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Summary: Fascinating Book About "Mother Culture" Raises Questions
Review: This book does a brilliant job at showing how we surrender to self-destruction, cynicism, and complacency by believing the lies that culture ("Mother Culture," he calls it) implants into us. Culture is a great humming machine that slowly drips her lies and mythologies into our bloodstream. By questioning the "story" we tell ourselves, Quinn does a good job of criticizing the excesses of the Takers, his term for post-agricultural man. However, many of his points seem flawed in oversimplification, historical inaccuracy, and faulty comparison. For example, he compares everything we learn from Mother Culture to the beliefs of Nazis. Surely, Mother Culture is more complex than that. Second, his solution for our self-destructive ways is for us to go back to our pre-agricultural days (when we were Leavers), a task that would entail the suppression of our creative (and destructive) urges. Third, Quinn hasn't sold me on his idea that man is just like all the other animals and therefore has no special place. Man is both higher and lower, more angelic and more demonic, truly exceptional and apart from the animals, contrary to Quinn. Fourth, I'm suspicious of anyone who says humans can turn back and recover some more "simple way of life," another utopia hustle. Fifth, I'm suspicious of anything that smacks of a 'noble savage myth.' Leavers, as he calls them, are somehow better than Takers. I suspect the Leavers were just as barbaric and bloodthirsty, if not worse, than us. Sixth, Quinn's 'solution' would result in mass starvation. Who decides who starves at this point? Seventh, his assertion that 'savages had no prophets' seems like an unlikely oversimplification. Many so-called primitive cultures have had spiritual leaders or prophets, contrary to what he says on page 85. Eighth, he says God only became important when "neolithic white men showed up." Another falsity. In fact, all the major religions came out of a Semitic, dark-skinned people. Ninth, contrary to his claim that Leavers had no prophets, many primitive tribes, or Leavers, were just as guilty of warring with competing tribes of different gods as are the Takers. Tenth, he doesn't do a good sell of his 'moral relativism" on page 87 Case in point: there are universal values like courage that are embraced by all cultures. What culture values cowardice and betrayal? None. So perhaps there IS A RIGHT WAY TO LIVE. And finally, after making general truths about how we become captives to lies, he slowly but surely plants his own lies, half-truths, exaggerations, and oversimplifications and makes us captives to his propaganda. Thus he is guilty of creating the very kind of captivity he condemns.In spite of these criticisms, please read this entertaining, readable book and learn several highly sophisticated brainwashing techniques.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Book
Review: Daniel Quinn has an idea. He sees homo sapiens as on the verge of self-destruction and traces the major behavioral patterns bringing this about back to what is commonly referred to as the agricultural revolution. According to Quinn, we long supposed our species to have originated when writing originated some five thousand years ago, and continue to suppose "humanity" to have begun when what Quinn calls "totalitarian farming" began some ten thousand years ago, and this despite our now knowing that our ancestors diverged from other primates millions of years ago and became what we call homo sapiens two hundred thousand years ago. We dismiss the vast majority of human history as "pre-history" which is tantamount to "non-history." We do not ask much about how humans lived before the agricultural revolution, and when we do we almost always suppose that such poor creatures would have leaped at the chance to be like us. (Quinn's argument seems to me valuable whether or not we are as close to disaster as he believes. Heidegger traced similar behaviors back to Greece. Others trace them to the Industrial Revolution. Quinn places the Break at the Agricultural Revolution.) "When the people of your culture encountered the hunter-gatherers of Africa and America, it was thought that these were people who had DEGENERATED from the natural, agricultural state, people who had LOST the arts they'd been born with. The Takers had no idea that they were looking at what they themselves had been before they became agriculturalists. As far as the Takers knew, there WAS no 'before.' Creation had occurred just a few thousand years ago, and Man the Agriculturalist had immediately set about the task of building civilization." ("Ishmael" p.201) Quinn believes that tribes surrounding the first totalitarian farmers did their best to resist the new way of life, just as "primitive" tribes today try to resist the culture which I cannot call Western since Quinn lumps the East and West together as "Takers." Totalitarian farming, civilized human culture East and West for the past ten thousand years: this is Taker culture. The vast majority of human history/"prehistory" and various tribes scattered through the world today Quinn calls Leavers. Leavers can be hunters, gatherers, herders, even farmers on a small scale. Quinn points to organized hunting as a uniquely human characteristic uniting us with our distant ancestors. What Leavers do not do is produce more than they need, rapidly expand their population, impose their way on others, annihilate species that threaten crops, and otherwise engage in "totalitarian farming." Leavers also do not work nearly as much as Takers. Quinn reads the story of Eden as an ancient Leaver Semitic myth about non-Semitic Takers, a myth handed down to uncomprehending Taker Jews and to uncomprehending Taker people like us. The forbidden wisdom was the arrogance of deciding what animals should live or die. Similarly Cain was the Takers killing the Leavers (Abel), although God preferred Abel's gift. Whether Quinn is right about the authors of these stories is a rather minor point, though one liable to draw a lot of attention. More important is this: Quinn sees virtually all the troubles of what we ordinarily call human history as the results of overcrowding. He doesn't think overcrowding is new. He thinks it has just gotten exponentially worse, and - like the frog in the slowly heating water - we are close to letting ourselves be boiled. Quinn blames war, crime, slavery, insanity, poverty, laborious work, suicide, drug addiction and quite a few other things on over-crowding and on the outlook that has caused the overcrowding. There are areas where I have serious doubts about Quinn's claims, places where I find him wrong or overly speculative. I intend to discuss some of these. But I want to stress first that I think Quinn should be read. Of course, he IS being read. His books are best-sellers, prominently displayed in the windows of the decreasing number of massive book store chains. But he is not read enough or seriously enough. His books are deceptively easy to flip through in a couple of hours, and they are (horror of horrors) not even simple treatises but NOVELS. In addition, Quinn seems bent on encouraging those who might be tempted to see him as a bit New-Agey, fruitcakey, self-enraptured, with hopes of leading a highly devoted cult. Quinn of course writes clearly and explicitly against such movements, but risks projecting that image all the same. Quinn cannot be accused of obscurantism, but I would be very much surprised if he is not (wrongly) accused of simplicity. And Quinn certainly projects the image of one who will never admit to being mistaken on any points. The Teachers in his books are characters who can accept praise but never correction, and who seem to accept assistance from their disciples only after they themselves have died.
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Summary: Saving the World 101
Review: If you are interested in saving the world, let me start by patting you on the back. Many people are too busy playing video games, purchasing stock and/or taking vacations in the Caribbean to even realize we are in serious trouble. If you are a beginner to this line of thinking, Ishmael is the perfect place to start. It's like "Save the World 101," taught by a really cool professor. At the end of the course, you are sure to know who you are and where you came from. That said, many people finish Ishmael thinking, "What now?" A few friends of mine completed the book still believing everything is fine - that the planet is not dying, so party on. For people in this later camp, I suggest reading Eco-Economy (2001) by Lester Brown. After just ninety pages of that book, you will know - in a concrete, matter-of-fact way - how messed up this planet really is. For those seeking practical advice on how to lessen their personal eco-wakes, I would recommend a few other books: like The Better World Handbook (2001), Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things (1997), and Affluenza: The All Consuming Epidemic (2001). Of the three, I would have to say that Affluenza was the most enjoyable. In any event, you can't go wrong with Ishmael. Despite what's been said, it is a very original and penetrating book that is sure to please. Take note, though, this is not a novel. What we have here is a twenty-first century Platonic dialogue between a three-hundred-pound gorilla and Glaucon-like interlocutor. Bizarre indeed.
Rating: 
Summary: Not much as fiction, but great as philosophy
Review: This was a selection from Jill's library, a recent favorite of hers. Truthfully, there's not much story here, but it doesn't matter because what is important here are the ideas. Basically, Ishmael is a discussion about our culture, how we use the Earth and how our culture is different from past culture and modern agrarian cultures. This may seem too "back to nature" for some folk, and as someone who likes technology in as much as I do it may seem strange that I took to this so easily. But the case is made cleverly, and it follows some of my own observations regarding religion and culture. The manner in which the story is told--as a conversation between a most unusual teacher and the narrator pupil--is as old as the Coliseum. The teacher elaborates, trying to get the pupil to ask the right questions. This format was frustrating to me at times, as I felt that there was a lot of needless repetition. This is likely because Quinn wants to make sure that his underlying assumptions (or "points") are clearly understood before he starts the argument and rational conclusion that is the purpose of the book. I don't agree with everything here. I hold this weird belief that information is the opposite of entropy, and I do not think that we have halted evolution one bit (modified its effect on us, yes, and possibly for the worse). But Quinn's goal is to make you think, to make you examine those underlying assumptions, and if you are discussing it, at least half his purpose is achieved. One of the blurbs here says that the blurb-writer now divides his reading into two groups--books read before reading Ishmael and those read after. I wouldn't go that far. However, I do find that it informs some of my reading since, and that's about the best recommendation you can give any book.
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Summary: Ishmael: An Eye-Opener
Review: The novel Ishmael by Daniel Quinn was very well written. It shows you the reality of what is really happening to the environment. This book is a definite eye-opener. It changed our views on how to live. The story that the gorilla tells us forces you to see what is happening to the earth and what has been happening ever since the humans decided to try to take the world into their own hands. This book is worth the read and is told in a story format to keep it interesting. If you have no interest in the environment, you will once you finish the novel.
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Summary: A good book
Review: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn is a novel about a man seeking knowledge of human fallacies andhow to save the world. It is about teacher who is a gorilla named Ishmael who has studied human nature for much of his life. Ishmael teaches the man about the two human cultures, the Takers and the Leavers. It gave a lot of insight into human nature and why Takers feel the need to conquer the land. The manner in which Quinn portrays his ideas through question and answer relation instigates self and social analysis. It bashes our culture which is a uncomfortable but necessary. Te reader is involved in the learning process. The format is tiring after awhile, and the book lascks plot. The realizations about everyday life make the book worthwhile and a very good read.
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Summary: New way of thinking
Review: This book is just wonderful. I was a little suspicious as I was reading the first chapter, but I kept with it since it came highly recommended by a friend bought the book for me. I'm hardly an avid book reader, but this one really made a difference in my outlook on life. It's been almost a year since I read it, but the principles have stayed with me. I've passed my copy of the book along to two friends, both of whom have also loved the story. Now I'm buying a few more copies to send to some of my other friends.
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Summary: Thinking Differently?
Review: Because of my background in biology, I was asked by a fellow reviewer on Amazon.com to take a look at this book. I read through all of the numerous reviews and became curious so I read the book. The author's interpretation of history was not quite as I understand it but he did make a few good points about the degradation of the environment. As I read through the dialogue between the "student" and the gorilla I felt that dividing the world between the "leavers" and the "takers" was a rather simplistic approach to a very complex problem. However, always eager for new insights, I did my best to keep an open mind anticipating the punch line at the conclusion of the book. The punch line never occurred. The cleverly written novel cried out for an epilogue of some sort as to how you can actually "save the world" by "thinking differently". Genuinely curious, I spent more hours then I had intended on the Internet trying to figure out what "thinking differently" actually meant. I discovered a lot of interesting stuff. There is a bronze statue of "Ishmael" in the Commons at Hiram College, Ohio. The author was interviewed on [a TV talk show]. The author is also a frequent speaker at conferences and commencements. I read the transcripts and speeches anxious to learn how to "think differently". I did learn that the well-known author William Styron and one of my favorite authors Peter Matthiessen were members of the committee that awarded the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship. The half a million-dollar award is to encourage authors to seek "creative and positive solutions to global problems". Neither author was enthusiastic about the award going to "Ishmael". In the back of my mind I became concerned how the book creates a philosophical disconnect between the reader and the environment. A close connection with our fragile biosphere is required to get those creative juices flowing to generate unique and applicable solutions we will need to reduce the destruction and help heal planet earth. Most of the book was concerned about "mother culture", "totalitarian agriculture", "dysfunctional educational system", organized religion and "tribal living". I kept looking for the new paradigm for "saving the world". Eventually I came to the realization that this book is not about how to save the world, but an expression of the author's political worldview. This is a widely read book and a recommended read. ...
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Summary: A good read?
Review: So I read Ishmael like seven years ago, when I had an appetite for easily acceptible philosophy (Ayn Rand (I know, I'm sorry...), Friedrich Nietzsche (so eloquent, even in translation), many others to lesser extents.) But its all pretty attractive to a precocious 16 year-old. When I read it I was only a slight critic of form, and much more fascinated by what a story made me think about. Seven years later, I've read most of Daniel Quinn's works. You can call him many things, least of which would be a master storyteller (although I really enjoyed The Story of B and The Holy). You can call him didactic; he is. Call him smug (Beyond Civilization was obviously written because he was tired of people blatantly misreading what he wrote.) Regardless, your insulting a lot of intelligent, reasonable people by just disregrding it. I've read a number of the critiques of Ishmael, and many of them are legitimate; yeah, its not a well written Narrative. It was his first book, and clearly he was so focused on making his point that it reads as didactic and slightly redundant. He is not eloquent, either. But perhaps, all of you who were so convinced that the entire book could be summed up in a chapter would like to give it a shot? Also, he is blatantly disagreeing with the church about the reading of the bible. So what? Has the Catholic Church honestly made an effort to save this planet? Really? Does it lobby governments to cut down on pollution? Not really. Why would it? We live in a system that tries to save humans and the environment is second. Too bad we depend on it for life... All of the major religions support views like this, and in that way Ishmael is dead on, I think. It's not a tough read, and if you're open to it, it's not trying to brainwash you, but rather to recognize how you've already been brainwashed. I think it does a good job of pointing out in plain english some of our ridiculous cultural misconceptions. Saving the planet seems like a good alternative to saving our souls as we rot in a barren wasteland on soil so over-tilled even fertilizers won't make it grow anymore. Soon there will be over 10,000,000,000 humans on this planet; if they're all well fed, there'll be more. Daniel Quinn is not trying to starve anyone; he's trying to prevent it.
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Summary: Life-altering!
Review: This book articulated ideas that have lingered just out of reach for me my whole life and offered a simple truth that on some level I've known all along. Now the world makes sense and I have an understanding of where change must occur in order to give our species a chance at survival. This is a must-read for every human being on the planet!
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