Rating: 
Summary: Planet of the Ape Celestine Prophecy
Review: I dunno... the central angle of this book, that all the world's schools of thought are wrong...EXCEPT THIS ONE, is a bit hard to take. The narrator character, disillusioned with his previous gurus and mentors, finds enlightenment from a psychic gorillia, who apparently offers little different than his former teachers, other than he's a big hairy ape. Some people like this book, but not me.
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Summary: If you are happy with your life, do not read Ishamael!
Review: I have been a pastor in a major protestant denomination for nearly 20 years. Reading Ishmael was one of the most profound experiences of my life! I concede that, as a literary work, Quinn's book is not the most artistic or engaging. The ideas represented in it may also be described elsewhere. But, I have never found all of these ideas presented in such an accessible way that allowed me to hear them.I became convinced that for years as a pastor I had been serving "Mother Culture" rather than serving God. I find Quinn's description of the origin of the idea of original sin profound and compelling. (They never taught us this in Sunday school or seminary!) Though I find the Christian church well-intentioned and its core message of love and acceptance important for our world, I found I could no longer remain in my role as a pastor (or as a Christian) and still have integrity. As a biblical scholar, a person of faith and a seeker of truth, I highly recommend Ishmael. If you are happy with your life as it is and do not care about your children's future, do not read this book!
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Summary: An interesting new way of looking at the world
Review: Quinn has written a book that truly tries to "think outside the box" and look at where we as humans may have gotten "off the track" with nature. Many people consider this to be a life changing book. While good and though provoking, I hardly see it as life shattering. Every few years or so there is a new book that people speak reverantly of, as the one that really touched them. When I was in college, everyone was about Kahlil Gibran's "Prophet." So it is not surprising to see how people are agog at this book. The idea is simple - a socratic dialog between the narrator and the mentor, who in this case happens to be a telepathic gorilla. This unusual pairing signals immediately that the normal framework that the reader may have expected is not going to happen. And indeed, it is a launching point to re-examining our place in the world from another perspective. Yes, it is eye opening and very powerful to look at the world from a different perspective. However, the assumption given is that this is a much better way of looking at the world than our current view. Maybe yes. Maybe no. That is where the life changing aspect takes hold. As an exercise in thinking differently, and viewing the world from a new perspective, it is an excellent book. As the roadmap how to change and live our lives, well I just didn't see that. But evidently others do. It's all in your perspective.
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Summary: A special comprehend-it-all-in-one-theory style book
Review: This is one of those books of the same genre as Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainance". In other words, it is one of those books which tries to convince the reader of an essentially brand new vision (metaphysics?) of the world. Its not really sufficient to say just that and nothing else, of course. While Pirsig's work is much more general and philosophical in character, Quinn's gives the reader more concrete material
to consider. With Quinn, we have specific information about the historical devlopment of mankind and its ways of governing itself and creating civilizations. Quinn's book deserves to be ranked among thought provoking favorites like Pirsig's...
Rating: 
Summary: "Will there be hope for man?"
Review: Deep in thought but thin on plot, Daniel Quinn's award-winning novel is actually a series of telepathic, Socratic dialogues between an enlightened gorilla (Ishmael) and a less evolved human (the narrator), a student who has "an earnest desire to save the world" (p. 4). Over the course of several days (and 263 pages), Ishmael takes his student on an educational journey that encourages him to rethink man's relationship with the Earth. Ishmael teaches us "to discern the voice of Mother Culture humming in the background, telling her story over and over again" (p. 37), murmuring in our ears, "there's nothing to think about, nothing to worry about, just listen to my voice and go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep" (p. 53). There are two ways of living, Ishmael observes, taking and leaving. Whereas "Takers" (our culture) believe the world belongs to man, "Leavers" (hunter-gatherers) believe that man belongs to the world (p. 240). Since 8000 B.C., he tells us, the Taker story line (derived from the Bible) has regarded "the world as a sort of human life-support system, as a machine designed to produce and sustain human life" (p. 59). This way of life "makes people stupid and destructive and greedy and shortsighted" (p. 83), and leads to greed, cruelty, mental illness, crime and drug addiction (p. 147). In other words, the Taker mentality has brought civilization to the point of collapse in just five hundred generations (p. 119). The 3,000,000-year-old story line of the Leavers is: "Take what you need, and leave the rest alone" (p. 127). Ishmael reminds us, "the world was not made for any one species" (p. 145). After living harmlessly on the planet for over three million years, the Leavers have become the "endangered species most critical to the world--not because they're humans but because they alone can show the destroyers of the world that there is no one right way to live" (p. 248). If we want to save Mother Earth, ISHMAEL teaches us that we must first liberate ourselves from Mother Culture, possibly alienating ourselves from our friends, family and associates in the process (p. 37). And then we must change the way we live our lives. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: Worth Reading
Review: Initially I liked the book's dialogue style. But after a while it becomes a drag. I feel the author could have continued the style for probably the first 50 pages, and then could just have stated all he wanted to say as an essay in another 10 pages. But then again, an essay style may not have the reach that this book's style has. The author has a very good point about how human beings have taken over the world as if its their own and are just gobbling it up. I also like his notion of culture being the enactment of a story. I do not claim that humans are the goal of evolution or that the world was created for them. But I dont agree with the laws that the author states as being valid for all species. I can think of several things that are different about us. For instance, no other animals cook food or fight with weapons that are not part of their body. I am quite irritated with the author's view, or rather the book's view that all taker cultures are enacting the Adam and Eve story in some form. I am an Indian and I am not aware of any story, anywhere similar to it. This means that our mythology has nothing as well known as the Adam and Eve story. Hence the author's ingenuous insights into the story - and this constitute about a quarter of the book- fail to resonate with me. Having said all that, the book is interesting and has definitely left an impression on me.
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Summary: The Height of Stupidity...
Review: I read this book as part of an introductory undergraduate course in cultural anthropology. I'd not heard of it at the time, and the professor seemed quite excited about our reading it. I respected his opinions and began the book with an open mind. However, what I found myself reading was really, really bad. Now, I'm no genius by any standard (except for chimps), but *I* could have come up with a better format for the presentation of this information, if you want to call it that. The underlying ideas found in this book are interesting for sure, though more mature and developed versions of similar ideas can be found in
the work of other, better authors. As far as the writing is concerned, it's certainly nothing special. I don't understand why so much praise was heaped upon this book. I think as far as spiritually-minded books are concerned this one is the literary equivalent of "Con Air." It's stupid, cliched, has nothing original to say at all (the whole Genesis allegory is pretty well-known now), and above all, is so implausible as to be idiotic. If you're looking for truly challenging ideas, writing or plotlines, please look elsewhere. I'd rather read the children's classic "But I'm Not Sleepy," than ever look at this drivel again. Ugh... Having said all that, Quinn's pilfered ideas are not without merit and it might be healthy to mull them over a teensy bit.
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Summary: Ishmael: A Critical Analysis of Civilization
Review: It is a general rule that any particular culture can only be understood by someone outside of it - a neutral observer, unaffected by prejudice or indoctrination. This is the reasoning behind Quinn's choice of a gorilla named Ishmael as the main character of this novel, who conducts a series of dialogues analyzing the whole of civilization itself. But what is the civilization that Quinn looks at? Instead of muttering about monumental building and written language, Quinn treats civilization in a method that is becoming increasingly popular: as the result of a critical mass of humanity that makes possible rapid advances in knowledge and science. For this to be possible, intensive agriculture must be used to raise the population density to such a point that civilization occurs. So Quinn uses a gorilla as an outsider looking in and perceiving the reality of civilization - of cultures using intensive agriculture to dominate the world. His conclusions are for the most part negative: he concludes that civilization is not sustainable in the long term (that is, over millions of years). The observations used to come to this conclusion are relatively well-known; that civilization is the greatest disaster to befall earth in the past 65 million years. In terms of pollution, deforestation, extinction, and overall negative impact to the web of life itself, humanity is supreme among all the species. What Quinn does not share with the others who know these facts is a belief that civilization will overcome any difficulties it encounters. Civilization, to Quinn, is the problem, not the solution. _Ishmael_ is the presentation of these ideas in a Socratic method from a gorilla to a man "with an earnest desire to save the world." There isn't really any plot to this book, nor does Quinn intend there to be. The disappearance of Ishmael at the end of book is the only story-like element in _Ishmael_, and it is really an attempt by Quinn to set the reader free - to encourage him/her to think about civilization for himself rather than be told about it by a telepathic gorilla. I've always had the feeling that this should be considered nonfiction, rather than a story. The problem presented by _Ishmael_ is simple: civilization is the problem. The solution is both simple and complex: in order to preserve a human niche in the ecosystem, we must go beyond civilization. Working to figure out just what this means is one of the great joys of reading _Ishmael_, whether or not you agree with Quinn's assessment of the situation. _Ishmael_ is a book that will make you look around and think, and perhaps reach some conclusions that you may find surprising. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Ishmael
Review: When I began reading this book I thought it would be interesting, as it had been highly reccommended to me. But I was in for a big surprise. This book has possibly changed my life - or at least opened my eyes. As soon as I picked it up I just couldnt stop reading. I started one evening and halfway through a lecture at university the next day I was finished. That was this morning. Since then I havent been able to stop thinking about the messages it conveys about society and mankind and thier place in the world. Written extremely cogently... Tomorrow I'm going to the library to look for more of David Quinn's books!
Rating:
Summary: Ishmael
Review: Ishmael is an amazing book that will change the way you look at the world. It lays out the groundwork for saving the world in a couple hours. What more could you ask for?
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