Rating: 
Summary: Rebuilding my foundation!!!!!
Review: I completed The Story of B just 2 days ago. I am completely restructuring my entire life. The book and it's messages are so profound that I find myself re-writing my entire belief system. It isn't the kind of book that changes my life for a few days and then I go back to sleep. Fortunately, I had little attachment to religion. I can see how this book may be very difficult for the religious to accept. I am suggesting the book to everyone I Love and everyone else. It answers questions that I wouldn't have been able to articulate. I am B.
Rating:
Summary: You won't like this book if...
Review: ...if you are looking for ANSWERS. If you are looking for a thrilling page-turner a la Thomas Harris or Tom Clancy. If you are looking for a scholarly essay with lots of bibiographical reference. I think one of the reasons why the first and last reasons above are not part of this book is because he is not trying to be some Savior With All The Answers. He is telling you what the problem is, and it is not what we have been taught. To know the problem more completely is to be able to figure out how to fix it. As he says, there is no One Way To Live. This is why there are no answers to HOW to solve our problems, only a very well-thought out opinion as to HOW we got to this point, as was done in Ishmael. I think this can address some of the detractions that the 1 and 2 star reviewers posted. So far I have only read ISHMAEL and THE STORY OF B. So far I am impressed with the amount of restraint Quinn shows in NOT telling me WHAT to do.
As far as some of the fictions (such as there being no "real" Laurentian order, well, there was no "real" Jesus either so we're even right?) and inaccuracies (Bau does indeed mean "building" and not "burrow" and yes I speak German), these really are superficial mistakes. They do not detract from the substance. These are nit-picky criticisms, and I'm glad they've been posted, but they aren't damning to the point of the narrative. Those who are burdened with the rather plodding intellect of the narrator...Quinn is not writing to the scholar. He is writing to the average dipswitch joe, who is the one most likely to be able to change something. Average people rule the world you know. Much of what Quinn wrote resonates with scholarly work I've been reading about the origins of religion.
I've also noticed that one who gave a poor rating for this book disparages the lack of praise for human achievement by the author. This is not the Quinn's intent. Do please refer to other authors if this is your quest. Quinn is trying to state that on the grand scale, in the big picture, humanity is not the end-all and be-all of the earth's existance. This is of course pure blasphemy, although not earth-shattering, but new to John Q Public. I would think that the genpop would feel relieved to know that they are not living the only life one can live.
With so much social unrest and turning away from traditional religion to New Age and other, unconventional philosophies, it stands to reason that our Eurasian-American culture is in fact trying to figure out "what works for them". Whether that life is discovered before, or after, a cataclysmic blow to our species is delivered by Nature, is to be seen.
If you don't want to pay full-price for the book, look around. I found my copy in a thrift store... Ask your library to order it. If Quinn's work resonates with you, by all means buy a copy for yourself, or more likely, buy a copy to loan to everyone else =)
Rating:
Summary: A Transforming Experience
Review: Reading The Story of B has been a transforming experience for me. It has forced me to look at everything in our culture with fresh eyes. The culture to which I am referring is the world-wide Taker culture in which most of us are immersed. Quinn's analysis explains so much to me that once seemed a mystery. Now things make sense, and now I see that our culture is headed for extinction, and our species may follow unless we humans develop new visions of what the community of life is and what our rightful role really is or ought to be in this community.
Rating:
Summary: An adventure in liberation
Review: You may be like the protagonist, or you may be quite different, but this novel is written in a way that you will find his adventure believable. It starts from his daily life; his concerns lead him to take a job that at first seems ordinary. He is sent to investigate some strange goings-on. In the course of his work, he meets people who defy his expectation - they are neither in favor of his work, nor are they against it, nor are they indifferent to it. Are they dangerous? Will he even come back from his assignment? The usual ways of evaluating seem to ask the wrong questions, and new questions come up. For the first time, he is led to see the world in a new way, one that is fundamentally different from the views of the world he came from, one that allows him to see that it may still be possible to live in satisfying ways despite the troubles that threaten the world. It may even be possible to make a difference in the troubles themselves. This is quite exciting, albeit scary, and he begins to see himself in new ways too. He moves from being tired and cynical to being alert and even hopeful as the mystery unfolds. What could he possibly be investigating that catalyzes such change? i found his adventure believable and liberating, a breath of fresh air in a troubled world.
Rating:
Summary: Wondering what's gone wrong?
Review: Daniel Quinn has an answer. Make that THE answer. No author has more thoroughly exploded the teachings of our poisonous culture. No author deserves your attention more than Quinn. WE ARE NOT the inevitable conclusion! WE ARE NOT humanity!
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Summary: New minds get it, Old minds fail to see the value...
Review: I was motivated to write this review on Quinn's the Story of B by a previous reviewer, who wrote a scathing nonsensical review of what is a truly amazing book. It seems clear that the reviewer missed the point of Quinn's novel. The point of Quinn's novel is not in it's great storytelling. Indeed, if this book were to be judged as a work of fiction alone, it would certainly win no awards. But it is the message of Quinn's novel that is important. Fundamentaly important, if we want to continue our existence. Father Jared Osbourne asks the questions any one of us would ask. No matter how dimwitted he might seem to some, were we to be placed in that situation, I would venture to make a guess that we would ask much the same questions and miss the point as much as Jared did at the beginning. The work which Quinn has constructed is a valuable work of art, probing deeper into the world he began to reveal with Ishmael. Those readily open to its message will enjoy the book and see the value in Quinn's words, while those with closed minds will ridecule the book and fall back on tired old tactics, asserting that they're right and Quinn's message is flawed. Yet all we need to do is look at the wars, the famine, and the crime inherent to our system to see that a change is needed. And, if this world is to be saved, it cannot be saved by Old minds with new programs, but with New minds and no programs at all.
Rating: 
Summary: Spare me!/Modified
Review: I am going to keep my previous review because some people commented on it, but a few months after I wrote it, I find I have thought more about the book. I stand by my annoyance with his writing style, but I can certainly see why people can look past the flaws because really, Quinn's ideas are, as I said below, very much worth considering--and as I have thought about the book several times since I read it and disliked it, there must be more to it than I originally noted. I have raised my review from two stars to three. -------- My original review follows----------------- Ugh! Several of my thinking friends whom I respect wanted me to read Daniel Quinn. I started with _Ishmael_ and had to put it down halfway through because I could not STAND the way it was written... and NOT because, as one reviewer suggested of those who do not enjoy _Ishmael_, because I lack the ability and imagination to think for myself. Anyway, one of the friends who recommended Quinn suggested I try _The Story of B_... Daniel Quinn raises many provocative, intelligent points, but he is an absolutely horrible writer. Perhaps I am conflating Quinn with "B," but Quinn, through the character of B, comes across as incredibly condescending, not to mention ridiculous; B's attempts at humor at the end of the book (in his "teachings" section) are awkward and grating. Anyway, I gave the book two stars because it contains ideas worth considering, but I would have preferred reading a ten- or so-page essay on Quinn's ideas, and I would hope he would present himself not as omniscient...
Rating:
Summary: question your views
Review: reading a previous review, i came across the words of something like 'do not read if you hold and value your christian beliefs, it will make you question them!' i'm not exactly sure if this person meant this as questioning being good or bad, but my input is READ THIS IF YOU HOLD AND VALUE ANY BELIEFS! questioning yourself is important and will benefit all! this book, along with all other quinn books i've read, is beautiful.
Rating:
Summary: A Philosophical Change
Review: Daniel Quinn is a true literary artist. This is a fictional novel inspired by distressing times. His exploration of how "civilization" evolved into what is today and what many people feel are global problems is genius. The novel is an eloquent articulation of serious concerns. The Story of B acknowledges these concerns and raises awareness regarding population pressures, agriculture, religous influences, etc. on the future of the earth and all of its life. Quinn's novel is fiction and the point is not to get sidetracked over whether his scienitific and historical references are 100% accurate. Quinn is not trying to bombard the reader with statistics and hard evidence, if you want that read any scientific journal. But if you want a philosophical change read The Story of B. I believe that is the point to this novel, it is to significantly change the way people think. Some of the most effective and enlightening change is made through artistic and creative endeavors.
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Summary: My favourite of the Ishmael trilogy...
Review: The Story of B was the third book I read by Daniel Quinn (following Ishmael and My Ishmael). This book ties the concepts presented in the first two beautifully, and really gives a clearer and much more powerful message. I recommend all three books to everyone, but you'll get the most from the Story of B.
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