Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

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Summary: You'll feel like you've known these things all along...
Review: Have you ever had a nagging feeling that things are not the way they should be? Justified the plight of humanity by telling yourself (or being told) that this is just the way things are, and always have been? Bought into the theory that the earth was a paradise, but humanity, being somehow fundamentally flawed, has managed to screw it up? NOT SO. Read Ishmael and Quinn's other books and you'll start to understand what needs to happen to preserve the world as a habitat for homo sapiens. Hint: it's not passing more laws, it's not initiating new programs, it's not giving up our technology and living like our ancestors, and it's not finding ways to increase the world's food supply. Do not judge this book as a literary artifact, but as a re-discovery of some of the most basic truths about where we have come from, and where we are going as a species.

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Summary: To change the world, we must first change minds.
Review: If you're anything like myself, especially if you're young (I'm a college student), the idea of what you're going to have to put up with for the next 50 years or so disturbs you. Humans are, far and away, the hardest working creatures on the planet, and it doesn't GET us anything. We are also the most disturbed, depressed, psychotic species on the planet. Clearly there is something unnatural about the way we are living. Quinn isn't able to provide any definite answers, although if you read all of his books (I have read Ishmael, My Ishmael, The Story of B, and Beyond Civilization) he CERTAINLY makes suggestions. And, more importantly, he lays out the questions, which is something that most of society seems to avoid doing. Humans are not flawed, but CIVILIZATION is. Does he expect us to return to the life of the "noble savage?" If you've read the rest of his work, you'll know he doesn't. However, he, like many of us, feels that we can do better. And NOT by funnelling more money into things. If it doesn't work, CHANGE it. If you are reading this book as a skeptic, I am sure you will find many flaws within it. After all, it is a teaching, not a paper, and it is published as fiction for a reason (although his non-fiction books may serve you better). However, his books have entirely changed my mind, and, hopefully, will change my life as well. But, as Quinn says in The Story of B, "The world will not be changed by old minds with new programs. The world will be changed by new minds...with no programs." Unless you are entirely satisfied with where the world seems to be headed, read this. And be prepared to think. Quinn is not some prophet who has all the answers we need. He is simply a man who has managed to see the world in a different way than many of us, and is able to illuminate those around him. Read it, learn it, think about it. And, as Quinn says, "You are an inventive species. Invent." Quinn cannot change the world, he can only provide us with an unbelievably useful tool for doing so, through changing your mind. If you are so shallow that you cannot get by the idea of a telepathic gorilla, or so skeptical that you require absolute backup to what is said, don't bother. Your mind is unchangeable, and I pity you. However, if you are uncomfortable with where you see your life going, if you want something MORE, if there is an indetectable THING that bothers you as you go through your everyday life, read this. Warning, though, you may not be the same when you finish.

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Summary: Are you all crazy?
Review: i can't believe all you people buy into all that babble. Ishmael was waste of a perfectly good few hours. it babbled on and on about how humans mess everything up, and how nice everything used to be. and a talkin gorilla was just too far out for me thank you very much. it was basically a VERY long essay. it's not worth the price of the glue that holds it together. save yourself time and brain cells and dont read it.

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Summary: Excellent
Review: A wonderful little book that will shift many of your existing paradigms about life and the stage its played on. Just a new, different and intriguing perspective on things.

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Summary: This is one of the best books that I've read!
Review: When I was a senior in high school, my English teacher recommended this novel to the class. After I graduated, I spent the following summer reading "Ishmael." What an extroadinary book! The title character, a talking gorilla, teaches his pupil about the world, thus embarking on an insightful quest of understanding humanity. I'm proud to have this book as part of my collection. If you like to be enlightened or inspired "to do something," then I strongly recommend "Ishmael."

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Summary: Ishmael
Review: One of the most profound and disturbing books I've read on human beings and culture. A must read for anyone with a conscience.

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Summary: braindead
Review: The most important aspect of storytelling is the story; a single, unified action of some magnitude, whereby characters' fortunes are reversed and their attributes are revealed. Quinn, apparently concerned only with his ideology, failed to construct any sort of a plot, so Ishmael can not rightly be called a story. It can not be dignified with the title of "philosophical Dialogue" either, since few of his premises are substantiated, and his conclusions are drawn from invalidly constructed arguments. Unlike Socrates' friends, Ishmael's pupil never once examines what he is told for internal contradictions. Socrates continually sought wisdom from those who claimed to possess it, whose arguments he then examined objectively, while also proposing through sound and valid propositions his own arguments. Ishmael, however, is quite content with his view of the world; and as it is to him self-evident and unassailable, he never bothers to anticipate any objections, nor does he offer any proofs of its validity. Despite Quinn's frequent use of the word, this book also contains no parables, since a parable is an allegorical story intended to convey a lesson in morality; and there are no stories told with any intended purpose throughout this book. Contrary also to the claims made on the book's cover, this book is certainly not in the least bit adventurous for the mind or spirit. For something of that nature, read Dante, Plato, Ecclesiastes, or the New Testament, as these are works which tend to a more sublime and ultimately rewarding ideal than the virtues of hunting, gathering, and otherwise subsisting always on the verge of starvation. If the hunting and gathering lifestyle was truly as glorious as Ishmael depicts it, surely Quinn's disciples would be moving to the Kalihari, the outback, or some glacier to live at one with nature and sunder their relationship with our culture, which, according to Ishmael, is inherently evil and suicidal. Ishmael would be brilliant, were it deliberately a satire of predominating modern beliefs; but insofar as it intends a serious end, it is a complete failure. If you want a compelling story and brilliant dialogue, read Shakespeare. If you want rationally constructed philosophy, read Plato and Aristotle. If you want a spiritual experience, read the Divine Comedy. If you want insightful social criticisms(with more useful and practical solutions than completely dismantling modern civilization), read G.K.Chesterton or C.Wright Mills. If you want to find evidence that there is indeed something wrong with current American literature, and with the culture which produces it, read Quinn's book. Only in a complete vaccuum of art and ideas can a book like Ishmael achieve any sort of popularity.

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Summary: What a book!
Review: I believe and hope that this book will have a tremendous impact on all who read it. It's for anyone who has ever entertained the thought that our present course is at odds with sustaining life. Daniel Quinn has prophetically articulated a feeling that I think many of us have had for a long time and lends hope in our ability to change course.

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Summary: Ishmael points the finger
Review: Perhaps Daniel Quinn's Ishmael character offers little more than an arm raised, a finger pointed and the suggestion that we "look over there" to freshen our search for a way to get through and beyond our troubled social and ecological predicament. I have spent the last six years since first reading Ishmael exploring and experimenting in the direction of the pointed finger because this avenue has provided a more compelling and encouraging alternative to the path that formed the basis of my 20 years of social activism prior to reading the book.

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Summary: One of the most important books in human history
Review: This book, in a concise, easy-to-comprehend way, nails down exactly where humanity has been, where it is going, and how we messed things up along the way. Simple enough for a young person to read, yet deep enough for any thinking mind, Ishmael is truly a book that will change the way you look at everything. No really... everything. Every few pages seems to hold a number of revelations about our great yet tragically flawed species. Revelations that will make you say "wow" and in many cases, "duh", at the same time. Things that make such perfect and amazing sense that you find yourself amazed that you never realized them before. I first read this in a college course (many thanks Dr. Paulus) and still frequently give it to others as a gift people always appreciate. A recommendation is not enough; this book should be required reading for all humanity.