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Summary: look at the world, it's upside down
Review: Daniel Quinn does an amazing job of forcing the audience to question and requestion their beliefs in Ishmael. A loving boy befriends a teacher who changes his life in an unexpected way. If you've never questioned your beliefs maybe it is time to give Ishmael a try.
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Summary: Misdirected criticism
Review: "Ishmael" is not great literature. "Ishmael" is not revolutionary philosophy. "Ishmael" is a tool for a subtle but important shift in human awareness. The negative reviews here most resound with a dislike of style. Rightly so, for Quinn is not a great writer. This book can sound repetitive at times, although the re-reader will glean much in the rephrasing of questions, the restatement of topics. If you want elegant prose, read Shakepeare. If you want something to challenge your assumptions about civilization, read Quinn. A second criticism oft repeated in these reviews is that Quinn wants to "allow" people to starve. I will untangle this knot. First, the importance of population. Think of any environmental issue in the world, global warming, biodiversity loss, increasing extinction rates, pollution, traffic, etc. Increase population and you've multiplied every one of these problems. I ask you, what is to be gained by increasing population? More to the point, what is to be gained that could possibly outweigh the inherent consequences of incraesed population pressures? Second, the nuts and bolts. Every year the world produces x amount of food. Every year y amount of people die from starvation. Increasing x has NEVER eradicated starving y. Increasing x will lead to overall population increase, and in some developing countries a greater proportion of starvation and malnutrition. Most of us agree there is a carrying capacity on the earth for humans. That number can never be known with certainty, but our inability to scientifically deduce it does not relieve us of the consequences for crossing it. By limiting the production of food, human population will stabilize, minimizing the consequences. Put another way, if we do not produce food for ten billion people, there cannot be ten billion people. God "allows" people to starve, not Quinn. I have a friend who works for the USDA in agricultural statistics. He tells me "Starvation is political". By exporting food to developing countries we increase the population, thereby increasing their reliance on us to keep exporting food. Starvation is one of many of the sticks with which we enforce obedience. I did not come to these conclusions from the book alone, and that is a criticism of sorts. I focused on population in this review because that seemed to be the greatest misconception repeated about the book, but I assure you, "Ishmael" is far greater than that. "Ishmael" set me on a new path of thought and action. "Ishamel" can be one tool for reshaping civilization badly in need. Use it.
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Summary: The Best Book Ever
Review: In my opinion, Ishmael is the greatest book ever written. The casting off of the cultural vision we all share (and the assumption of a new one) makes this book a complete adventure in thinking and living "outside the box."
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Summary: Great book!
Review: Daniel Quinn has written a book that changed my view about things. I somehow felt I knew alot of these things, but Mr. Quinn's strong point seems to be his wonderful ability to bring these concepts together in one excellent book. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested.
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Summary: Gorilla Teaches Man To Save Himself! Film at 11!
Review: This is not an easy book to review. Billed as "A Novel," futurist Daniel Quinn's tale of humanity's condition and fate on the planet is really only a "novel" in the same sense that James Redfield's "The Celestine Prophecy" was labeled a "novel:" Ishmael is basically about the author's philosophy and a set of teachings, wrapped in a thin veneer of very minimal storyline. The core lesson? Sustainability is essential to our survival. That's the "short version." Now.... I expect some of you will have come here because the book is "required reading" in a philosophy course; or perhaps because you heard about it and have an interest in philosphy. And you will no doubt find it "annoying" that the author has tried to write a "story." Others may be considering this as a "novel," and you will probably be disappointed that there really isn't much "story." Because there isn't, and you'll most likely find Quinn's slightly "preachy" style offputting. If you've read some of the other 500+ reviews, you probably noticed that most of the negative comments had to do with confusion over what the author "is trying to do." Thus, in order to get something out of this book, I suggest that you abandon any need to make it fit a "genre," and instead just consider the underlying philosophical message. If you enjoy discussions about "The Meaning Of Things," you could well enjoy this book. If you consider yourself a "Serious Philosopher" be aware that "Ishmael" is quite introductory-level in its presentation.
That said, Ishmael is the "story" of a teacher and a student. The teacher (and also Quinn's "mouthpiece" for conveying his philosophy) is a telepathic gorilla; the student is the man who answers an unusual ad in the paper: "TEACHER seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person." The book presents Quinn's interpretation of the tale of humanity. As we progress through the book, we learn about the "hows" and "whys" of "The Way Things Are" in our modern world, and "how they got to be this way." Ishmael (the gorilla) uses a variation on "Socratic teaching" to guide his student to drawing his own conclusions. Finally, Ishmael (Quinn) presents us with some possible solutions to change the inevitably apocalyptic scenario that represents humankind's final destiny, should we continue along our current path. Whereas a solid 80-90% of the book is dedicated to conveying the author's philosophy, we're occasionally sidetracked by the thin thread of "plot," there to remind us that we're ostensibly reading a novel, rather than a philosophy text. Quinn's ideas center around the premise that at some point, humanity decided that it was no longer subject to the basic "laws" of nature and the universe. He argues that our ensuing problems with pollution, overpopulation, hunger, disease, crime and a host of other issues can be traced back to the point when we decided to no longer follow the "Gods," but instead to BECOME those "Gods," bending the world to our perceived needs and whims; and creating our own definitions as to what is absolute "good" and "evil." Along with this, we developed our "civilized" habits of taking more from the Earth and the Universe than we actually need. End result? 1000s of species dying, and eventually we will succumb, as the natural end game of a process we started, ourselves. Please note that I use the term "Gods" very loosely in this paragraph, as this is not a religious book. From a philosophy standpoint, the book succeeds, in as much as it makes us think about life, and our future on this planet. From a "story" standpoint, there's not much there. Overall, I found "Ishmael" to be an enjoyable and fairly easy read, and I think the somewhat "general" nature of the book is attributable to the fact that Quinn is essentially using it to "set the stage" for a subsequent series of books that go on to explore his philosophy in greater detail. Final thoughts: Well worth reading (9 out of a possible 10 bookmarks). If you have an open mind, and an interest in "big pattern thinking," it's not a stretch to understand why "Ishmael" is as awarded and talked about as it is. Potentially, a life-altering book-- but you MUST "think outside the box."
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Summary: Ishmael
Review: This is an extremely important book. If everyone in the world read this book, the world would be a different place. Daniel Quinn is a genius, he has figured out where so many of the issues that we struggle with today originated, and he destroys them. Almost all of the problems in the world are based on morals, which are based on fiction.
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Summary: Fascinating!
Review: Ishmael is truly a fascinating novel and has changed the way I think. It truly makes you want to go out and change the world. The arguments are well thought out and explained and the story is easy to follow. Quinn doesn't bore the reader with boring philisophical terms without first explaining them.
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Summary: Essential reading for everyone
Review: Quinn succeeds in putting forth THE essential 21th century quest in a way anybody can understand. Beyond science and philosophy it is a book that puts in words, concept and historical context what many of us deeply feel, but more importantly Ishmael puts forth a solid analysis for someone who hasn't thought yet that our generation might be the last...
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Summary: A fun and annoying read.
Review: This book was wrong but fun to read and argue about.
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Summary: Ishmael, an existential narrative
Review: This book is a narrative about the discovery of what is really wrong with the world and what needs to be done to correct it. What makes it more interesting is both the perspectives from which it is told, and the perspective from which it is received. "Teacher seeks pupil, must have as earnest desire to save the world." That quote sums up the book's main theme, but there are so many complex and very intricate side stories that it hard to accurately describe the book with out giving it away. This book is on of the best that I have read to date. It is extremely capturing in that fact that you gain the mindset that you are Ishmael's student and not the character. You remember the stories and the monologues with almost photographic recall. Besides all of that the thing that actually makes this the best book that I have read is the actual subject matter, which can be considered very subjective and most assuredly existential. Despite that all of it makes perfect sense, weather you agree with it or not, which I don't with all of it. The book covers or you can infer from the book everything dealing with the core of human nature. It goes from the beginnings of man to the point in time that causes the ultimate downfall of man. It also covers everything in between those two points. You might wonder how this can be done at all. In this book it is accomplished by the character discovering universal truths that have always existed, but that "mother culture" has suppressed through out time. Ishmael teaches by the method of letting the student discover the concepts based on the guidance of the instructor. This of course makes the student learn the information instead of just listening to the teacher as he lectures. The best thing about the book is that it teaches you too. You get a new view on the human race as a whole. You also notice the things in the book are true because you start to think of personal instances that give you an example of what the book is speaking about. All in all this book gave a new perspective of the history of humans and human nature. On top of all of that the book is very well written and has a good variety of vocabulary. It is defiantly a page turner and it makes you what to read it. After all of that I think that everyone should read this book just for the fact that it gives you a totally new out look on the human race had I think that having that alternate view is very valuable; weather you agree or not.
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