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Summary: Ishmael
Review: I found this book an easy and enjoyable read. While not agreeing 100% with all of the ideas put forth, I found the organization of thoughts on how we came to be here, now, very compelling. The seemingly slow witted protagist is sometimes irksome but necessary to play off of the teacher, giving Ishmael the opportunity to explain his reasoning. I believe persons with social conscious and ecological awareness will embrace this book.RECOMENDED: Tolkein and The Price of Immortlaity
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Summary: Thought-provoking...
Review: While I don't view this book, or Daniel Quinn's apparent animistic leanings, as a literal way to live, I find the logic and ideas behind it to be fascinating. One of the main ideas of this book is the effects of "Mother Culture" on our sensibilities and actions. We never notice it until we're introduced to it. After that, we see it everywhere we go. I'm looking at other books at the moment, but I'm definitely recommending this book to my friends. Given time, hopefully I'll read some more of Quinn's work in the future.
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Summary: open your eyes
Review: Daniel Quinn wrote this book to OPEN YOUR EYES. alright so maybe there wasnt prefectly scietific evidence, maybe a few things he said weren't exactly right, but here's the question to ask yourself: did he get your attention? did he open your eyes to the destruction going on around you? the answer is yes. this book guides you to the conclusion that something must be done. those who ignore this message and instead choose to gripe about whether or not there was enough scientific evidence have missed the whole point of the book. I urge everyone to read this book and make a decision for themselves; dont just rely on someone else's opinion.
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Summary: Great Book for self-loathing Caucasians
Review: Do you believe Western Civilization is the root of all evil? Do you believe Human beings are nothing but a virus on the face of Mother Earth? Do you hate Caucasians or wish you weren't one?
Do you believe that the world would be a better place without people?
Then this book is for you!
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Summary: the world needs you to read this...
Review: I read this book about six years ago and immediately after reading it, I bought and read his other works, My Ishmael, and Story of B, both of which are excellent reads. So after reading the on line reviews, I can see that Quinn either moves people to the point of cult followers or pisses people off. Great, that is what he wanted... One thing must be made clear: This book IS writen to be a message to the masses at both the lowest common denomenator level of the complete idiot, and also to the intelligent thinkers, like myself and many of my friends who I consider to be intelligent people, many of which are Ivy-league college grads. The idea is to use plain language to describe things that all of us know already but to string these concepts together in such a way that it leaves the reader awe-struck and angry at our culture. It gives the compassionate liberal thinker a fire under their ass to do things better. It changed my outlook on everything that I know to be 'modern' and 'civilized'. It is important to have a clear picture of how the world REALLY IS, and how everything you put value on regarding civilization CAME TO BE. Do NOT buy this book for plot, or value as literature. It's not written to be a great work of literature, rather, it is a message that must be delivered to the world to remind us what we are doing and where we're headed as a culture (the world culture). I strongly disagree with the arogant snobs in this review page who have criticized this book's value based upon plot and quality of 'literature'. Your missing the point... And those who criticize Quinn based upon the belief that 'everyone with a brain already knows these ideas' are just plain wrong... YES most of these ideas are ones that every intelligent person knows about deep down, BUT... They've never been presented in such a way, and the simplicity of the language makes his point clear as day. That is why quinn has done a most successful job. Buy it! Read it! Pass it along to someone else! Tell them to do the same!!!
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Summary: read it to your children
Review: Ishmael put the overlooked, obvious objective view, into the forefront. Ishmael is a book everyone should read, especially children. A perfect gift for the disillusioned.
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Summary: read it cover to cover nonstop
Review: i started reading this at my sister's house one night because it was on the coffee table and i was bored. i didn't sleep until i finished it the next day. i just couldn't put it down. if you're buying it for the plot, then don't. the plot is simple and there isn't much in the way of the story. it's the ideas that daniel quinn is conveying that are the core of this book. i didn't find the plot annoying, but it's definately not what this book is all about. like several of the reviewers have pointed out, the ideas are nothing new to someone who thinks about the state of the world for half a second, but the way he puts them together really made me think. and it left my jaw on the floor a couple times, for not realizing some of the things he points out before. he even covers this in the beginning of the book, by referring to these ideas as a mosaic that he's going to pull apart and re-arrange so it looks like a totally different picture by the end. anyway, i personally enjoyed this perspective quite a bit and have recommended this book to practically everyone i know. i din't care for the sequals "my ishmael" and "the story of b" as much, because it is basically the same material with different plots, and new parallels to explain the ideas. this, however, was an amazing read for me.
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Summary: Ishmael
Review: In this book, the mindless chatter of modernity's empty consumerism and the trashing of air, earth, water, fire and our neighbors, are eloquently exposed to the angst-ridden Student through a Gorilla, Ishmael. Uncharacteristically, the Master human listens, and the creature prevails but only through using the Master's Tools of logic and persuasive human speech. But it takes what it takes. I have my doubts that the mind ever persuades the heart as much as one heart persuades another, but this book is one more route to follow in getting "It": to understand that humankind cannot continue its domination of an earth that was not created by or for it. Also recommended: The Price of Immortality by C.M. Whitlock
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Summary: Groundbreaking
Review: People who argue against this book seem to fit into two categories: a) They simply did not find any entertainment value, and thus were unable to listen to the ideas. However, this is probably as entertaining as philosophy or anthropology ever comes.
b) They already had some of these thoughts and maintain their philosophic self-esteem by putting down a groundbreaking book. The ideas are amazing, well put, and if you are brave, will change your life. I am a tracker. I have learned to live as primitive peoples have, and I will tell you that Mother culture's whispers are absolutely lies. Primitive life is easy, leisurely, and meaningful.
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Summary: An insult to your intelligence
Review: If you're thinking of reading this book, it's probably because you're an intelligent and thoughtful individual who enjoys quality literature that challenges you intellectually while engaging you emotionally. Which means this book would be a waste of your time. "Ishmael" is not, despite its categorization as fiction, a novel. It is a work of philosophy, and a poor one. Its central tenet - that human beings, through their total disregard for the world around them, are destroying the Earth and its non-human inhabitants as well as each other - is true enough, but it's also obvious to any halfway thoughtful or literate person. Its secondary tenet, that the media portrays the subjugation and destruction of the Earth's wildlife and environment as an inevitable product of civilization, is almost as trivial. If the book has a tertiary tenet, it's that people in general are so stupid that they need to be told this stuff, and that they need to be told it repeatedly, in language appropriate for casual conversation with a fifth-grader. What else is wrong with this book? Well, it's based on the ridiculous premise of a telepathic ape who lives in an office building and bestows his wisdom on the protagonist, which makes the whole story seem like something Kurt Vonnegut might have written as a joke, if he were capable of writing this badly. The protagonist (if a novel with no story could be said to have a protagonist) is one of the least intelligent characters I've come across in a novel. Presumably this is an excuse for the ape to repeat his teachings, again and again, as if they're in some way revolutionary. So what's *right* about "Ishmael"? Why did it win a prestigious award, and why have so many reviewers - professional as well as Amazon-based - given it high marks? Well, as philosophy books go this one is unusually easy to read and understand. As novels go, it has more of a social conscience than most (although, as I've said, this social conscience is poorly expressed and destroys the book's value as literature). The things "Ishmael" says are true and valuable and might be interesting if they were expressed more thoroughly and in a less patronizing manner. It's not a *bad* book, really. I wouldn't call it a waste of paper. It's just wildly inappropriate for anyone who might read it. A book like this is going to attract an audience of intelligent, educated people: people who have already learned - through other books, or other people, or their own thoughts - everything "Ishmael" has to teach. The people who should consider reading this book, who might really learn something from it - children under the age of, at most, twelve and anyone who has never had an original thought in his life - are not likely to pick it up. Which, I can't restrain myself from saying, isn't a huge loss.
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