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Summary: The Matrix is real, for a rose by any other name,..
Review: Wake up, Neo...The Matrix has you.. and so you may discover that a gorilla can help you become "unplugged". No review or paraphrasing can summarize this book. Just like Morpheus said, "No one can tell you what the Matrix is, you have to experience for yourself". So it is with "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn. If you like animals and you have ever felt as if you've been held captive by our society, then you must read this book. You may find that it is almost devastating how well a gorilla articulates feelings you've been unable to express your entire life. Beware however, for the reading of this book may bring feelings of alienation to you.
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Summary: Interesting ideas, but a terrible book
Review: The ideas contained in this book are fascinating; they are presented and explained in an interesting, occasionally gripping way, although there is an abundance of smugness and intellectual snobbery. Were Ishmael a book of essays, I would call it a great read. However, it isnt such a tract; it is presented as a novel, in the loosest sense of the term. It is essentially about Ishmael, a gorilla (who is, of course, far faaaaaaaar wiser than any human) and his student, a nameless writer, and their series of discussions about the nature of mankind and its place on earth. Well, I say discussion, but it isnt really; the gorilla of course has all the answers, and the man is presented as a devout student who is in awe of the other's wisdom. The deck is totally stacked; the writer reacts to everything with disbelief, only to strike his brow in wonder when he is proven worng by the brilliant simian. Anytime it seems to be a dialogue is really just Ishmael patronizing the man. The few attempts at suspense or emotion are laughable. Even the interesting ideas are often marred by the self-righteous presentation. But it isn't a totally worthless book, it is eye-opening.
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Summary: wonderful!!
Review: I read this book 8 years ago and it had a huge impact on me. It made me consider the role humans have on our planet. I loved that the teacher in this book was an animal, as it helped me look through the world and civilization through its eyes. I wish I could make everyone read it, and only hope that they love it the way I do.
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Summary: OUTDATED AND TRITE
Review: This book was insulting to read. It assumed its readers did not have a basic understanding of evolution, anthropology and philosophy. Ishmeal is about a great ape who teaches a human about our place in the world, trite, very trite. It was tremendously annoying to have to imagine an erudite gorilla pontificating telepathically to a student while chewing on a stick. This book is very outdated. Its message can be summed up in one sentence...Humans are not the center of the universe and therefore should not live that way. There, I just saved you $13.95 (plus shipping and handling).
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Summary: Think. Ponder. Worry about your own role in the world
Review: This unique and powerful novel will change the way you view the world, the history of humankind, and the destruction we are perpetuating on Mother Earth. One reviewer describes it as "socially urgent", and I would also agree that any human being of any religion, any social class, and any race will find universal truths here - it is indeed a "spiritual adventure". It was written to rock our world and it is a powerful argument for the re-examination of our own behavior in terms of the lives we lead and the environment and other species we are destroying. Not one for great social activism, this book still moved me in a way that both exhilarated and depressed me, but mostly scared me. It left me with the feeling that I am too small and insignificant to change the path of this primitive flying machine we call our culture. The story itself is a bit odd. The narrator responds to a simple advertisement by a teacher seeking an 'earnest pupil'. The teacher turns out to be a great ape (which is necessary because the human being needs to view the world and his culture through the eyes of a non-human species). Ishmael, the great Ape, is indeed a powerful teacher. I learned as much from him and through this dialogue as any education setting in which I have ever been engaged. Ishmael explains our cultural perspectives, our biological evolution, he even explains the social and historical meanings in Genesis (a particularly thought-provoking thesis). This is not a long or complicated book, but it is one of overwhelming urgency that anyone can understand and digest. I urge you to read this.
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Summary: Mind blowing!
Review: A recent reviewer of age 14 recently wrote that Ishmael was the most boring book he ever read. He had been forced to read it in school and complained that there was no "action" in the book. It has been said that "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear." Obviously, this young person was not ready to meet Ishmael. He went on to say that he hopes no other kid will ever have to read the book again. I read the book when I was a teenager and I still consider it the best book I ever did read. And I know many other young people who love this book and find it changed the way they view the world and see their place in it. Perhaps some people can never appreciate a book like Ishmael, but I rarely find that anyone who reads this book thinks it's boring. Of course, it makes you actually THINK, so if you're not one prone to actually thinking, and you're just looking for an action-adventure, maybe you should read The Hardy Boys. But perhaps the person being forced to read the book in school, didn't give it a chance. I know some people who hated it when they read it in school and then loved it in their twenties. I think the teachers are doing well by having people read this book, though, because it truly is the most important book ever written. "Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person." Read Ishmael and let him teach you a story few in our culture have heard. Enter into dialogue vicariously through this wonderful book and you will never see things the same again!
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Summary: Worst book I ever read
Review: Ishmael, is personally, the worst book I ever read. I had to read it for school, and I was falling asleep trying to read it. There is no action, whatsoever. In like the whole book, they are sitting in that room, discussing the end of the world. The slightest action takes place when Ishmael goes to the cricus, but still, boooooring. After they talked and talked for the whole book, Ishmael dies, and it just ends right there. The man doesn't even do anything. Just cuts off with the writing on the poster. Personally, I hope that no one my age has to ever read this book again, for it is incredibly boring.
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Summary: Ideas for a new eco-consciousness?
Review: Bravo Daniel. He wanted us to think, to stir debate, to get us to see life from another perspective. Daniel Quinn's Ishmael has a strong narrative hook - a guru gorilla - which sets the book apart from many of the too-sanctimonious tomes which scold us for our environmentally-unfriendly behavior. Are we takers when we should be leavers? You'll make up your own mind, of course, but I think Daniel has encouraged thousands of people to rethink their relationship with the earth. He explains ideas that people may have felt, but not articulated. Has he been successful? Ishmael has 322 reader reviews on amazon.com, as of this morning, and I challenge you to find many other books which have touched so many people so deeply.
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Summary: Life Changing Book!!!
Review: This book is amazing! Take away conceptions of anything one might want to place on this book- and look at what it's trying to say. It tells us the history of man, in a book that many would choose to pick up, a fiction. If one hasn't thought of the ideas that Quinn gives us, they can't ignore them after. I suggest this book with every fiber of my being. There's a message in here that needs to be heard. A beautiful one. Thank you Daniel Quinn!!!!!
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Summary: Our cultural mythology is driving us toward self-destruction
Review: With the clever strategy of using a non-human animal (a gorilla) as his main character, Daniel Quinn manages to address very important questions about human beings and society. Indeed, he points out that if we are living the way we are now, it is because of the myths we internalized throughout our history. Thus, despite the fact that we are not consciously aware of what these myths are, or that they even exist, they do influence our every day lives. The main point of the book is to make us aware of our own cultural myths by educating us about other world cultures that do not share the same mythology. Quinn claims that the core belief of our culture is something like this: "Man was meant to rule over the entire world, and use all its resources for his own good, and this is the one right way to live. However, there is something fundamentally wrong with human nature, and that is why things are not going well for us." Daniel Quinn then goes on arguing that it is this belief that is driving our species toward catastophe, as human beings are using up the Earth's resources too quickly, as well as destroying species they think are not useful to them, thus putting in danger the fragile equilibrium of the web of life, which evolved over many million years. Quinn brings us the positive message that there is nothing wrong with human nature per se, and that what is leading us toward self-destruction is only the mythology of our own culture, which we have to change if we want our species to have a future. It is a very interesting and fascinating trip to follow Ishmael back in time to discover the origins of our cultural myths as, if this book is a fiction for practical purposes, it is remarkably well documented with real anthropological studies and observations. Whether you agree with Quinn's interpretations or not, you will look at the state of things from a different angle, as you will then try to uncover why things we take so often for granted came to be the way they are now. Something is going wrong with the world, we all have this feeling deep inside us; it is now time to know why and to do something about it! . . . .
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