Rating: 
Summary: interesting message, oddly written
Review: i won't comment about the style, as many others have- but calling this a novel is pushing it.apparently in order to save the earth, we must abandon not only our evil civilization, but even be prepared to accept our individual deaths (from starvation, disease) as acts in the hands of the gods. tough stuff for even a leaver society to swallow, i think.
Rating:
Summary: More New Age drivel
Review: Oh come on! An answer to anthropocentrism? I give it one star because of the points made about the need to care for the earth. But we knew that, didn't we? Or is this Social Darwinism in disguise? That bit about not over-producing food for worldwide distribution as it will cause ever increasing overpopulation- dying isn't so bad, right? I would submit that there is hardly any worse way to die than by starvation. This book is quasi Socratic trudge to the maxim Live and Let Live. The history is ludicrously simplistic, the metaphor of Takers versus Leavers is ridiculous- and some of the Leavers groups Quinn uses to illustrate his point have some of the worst drug and alcohol problems on the planet. This is new age drivel- yet another guy with another idea which will save the earth. Believe this: If you didn't get it from your Bible you sure as shootin' aren't going to get it from this book.
Rating: 
Summary: High Expectations =>=> So-so Message
Review: I consider myself an open-mined, reasonably enlightened person. I read this book on the recommendation of a good friend, whose prior suggestions I've enjoyed greatly. So, my expectations were fairly high before reading the book. Unfortunately, I felt a sense of disappointment after reading it. While at times interesting, my overall impression is a mix of "duh"and "this is old hat". Like some of the other reviewers, I felt that the author's generalizations detracted from the integrity of the message he was trying to convey. I wouldn't put this one at the top of your list. Nor would I say that it had a significant impact on my life (although several other books have).
Rating: 
Summary: Do not inspect the hand that reaches to help you up
Review: First - Ishmael has the capacity to be a great book, to those with open minds. Second - Several reviewers indicate that the content in Ishmael is good, but the prose is not up to their literary standards. I think they miss the point. Quinn wrote this book to instruct, not to be a literary masterpiece (see Steinbeck, Hemingway, Poe, etc.). The question in my mind is: Does the message alone carry this book to a rating of 5 stars? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!
Rating:
Summary: BEWARE:The Truth here can be permanently mindshattering
Review: The Reader Beware-This book may cause you to be haunted all the rest of your days, but with great effort it will lead you to Enlightenment, since like Buddha you cannot stop until you solve the riddle for yourself. When I read this I had difficulty sleeping at night and doing anything during the day except trying to resolve the truth spelled out. We all instinctively know we are going down the wrong path but to be shown it in front of our own eyes is profoundly disturbing. As disturbing was the obvious answer that came only after extensive research into philosophy, religion, anthropology, and human history; all motivated by the reading of this book. Ask yourself:Why do we feel the past is full of wisdom and the farther back the wiser? Or stated in reverse: Why do we feel the future will be more comfortable but devoid of wisdom? The answer is that what researchers have found all over the globe: Hunter-Gatherers are in Paradise, they never left the Garden, they never ate from the Tree. I cannot tell you what I came to from all this. You would not believe me. What I can tell you is that this book is a catalyst for Change, but only if you are ready to Work, otherwise Beware.
Rating: 
Summary: A serious reflection on what an alternative culture might be
Review: I read this book when it first came out, during high school, and the impression it made on me at the time was profound. Daniel Quinn is a remarkably courageous writer; none of the sequels surpasses _Ishmael_. Rarely have contemporary authors set down to grapple as he does--from such a compelling, imaginative, yet basic premise (a conversation between ape and man)--with the possibility--indeed, the necessity--of finding an alternative to a culture that is at every moment complicit with atrocity and languishing into apathy. Quinn's prose is by no means groundbreaking, and it lacks the philosophical rigor of social theory, but he manages to get at the heart of the matter: we must change. As I return to this book now, much of its appeal seems to lie in a certain reductionism. _Ishmael_ is a patient, passionate, challenging work, but finally it is the challenge that remains. How does one stop living as a "Taker"? It is not enough, Quinn knows, momentarily to feel oneself somehow absolved by one's own desire for an elsewhere, only to continue in the same unconscionable tracks as before. But the "Leaver" way of life the book recommends also suffers from a too-naïve nostalgia for some enlightened primitive state. We cannot simply "walk away," as the book's anecdote about the Aztec tribe suggests should be our model. The difficulty is that we must stay--must force ourselves to stay even if we want to leave--if we are to revolutionize ideas and lives. Still, whatever its elisions and generalities, this is a remarkable work for our age. I only hope that the bestseller status Quinn's books have attained indicates some real stirrings of self-critical consciousness among their readers. Or else even a book like _Ishmael_ risks becoming mere inoculation.
Rating:
Summary: Your Purpose is Held Within
Review: Not only does Ishmael explain in an amazingly articulate, yet easy to read manner, why we are destroying our environment, it explains how we got here. Ishmael makes it blatantly clear that there are many ways to live happily and at peace with nature, but we may never see them if we continue destroying our habitat. Quinn blames the agricultural revolution for the problems that are occurring in our world and makes it very clear why he feels that way. Anyone who has read the bible should have seen it coming but now our only hope may be Ishmael. In the past forty years the population has gone from 3-5 billion people. That may mean that we will face a cataclismic disaster due to overpopulation in our lifetimes. It's time to take life seriously and give Quinn an openminded listen.
Rating:
Summary: Ishmael
Review: I found the book eye opening to the problems of the world that have been going on since to dawn of man kind. I enjoyed the book immensely and would recommend it to anyone. I couldn't put it down!
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Summary: The hard look in the mirror
Review: This book shows the human animal for what we are, the most successful victims of a specie's success. When he talks about the effects of technology and agriculture on our ability to live on this planet, it is like being told for the first time you have a drinking or drug habit. It is a shock and you find yourself wondering how you never saw it. The question is, can we become social drinkers?
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Summary: Ideas in Ishmael pose answers and questions to help humanity
Review: Ishmael poses answers to familiar questions in order to allow people to see how "saving the world" from Quinn's eyes can be possible. But it is not that we are saving the world, it is that we are saving the world by protecting it against what humanity does to it. We cannot continue to destroy this world by overpopulation and over-producing, otherwise, the environment can only worsen. The fact that Quinn uses a telepathic gorilla to be the "teacher" illustrates the fact that maybe animals(with the exception of humans) know how to survive better than humans can because they follow instincts and ideas that already have been proven to work for them. They do not need technology to aid them into a world of laziness and greed. Ishmael is original and special and should be a required book in every middle school and high school across the world. It carries a very important message with it that could alleviate the detrimental affects that humans impose on animals, plants, and land and the earth in general. I have read it three times already and I plan on reading it as often as it takes until these ideas are so instilled in my brain that I totally have the book memorized for more efficient access.
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