The Story of B

Rating:
Summary: An amazing journey
Review: No review could do this book, or the joy it has brought to my life, justice. But I'm going to try. After _Ishmael_, I thought I'd never appreciate another book again. I thought Quinn's first book was the pinnacle of achievement. So imagine my amazement when I picked up _The Story of B_ and discovered that Quinn had not only done it again, he had written an ever better book! _The Story of B_ is beautifully-written, suspenseful and full of hope. It implores us to reach toward a better understanding of what it means to be human, and our places in the world. It teaches us that we all have the power to change the world; we are, after all, the ones who created it. I've read _the Story of B_ about 20 times, and if I read it 100 more, I'll never cease to be amazed.

Rating:
Summary: a limp argument disguised as a novel
Review: When I first read this book, I rushed right to Amazon.com and gave it a five star rating. In the meantime, I grew up. For anyone who wants to think just enough about the techie/luddite dichotomy to get really angry but not actually accomplish anything: this book is for you. To the rest of us, this book should be placed in the box with all your old Ayn Rand novels. Different arguments, different philosophies, same general lack of substance and rigor. Fool me once, etc.

Rating:
Summary: reality
Review: Daniel Quinn's, The Story of B, causes the reader to question everything ever learned anywhere. What was thought to be reality will be replaced by the real thing.

Rating:
Summary: Astonishing and revolutionary
Review: I've read them all. I've done a lot to get them all, since I'm from Germany and it's not that easy to get American books here. Since Quinn is, in my opinion, the most important author right now and here, I can only recommend this book to everyone (even if he/she's a Christian). Compared to Quinn's other work I think this is his best one. The issues he explains are the most interesting, the story is better than before and the speeches contain nearly everything that is need to be said. It's great written and wonderful mind-changing. You'll never be the same again. I'm not. If you look for hope for this world, read it. Maybe it's good to read 'Ishmael' first, but in the end it doesn't mind. Just read it.

Rating:
Summary: Probably one of the most important books ever written
Review: This continues where Ishmael left off in a much more exciting, direct and controversial way. It is the story of a lecturer who constructs Ishmael's work to challenge his audiences and foes. It is much more realistic than Ishmael, and, in a suspenseful novel format, a much more entertaining and challenging read. The lectures printed at the end of the book are vital for understanding our culture, population growth and the accepted wisdom of our times. Probably one of the most important books ever written.

Rating:
Summary: From believing cultural myths to understanding natural laws
Review: This is the second of Quinn's books. It is thus a deepening of the issues discussed in Ishmael. In my opinion, this is the book that is the most fun to read, as it was written as a thriller. However, I think Quinn went too fast in writing it, and his arguments are not as strong and as developed as they should be. It nevertheless remains a must-read if you liked the first book. The main point of this novel is to make us focus on the issue of population growth. Indeed, it might be surprising to most of us that the human population is now doubling every thirty five years. It undeniably represents a very big problem because, as the Earth's resources are limited, we might not be able to support many more mouths to feed and accomodate. Our present understanding of population growth is that we need to generate more food in order to keep up with this incredible population growth. However, nobody really asks the most important question: Why is this poluation growing so fast suddenly, when it used to grow only very very slowly just a few thousand years ago? Quinn, who works in collaboration with Dr. Alan Thornhill in the Natural Sciences Department at Rice University, proposed an interesting point: We have been confusing the cause for the consequence the whole time! Indeed, making the comparison with the arm race during the Cold War, Quinn makes us aware that people are made of food, and that there would not be more people if there was not more food. Therefore, we are the ones fueling this incredible population growth by creating more food than we really need! This is very logical in terms of natural negative feedback loops that we find in the wild; that is, generally animals eat their food, which by consequence decreases, which leads to a decrease in population, leading to an increase in food, an increase in population, a decrease in food...etc... However, humans have extracted themselves from this negative feedback loop, which promotes balance, and have created a positive feedback loop, which is drawing us toward the collapse of the fragile equilibrium of the web of life. Quinn then moves on to make the distinction between salvationist religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Islam), whose followers are passively waiting for a miraculous Savior to come fix all our problems, and anismists, who are people who are aware of the laws of nature and lead their life in accordance to them. Thus, Quinn explains that when humans decided to "take their life in their own hands" they tried to design laws from scratch, which proved to be a disaster. Indeed, if natural laws evolved over many million years so that they reflect what "works," humans have been focusing on what is "forbidden" to do. In consequence, humans have faced great difficulties in trying to prevent people from doing what is forbidden, leading to the incredible mess of our present judicial system, as well as rebellious acts from the youngs who feel pressured to conform, so that we are now facing a cultural collapse of values. Quinn nevertheless ends the book on a note of optimism, as he says that instead of trying to implement new programs that never work to fight our social problems, we should instead adopt a new vision of human life within the entire community of life, so that people get more of what they really want (a sense of belongingness and fulfillment, for example) and stop acting crazy.

Rating:
Summary: The nail in the coffin...
Review: So you read Ishmael and you thought it was amazing. Then you read My Ishmael and everything started to clear up a bit... you sort of began to understand what it was DQ was talking about. Then you read Beyond Civilization and you were like, "That's it...I've got all I need!" Before you start thinking you know what's going on, read The Story of B. For in this book is where it all is. It is truly the 'nail in the coffin'. I sometimes think you could do away with all the others and still get it with The Story of B. But I challenge you, the reader, to do this. Read Ishmael, read My Ishamael, read Beyond Civilization and then hammer that nail in the coffin with The Story of B.

Rating:
Summary: Avoiding our headlong rush to catastrophe
Review: Quinn provides an unusual mix of novel, philosophy, religion, history, and science to try to wake our culture up to the fact that we are rushing headlong to the catastrophe of overpopulation and environmental destruction. The series "Ishmael", "My Ishmael "and "The Story of B" develop the argument from different perspectives.

Rating:
Summary: Cautious but excited
Review: After reading the reviews already existing - I am glad I didn't read Ishmael first. I wouldn't have wanted to be disappointed in this book. This is a great story. I emphasize story. I believe, because I want to, that this story is based on facts. The author didn't present any - but the story sounds SO REALISTIC and REASONABLE.

I know I won't be able to think as I did yesterday. I read this book in 2 days. I had a terrible time putting it down and wanted to scream any time the phone rang.

Regardless of whether this is true or tale, I believe the ideas in this book are very important for everyone to at least listen to and form their own conclusions.

Rating:
Summary: Vision is the River...
Review: Everyone, and I mean everyone, of our culture (whom Quinn calls the Takers) should read this book. Not everyone will like it, some people will be offended, bored, and non-responsive to Daniel Quinn's ideas. But if you're interested in change, deep cultural change for the better, this book will knock you down, make you feel that all is lost... and then reinvest you with hope for REAL change- not just social programs that do little more than apply band-aids to society's ills, but REAL CHANGE.

I can't resist quoting Quinn's epilogue: "Vision is the river, and we who have been changed are the flood." I can't stress the potential and importance of Quinn's work enough. Please read it.