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Summary: Yet another who loved it...
Review: Yes, I confess, I loved ISHMAEL (as well as Daniel Quinn's other works)and feel that reading it was a life-changing experience for me. I read it in the summer of 1993 and as a result not only were my eyes opened to many of Mother Culture's myths but I learned (from other readers) of many other books/web sites etc...pertaining to the same topic. Like other readers, it was a relief for me to know that I am not the only one who felt there is something wrong with the way we Taker humans live our lives. Reading ISHMAEL is like a slap of cold water to the face--it really wakes you up to some truths about our culture & society. I have recommended it to many friends & family members & almost all have said they enjoyed reading it, and some have even furthered the process by recommending it to their friends & family.
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Summary: Read It!! Order copies for your Friends!!! Pass it along!!
Review: The book was an optional reading assignment for a Native American Studies class at the U of M - Missoula. Ishmael proposes answers to questions long pondered by philosophers and anthropologists. Are the answers viable? Do they make sense? The questions beg for each reader to search within his own point of reference and belief system to determine to what degree Ishamel suggests the truth. The most significant point that the book makes for me is to challenge the arrogant belief that homo sapiens are the most highly evolved species on earth. For 15 months now, I have had a much different perspective on the course my life has taken. I have purchased the book and gifted several of my friends with a copy. I suggest others do the same. Not your standard new-age read.
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Summary: Most important analysis of humanity & history ever written
Review: As a sixteen year old, I feel lucky to have read Ishmael when I did. "My eyes were opened"... yes, it's said over and over again when people read literature of this sort and caliber. But myself, I found it the perfect reaction. There is something wrong with what the history texts say, or at least the way they say what they do... Ishmael helped me realize that. But more than that, there is something wrong with everything you hear. The news, the cinema, the vast majority of books, your parents, your friends- after reading Ishmael, you experience what it's like to be a stranger. Someone who has read Ishmael among billions who haven't! What do you do except hope that others join you? Luckily, many have, and most of those who have like what they hear. Of course, critical reviews like the one from Kirkus Reviews can't tell you any of this. They say things like, "he's too preachy". Or, "his storytelling abilities are lacking",! ! but what else can they say? Can the reviewer write a review like "this book changed my life like no other of the thousands I've read... in fact, all other books seem somewhat meaningless compared to Ishmael"? Of course not, if the reviewer intends to retain his employment. This book, in my view, should be required reading for the entire human race. Daniel Quinn's views of Genesis, of the Agricultural Revolution, of environmental destruction, and of human cultural myth are timeless. They are ideas that must be presented to you and I, to humanity. They are ideas that challenge us to rethink everything we've ever held as dear... but most importantly, they are ideas that could save us. The only bad thought that sticks in my mind after Ishmael is "what if I had never read it?"
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Summary: A can't-put-down read and a won't-let-go challenge
Review: _________________________________________________ I met "Ishmael" almost three years ago... July, 1995, Lake City, Colorado. I had managed to escape to the Rockies for two months of primitive camping and cabin building after leaving California (on my way to Tennessee). "Ishmael" was the perfect follow-up to "The Source" by Michener, and "Zen & The Art..." by Pirsig. It fully opened my eyes to the fact that there really is another way to build a society. It has taken me the three years since to discover that Ego is my greatest obstacle to stepping out in courage. Emerson wrote: "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide...The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried". Thanks--in part--to "Ishmael", I now know I can choose to break away from the current illusion of life I have constructed, and listen to that small but powerful voice within. I choose to stop dreaming and start creating. Besides, I am beginning to think that the year 2000--and whatever chaos could reign for a brief time--might provide a window of opportunity for new models of community to be considered by those who have the job of building a brave, new world. I'm headed back to the Rockies to start over. Thanks, "Ishmael", for not going easy on me.
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Summary: Brilliant, superb, Genius at its best
Review: If you have never read a book in your intire life, if this is the last book you will ever read, it will change your life!!!! Nothing even comes close to the spiritual journey your mind will embark on. There is NO OTHER book after this one. You will never look at humankind the same way again. "Forget everything you have ever learned - it's all a lie" - and then think every thought you have ever had all over again...supreme!!! Where was the world when it was published? Why didn't life stand still, why did the clocks keep on ticking? World, where were you when your destiny could have changed? Read, listen, comprehend...and tell everyone you know about this book.
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Summary: This book changed my life like none other.
Review: I think that the sooner this book is required reading in our schools, the better. It cuts through our comfortable myths of superiority and self imposed godhood and exposes mankind and it's suicidal roller coaster ride of waste and abuse of the only home we have, and it's inhabitants, for what they are, in a kind and thoughtful manner. Reading the reviews of those who invalidate the book you see how uncomfortable they are with the undeniable truths in this book. The repetitive nature of it's storytelling helps it to be all the more memorable and effective, like when we are taught to look both ways before crossing the street. I will read all of the books Mr. Quinn writes if they prove to be as wonderous as this. If thinking hurts you, don't read this book!
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Summary: Enlightening and dizzying at once...
Review: Like Robert Pirsig's "Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" and "Lila", Daniel Quinn's "Ishmael", "The Story of B.", and "My Ishmael" prompted me to climb mountains that were higher than any others I had ventured up before. The view their peaks afford is magnificent and disturbingly enlightening. The expansion of awareness they enable is immediate and initially overwhelming. And the prospect of the spiritual transformation they encourage is uplifting and positively dizzying. For despite the sense of liberation and clarification such mountains can bring to those who climb them, the air at their summits is thin. Before too long I felt the need to descend back to where I started my ascent, that is, into the valley, where life is ultimately lived. My consolation is that I returned a different person, and even though I have no idea how, when, and to what extent that change will affect life in the valley, I know it will somehow, sometime, in some measure. Moreover, I plan to climb those mountains again, and hopefully others like them.
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Summary: A wonderful new look at the Cain & Abel story of Genesis
Review: As I started this book, I felt sure it would be tree-hugger nonsense. (I count myself as a tree-hugger, but cringe at much that is written in support of my views.) That opinion didn't change much in the first hundred pages. However, once the book began explaining the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis, that story absolutely came alive for me, and I began figuring who else in our church might benefit from reading Ismael. The author says little of Old or New Testament faith, but appears to assume Biblical religions support "Taker" philosophy. My religious training, on the other hand, emphasized our "dominion" of the Earth is just that of a steward who will be held accountable. Highly recommended, but in the spirit of the book, perhaps we should read it in a library, rather than killing trees to print new copies.
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Summary: If a book could change your life, Ishmael would
Review: I don't know how to explain why i liked ishmael. It took me three entire days to recover after reading it. Now that i have read it, I can see evidence of Mother Culture everywhere, and I am waging a little one woman war against her everywhere i can. I think that anyone who is extremely fed up with modern day environmental literature- we're going to hell because, doom and gloom sell!!!- should read this book. People complain about the way it is written (That it's repetetive and boring and bleah) but it isn't. You must understand that it is written the way it is written so you can learn something. You've been invited to sit in on an interactive lesson (not a lecture) and in the process of reading this book, its almost as good as if you were the pupil yourself. So read it with an open mind, and accept the creativity and well planned writing style. Then go and save the world.
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Summary: And if Quinn armwrestled Ishmael...?
Review: Okay, truth be told, Daniel Quinn has some interesting points. Nothing too groundbreaking if you have any common sense and an anthropology/history class or two. But does he really have to be so damned preachy? I had some hopes for this book before I started reading it. It was highly recommended by someone I respected, so I gave it a chance. Even after the same damned message was beat into my head page after page. Man is the problem, dating back to when we dropped out of the trees and first made fire. Whatever. Mr. Quinn, if we stayed hunter-gatherers, would you have ever had a chance to write your little books? You would have been dead by age 20. Your cavalier attitude makes me drop to my knees and thank God for technology.
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