discusses what some might call the religious side of the ideas in his bestseller ISHMAEL. In this book, his autobiography, he talks about his childhood, his adolescence, his experience with the Catholic Church and his personal experience with Thomas Merton and the Trappist order. He talks about his years in educational publishing and how he began to work out the ideas that found their expression in ISHMAEL. In the process he delves deeply into his personal religious vision of the world. This is a very valuable work that gives people the opportunity to re-think their religious beliefs. Several people have said that Quinn has finally shown them a religion they can love. The way that Quinn lays out his life and ideas is unique and very intriguing.

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Summary: If you want to know more about Daniel Quinn...
Review: Providence is a worth while book if you are a fan of Daniel Quinn and would like to know where Ishamel came from in his life. It is definately not on the same level as Ishamel, My Ishmael, The Story of B or Beyond Civilization, but it is an interesting look into the man behind the books...

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Summary: A story for anyone who read Ishmael
Review: Providence is of course a book for those who've read Ishmael and felt enlightened by it. But I think it would also be good for those who feel Ishmael has poor facts & co. It's about the man behind the book, whose life will astonish anyone who reads it. One can't imagine a life being such an interesting story to tell. One certainly can't imagine Daniel Quinn to have lived it. Providence gives a more detailed explanation of what is going on in this world, and an FAQ.

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Summary: An amazing book about a amazing author.
Review: Quinn lets you step into his life and what he has been through to get to where he is at. Great Book!!!

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Summary: This Book Brought Me to Tears!
Review: Quinn may very well be a genius... in that the ideas behind Ishmael were genius. In Ishmael, he impressed me with his ideas about the human condition. That those ideas were, in fact, genius, is what Quinn spends the first part of the book talking about - about how much his fans appreciate the book. How some of them, when asking where the ideas came from, would not be surprised if they were sent to him by aliens. Ha ha, Daniel. I think they must have been, and you must have betrayed their holy alien mission - not only by showing how stupid you are in this autobiography - but by hiding those ideas in the first place behind the whole stupid monkey thing in Ishmael. Good going, Dan. Great way to show the whole world how staggeringly stupid you are, you egotistical hedonist.