Rating: 
Summary: A thought provoking book
Review: Daniel Quinn's message is long overdue. It will make you question some of your most intimate visions of how life should be on planet earth, and what is mankind's role. In some parts of the book, the author may seem to provide a rather strong pessimistic view of the current global conditions. Overall the ideas are amazingly original, and allows us to think and maybe even change the way we treat the world and all its inhabitants.
Rating:
Summary: How Ishmael is like Lubriderm
Review: I find that Lubriderm is a fantastic lotion for my body, especially after I emerge from my weekly shower. In this way, so does Ishmael cleanse my heart and soul and saturate me with ideas that cleanse my impure thoughts and emotions. Michael Jackson is my hero. Much like Daniel Quinn, he moves and grooves to the music of a different culture, namely the culture of our ancestors, the Leavers.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Incredible
Review: The book is full of incredible ideas that are merely a springboard for the sequels, "The Story of B" and "My Ishmael." It puts into words my thoughts and doubts about the world and our place in it with a clarity that is lacking in many other similar books. It opens up our eyes to the possibility of learning from the past-- not the few thousand years ago that most of us remember, but instead the history of all of our ancestors.
Rating: 
Summary: A book that tries to shake people's worlds, and often does
Review: I am very interested in the reviews that say either 1) that what Daniel Quinn says is not true, and his facts/logic/interpretations/generalizations are wrong, or 2) that what he says is nothing new, just a bunch of ideas that anthropologists and biologists have been debating for some time. What I want to hear from the reviewers of the first group is an alternative story. Most of the people who criticize parts of Quinn's ideas do not have a story to tell, as he does. Though they find his story faulty, they don't offer to put anything in its place, which leaves us with the distinctly inadequate story of Mother Culture. What I want to hear from second group is an explanation of why these ideas-if any of them may be true-are not earth-shaking. Surely the fate of our civilization and the world we live in is not something to be casually debated or shrugged off. I have provided my email address in the hopes that someone will help me learn about either subject. Please email me, and if possible give me specific examples from this book (or the other books). If you don't have a complete answer, we can dicuss these ideas anyway. By the way, I have resorted to the by-now old trick of rating the book one star when I would actually give it four. This is because I really want you to tell me what you think. As for my actual opinions on the book....I found this book easy to read and not at all boring or needlessly repetitive. The author is clearly a bit smug and very confident about his ideas. The "storyline" is obviously tacked on. The ideas in this book made me think a lot about humanity's place in the world, human social structure, the ecosystem, prehistory, and other things, and it changed what I had thought before.
Rating:
Summary: A Different Look At The Same World
Review: Daniel Quinn's Ishmael presents a new perspective by looking at modern culture through the eyes of an outsider. In this story a man learns more about his own culture from Ishmael, a very educated gorilla with the power to talk telepathically. Ishmael explores our culture's 'truths' as myths. This book is thought provoking and well worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: i am trying to be a number
Review: i like to see night time sugar specials like happy happy. a fun tease is jump to ninety nine on a hop board. GUNG! Simon Awesome! i wish for smile to take a nice plane to water bed warehouse. i jump!
Rating:
Summary: This book will change your mind!
Review: This book is capable of changing people's minds about how we live and how we fit into this world. Minds need to be changed to make things better, not laws.
Rating:
Summary: a must-read
Review: by far, the most important words i have ever read; what's more, i haven't heard less fiery testimony from any i've convinced to read it. you must give quinn a chance.
Rating:
Summary: Intentionally misunderstood for its truth.
Review: Quinn poses one premise in this book: Man, despite believing that it is the very best that the universe has to offer, may not know so much. Quinn then draws a parable to give that premise a great deal of substance. Most readers are much too entrenched in material comforts and enslavements to appreciate this brave statement. And so they pass the book off as eccentric, cultish, and idealistic. This book changed, permanently, the way I view the world around us. So, much that after I read it I had to leave the country for a brief time, for horror at our ignorance. If you are happy inside your bubble, don't bother wasting your time reading this fascinating tale. However, if you want someone to put words to that feeling that you had that humans are not the epitomy of creation, that there is much more to be had than the cycle that we are currently in, that creation is only beginning, this book will ring true. If this review has made no sense to you, then don't worry yourself. If you do pick up the book, read the sequels, as they depict developing ideas about how our society could actually maintain itself in a healthy happiness. Quinn poses solutions, not questions.
Rating: 
Summary: Bizarre
Review: Man has always found ways to do the wrong thing. Going to mother this and mother that for direction is a large step into the fantasy world. What institution did Quinn escape from?
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