Ishmael

Rating:
Summary: Truly the formula for saving the world
Review: There is so much to say about this book.

First, I would like to mention that I do not lightheartedly rate the book 5 stars. This rating is after a great deal of thought and contemplation about the book.

A bit about the background of this book: this book is actually an entry into a contest hosted by Ted Turner. I personally know one other person who entered the contest, but obviously did not win. The contest: write a book that explains how to save the world.

I believe Daniel Quinn can save our world. Did you know our world needed to be saved?

This book is so real, so true, so hard-hitting, that you will never, ever, ever....., ever............, EVER think of the world the same way again.

I guarantee you - you will feel like you know a secret that nobody else does. You will wonder how farmers and agriculturalists can be so brutal. You will have a wonderous epiphany as to what is "wrong" with the world, what has been so terribly wrong for the last 10,000 years. This book does not discredit any religion, nor does it particularly preach any religious beliefs. However, there are some irresistable passages give us a highly possible explanation for the origin of some religious concepts. It even addresses creationism (neither affirming nor denying it) with a format I have never seen or thought possible.

Did you know hunter-gatherers had a lifestyle so luxurious, that they spent about 3 hours each day working (compare this to the average American workday of 8 hours.) And not only were they well fed, but they even had the rest of the day to fulfill their daily whims and interests?

You will read this book, because if you do not, you will never, ever know the secret to saving the world. This book can do it.

If you only have 5 minutes a day to spend reading, you should read this book. You'll finish it in no time at all (it is a relatively slim volume).

And, finally, if you can tell someone about this book, and reccommend it to them, and make sure they read it, and this process continues for a few years... Believe me, the world will be saved.

Rating:
Summary: A New Perspective
Review: This is the only book that I can say truly changed the way that I look at the world around me. Not only does Quinn express his beliefs, but he supports them with evidence and integrates them into modern religions and lifestyles.

Rating:
Summary: pro or anti- Ayn Rand?
Review: If your read Ayn Rand's the Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged, you have to wonder if Daniel Quinn read a lot of her books because the them of his book appears to be exactly the opposite philosophy of Ayn Rand, except progress is present in a primitive ape. Daniel Quinn may have an agenda for all to debate.

Rating:
Summary: Enemies of Life
Review: Whatever technical faults or literary shortcomings the book might have, its value lies in its perspective. It is an anthroplogical perspective that exposes the mythological foundations of all cultures--mythological in the sense that the information people have about themselves (their origins, purpose, and destiny) is accepted uncritically. Our culture is no exception; it, too, is mythological to the core. Before we even know to ask, we have the answers. We learn them from mom and dad, Sunday School, kindergarten, t.v., books, movies, etc....The meaning of the world, our place in it, and human destiny are questions that do not occur to us because they've already been answered.

This perspective allows us to see that the basic assumptions we operate with are not natural endowments or inherent structures of the human mind; they are creations of it. How we make a living in this world is merely an enactment of certain ideas, a product of our culture. It is not the natural course of things that we live this way (which would be a sneaky way of blaming God for the mess we're making). We can't change our nature (whatever that may be) but we can change our culture.

So what is this book? It is a critique of culture that examines the assumptions that have reconciled us with the consequences of counter-selective behavior (i.e. totalitarian agriculture) and have made us the enemies of life.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This is the best book I ever read. It has given me a entirely new perspective on everything.

Rating:
Summary: A life changing experience.
Review: First, let me start by saying I am not a strong reader. I am not a quick reader, and I don't read for pleasure.

That being said, I read this book cover to cover based upon a friends recommendation. I must say, that it was a life altering experience.

Without giving as much away as some of the other reviewers, I will say that there is so much in this book that everybody in the world should know. If we haven't figured it our for ourselves, then we should be taught it. I wish someone had forced me to read this book in high school. It is just that important.

Will this book, or the many people who have read it be the only source for savior for the world??? Probably not. But we will certainly help.

Two final comments. 1st - this book is in narrative form (ex: Jim said this. Joe said this) - which bothers some people, but I got used to it. Second - everyone says this is either a love it or hate it book, but I have yet to meet ANYBODY that hates it.

5 Stars is not enough.

Rating:
Summary: Life after Ishmael...
Review: This has been one of the most important and enlightening books I have ever read - it touched so many issues that I had thought about, but hadn't been able to articulate. If you've ever wondered, even for a moment, what our place is in the universe, you must read this book!

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've read (and reread!)
Review: I first read Ishmael in 1992. I had been working for a couple years to establish the Green Party and was very concerned about the environment. Ishmael helped me connect the dots to the source of our problems. This is one of the most important books you can read. I highly recommend the book.

Rating:
Summary: Whooo!
Review: This book is essential to the human race. It presents ideas that have been staring people in the face, but that we just havent picked up on. There is a warning in the beginning of the book that pretty much says once you read past a certain point, then there is no going back. That is true beyond imagination. After reading the book, I have looked at the world in a different way, and feel compelled to take action. Please, please, please take the time to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Don't read reviews, read the book
Review: This is the kind of book that is best taken in without any preconceptions of what you will take away from it. Because of this, I don't believe in reading the reviews at all, but apparently you do, because you're here, so I might as well explain myself. Ishmael may not be a literary feat in terms of vocabulary or style, but I dare say this is a positive rather than a negative trait. It is written to dazzle us with ideas, not with words. Even the ideas that dazzle us may not feel so dazzling, especially not when we first take them in because the logic seems so sound, so natural, the dazzling part comes when we realize WE'RE NOT LIVING THIS WAY. If you continue reading reviews you will find many negative ones. They will probably subscribe to one or both of two possible categories of grief, the claims of whom can easily (and should be) dispelled:

1) "It's not a novel. It's not written as a novel. It's stupid to use a telepathic gorilla because gorilla's aren't telepathic. He could have summed up his whole idea in one sentence. A total waste of my time."
---No, it's not a novel in the sense of having the entire point being the development of plot and characters. It has both of those things,(which is why it is perhaps more appropriate to classify it as a novel than as anything else) but they take second place to letting the reader identify himself as the student slowly coming to understand his teacher's point of view. Perhaps he could have summed his whole idea in one sentence (and probably does somewhere in the book) but it would have been way too big to swallow--you have to understand and accept (to some degree) a different point of view before you can discard the one you've somewhat unconsciously held on to throughout your life. Believe it or not, that takes some time. And if you can't spare just a couple of hours to listen to and seriously consider a new and important view on life and let your mind be opened, even just a little, then you have your priorities way out of whack.

2) "It's impossible for us to do what he says. He wants us to get back to nature, go hug a tree, throw all our technology out the window and proclaim it evil, somehow reverse time and go back to living in caves. We can't do that! It would be terrible, and uncomfortable. And besides, "tribal living" wasn't as great as he seems to think it is or people would still be doing it."
---Maybe if he were telling you to throw all technology and modern comforts out the window, no questions asked it would be impossible. But Daniel Quinn is saying NO SUCH THING. He's not saying technology is evil, it is a good thing that we can increase the quality of life. What should be done away with is having things for the sake of having them and relying on a system where a few people have all these conveniences and others are literally starving to death because they cannot get access to the resources we have stashed away. He's not asking us to reverse time, but to reverse our path for the future. Neither does he portray tribal living as any sort of utopia. Bad things still happen, people are not perfect, but they are as good as they need to be. They deal with people expecting them to be only as good as they already are. It may appear to be a "harder" life to those of us who live comfortably in this society who can't imagine giving up our excesses, but imagine how much better it would be for those individuals who are struggling at the very bottom. That's not to say that the rich would have to sacrifice for the benefit of the poor, because the entire world would benefit in ways hard to even imagine possible. People are still living tribally, everywhere that it is still possible. Unfortunately, we have made it impossible for people to live as they want to by dominating vital resources and forcing them to live like we do.

Still other people will say that what Daniel Quinn says is nothing new. This I cannot argue with, until they say that this is somehow a bad thing. It's not meant to be new. He says many times that these are thoughts or ideas he expects many people to have had at least in passing. What Daniel Quinn accomplishes that few, if any others have, is showing us WHY WE HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO ACCEPT THEM BEFORE.

I will end my rampage here, saying only that I think this book holds something special for everybody that approaches it with an open mind. To avoid it because of somebody else's fearful dismissal of it would truly be tragic.