Ishmael

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Summary: wordy, repetitive, insulting.
Review: Peers have been telling me i ought to read 'ishmael,' and it's counterpart 'the story of b' for quite some time now, because they will "change my life" and "allow me to percieve society in a new light," so finally this past winter break i buckled down like the good book nerd and traversed my way through them. what a dissapointment!!! if one were to make an abridged version of each book, detailing the plot and important concepts discussed, they would have difficulty filling more than a couple of pages! this book reads as though it is geared toward 3rd graders, and deals with concepts that should be 'enlightening' to about the same age group. i'm not trying to insult anyone, but i'm inclined to believe that those who feel they are born anew upon completion of these novelettes are the same people who order from infommercials, and are genuinely dissapointed when the product is bad.

Rating:
Summary: a great book. go read it.
Review: this is really a great book, and it will open you to a perspective you never considered before. i highly suggest you go out and buy and read this book, it is incredible. you will be changed.

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Summary: The bible revised.
Review: Although a bit too idealistic, this book does present a wonderful model for the way humans should live. With early man's development of agriculture, the human race divided into two different groups of people: those who live by the hands of gods and those who attempt to live as gods themselves. This book draws interesting comparisons between these two and illustrates how the human race has damaged the earth and all its other forms of life. I highly recommend it for those "with an earnest desire to save the world."

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the attention it is getting.
Review: When I was first given the book, I've heard about all the spritual rap and how it changes people's life, I was excited. But what a disappointment it was. The nameless student is annoying in that he gives me the impression that he does not even try to think. Ishmael just gives some over-generalization of human nature, then the student is eager to agree. The story line is thin and Ishmael keeps repeating things as if the readers have no memory or that repeating a statement makes it more true. He assmes all the readers are idiots, and just plain out TELL them what they ought to think. I resent that. The student should have provided more counter-arugument. I have many questions to ask but feel left out because the student is too dumb to ask them.

Rating:
Summary: A book which really changes the reader
Review: Ishmael is one of the best, if not the best book I have ever read. I know that I will fail to describe the great impact it had on me, but I know one thing for sure, It's a must read. Quinn does an excellent job of both challenging and stimulating the intellect. This is one book you truly get something out of. From Quinn's views of Genesis, the Agricultural Revolution, the environmental destruction all the "Taker" are causing, and the human cultural myth, they tell a story of how only the "Leavers" truly know how to live.

Ishmael describes how things came to be this way and by doing so contradicts every thing Mother Culture has told the Takers. "Mother Culture, whose voice has been in your ear since the day of your birth, has given you an explanation of how things came to be this way, and it is terribly wrong." This is what Ishmael describes and uses to explain how the Takers can justify taking over the world and destroying everything in its path. By doing this the Takers have lead evolution into a dead end.

I know that this is a fictitious work of literature but all the points Ishmael makes throughout are very valid ones. The ideas brought forth by Quinn challenge us to rethink everything we've ever held dear, but most importantly, they are ideas that could save us. Quinn's views are almost prophetic. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an open mind and an "earnest desire to save the world." Remember, "Any species that exempts itself from the rules of competition ends up destroying the community in order to support its own expansion." Don't let it happen to us.

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Summary: A Thoughtful Presentation of the "Big Problem" with culture
Review: I was given the book Ishmael (at age 54) by a thoughtful student, whom I taught in an industrial training course. Since I taught the course miles away from my home, and he was in his home, the student and I had spent several evenings discussing all kinds of technological impact on society. He is an engineer and I am a computer trainer.

I have read a number of Neal Postman's books, and recommended some of them to my friend. I have always felt that if someone is interested in Technology, then Postman's Technopoly is a must read.

Well, my student recommended just one book for me to read. In fact, the last time we saw each other, he gave me his personal copy of Ishmael to read. I told him that I would return Ishmael with my personal copy of Technopoly.

My first take on Ishmael is that it is a profound book. When Ishmael told us about how the guerrila family was like a hand and individual guerillas were like connected fingers, I just knew that Quinn was going to have some real insights.

Then when diversity of population types was discussed, I realized that this short discussion, even though not original, was right to the point.

In the end, Ishmael has been a profound read for me. It has given me a number of new images to consider, new understandings on many cultural events and movements that have always repulsed me.

I highly recommend this book. It is not a novel, and should only be read and to be reflected on. Those thoughtful readers out there will like Ishmael. Those who spend their time reading Romance novels and the like will not like Ishmael. Ishmael will not go away during an afternoon nap, for even after such a nap, the problems Ishmael discusses will be right there facing us again and again.

Thanks, Daniel Quinn for your hard work.

Rating:
Summary: PROFOUNDLY SIGNIFICANT LITERARY WORK OF OUR TIMES!
Review: I can only say this. You could go on with your life pretending that every thing is fine or you could read Ishmael. This book can probably impart to you the most vital and profoundly important message of our times and leave you breathless and wanting to do some thing right away. This has happened to me and the book has strangely vetted many unspoken musings of mine and left me simply flabbergasted. I have seen pretty much the same results in those who read it on my recommendations. The book is simply life altering in that it gets to the root of all the maladies that beset the human condition today and leaves you gasping. I believe it is for every one who reads to come up with the next steps to try and nibble away at the grotesque monster that threatens to swiftly propel us to our extinction.

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Summary: I had never looked at life from this perspective before!
Review: This book was to me, what religion is to most. I cried, smiled, and felt totally changed with each chapter. Quinn epidomized the lack of questioning that our society has reduced itself to. By rexamining culture and society through Ishmael's eyes I found the motivation and the strength to refuse the "meat grinder" our society is trying to create out of each one of us. I challenge the rest of you who have not yet, to pick this book up and let it change the lense from which you see life. I carry this book (metaphorically speaking) with me every day. Thank you Daniel Quinn for so eloquently raising such important questions!

Rating:
Summary: I thought "Ishmael" was a very interesting book.
Review: I read this book with my high school English class this year, and I found it very enlightening and thought provoking.

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Summary: An important catalyst for thought and action
Review: Last January my mother sent me Ishmael as a birthday gift. I had not heard of it, and I was skeptical. Then, a couple of months later (not having cracked the book), I received a package from my stepmother -- which also contained Ishmael. I was overwhelmed by this bizarre coincidence, and decided it was time to give it a try. I couldn't help but feel mystical about having received it twice in two months (even my very rational father was blown away).

To echo so many other readers: I am not the same person I was before reading Ishmael. Ishmael has been a springboard in my own spiritual and intellectual journeys, spurring me on to other important reading, thinking and dreaming about what I can do to make a difference.