Ishmael

Rating:
Summary: Life-changing... kind of.
Review: At first I found the book to be fascinating. Although I guess I knew all of these things, I never consciously thought about them. The book truly changed my way of thinking. By the last quarter or so, however, I just wanted it to be over- the point was already made, now it was just repeating itself, and since there was no "action", it was getting boring. While it has many very interesting ideas, I was left with the feeling that it's just some radical thought and we have no way of acheiving those goals. There were no solutions.

Rating:
Summary: Wanted, one hundred emailers!
Review: Critics, commentators, writers [and theologians?] assert that fiction reflects life. If so, you will look long and hard to find a grander image of life than Daniel Quinn offers in Ishmael. He isn't interested in building synthetic characters or weaving intricate plots. He has a message to convey to every human on this planet. If fiction reaches more people than plain instructive writing, then that's the path he's chosen. And he's chosen well, providing a vivid scenario of human thinking on how we view life. How we view life depends on our role - Ishmael divides humanity into two populations, the Leavers and the Takers.

Would you answer the newspaper advert seeking a pupil who desires to save the world? Note the singular - not "pupils" or students." Just one. Are you the one? As you read this stunning fantasy it's impossible not to place yourself in the teller's mind as he confronts a massive lowland gorilla. Ishmael is the teacher seeking a student because he has a question: "With man gone, will there be hope for the gorilla?" Keep this question in mind. As you follow Ishmael's "course" you will gain fresh insight into what he considers the fundamental question: "how did things come to be this way?" Ishmael is no pedantic scholar or medieval disputant. He coaxes, teases, almost seduces response, but your answers must be carefully thought through before offering them. He's asking that you search the roots of your own cultural heritage to form your reply. Before long the perceptive reader will pause before simply accepting the author's responses. Quinn's aim, after all, is elicit reaction from you - his fictional "student" is only a mechanism to that end.

In his dialogue with his pupil [you!], Ishmael repeats the question of "how things came to be this way." As you ponder his question, think about the figures dominating our heritage. Ishmael names Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad and others as "Prophets" - the key figures in Taker history. What have they taught us about the world we inhabit? Who are the Leavers' prophets and what are their teachings? Ishmael's response will surprise many.

Quinn's building dialogue throughout this book is skillfully presented. His innovative style is straightforward, unpretentious and nearly flawless. It would be easy to criticise his prose as "too simple," but the urgency of his message and the novel form of its presentation is purposely designed to attract the widest possible audience. The story may not be complex or convoluted, but Quinn has given us a gem. Remember, diamonds are composed of but one element - anything added is impurity.

Ishmael's "course" pre-requisite is "an earnest desire to save the world." No-one can question the enormity of that task, least of all Ishmael himself. He doesn't expect an environmental messiah to answer the question of whether there's "hope for the gorilla"? There's a need for more "pupils" to answer that question. So if your local newspaper doesn't have an advert stating "Teacher seeks pupil," please inquire at the email address listed at the top of this review. The first one hundred responses will be answered.

Rating:
Summary: a must read
Review: daniel quinn will change your perception of everything you have come to know. this book and his others will open your eyes to the REAL world. it's time to open the public's eyes to what is really going on behind the curtain of mother culture. wake up and start saving the world.

Rating:
Summary: A thought-provoking interpretation of human history
Review: Daniel Quinn's novel Ishmael is an electrifying adventure into the heart of human civilization. From the fertile crescent, to modern day, Daniel Quinn teaches us the fundamentals of human history and the stages of our developement. Whether you agree with his interpretation of history or not, there is much to be learned and understood by his earth-shattering conclusions. For most this book is life-changing. Many Universities use it in their curriculums. It takes an open mind to be taught by the books main character, Ishmael, an 800-pound gorilla that telepathically speaks to its students, but this gorilla has much to speak of, and humans have much to learn from him. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an open mind towards human society. And for those who can't get enough of this novel, the sequel My Ishmael will offer a myriad of new themes and topics. Surprisingly for a sequel, My Ishmael is just as good, if not better, than its predecessor. I give this novel a rating of Five stars, and suggest you read it today. To me the book was so good I read it in one sitting.

Rating:
Summary: I believe Quinn got his point across perfectly.
Review: I believe many people have a skewed opinion of what Quinn wanted to do with this book. The book was not meant to be a novel, with an action-packed plot. It was not meant to be a savior for the human race, or be a book of the history of humans. What I believe Quinn set out to do was bring to conscious the wrongness of the thought in our culture today. And to bring up the point that if we don't change then we are going to destroy our own civilization. Many people have said that any intelligent person would know of these problems before they even read the book. But if this true then how come we have not change and keep going down the same road? Because people know of no other way of thinking. Quinn just wanted to bring about a new way of thinking, not a way of living as many believe, that will help change our circumstances and possibly let us have more time on this planet. And he conveyed this message perfectly in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone that questions our culture.

Rating:
Summary: Misunderstood
Review: I believe most negitive reviewers of this book have missed the point completely. If you are well educated and have a firm grasp on the concept of critical thinking, then this book is probably laid out much too simply for you. Though, I don't think you were the target audience of this book. The people this book was written for are people who watch too much tv, don't read much, and generally don't give much thought to the world around them beyond what their next consumer action will be. Which if you haven't noticed is a large percentage of the population. Many people need an introduction into the kind of ideas put forth in this book and in that regard I believe it does a fine job!

Rating:
Summary: Ishmael
Review: I liked this book. It had a very distinct flavor. The gorilla was very interesting. I didn't always agree with all of the ideas in the book, but it was still interesting to read. The blend between fantasy and fact was fascinating. I would recommend this book to people who are interested in reading about the environment and who are open to different ways of looking at the impact that humans have on the environment.

Rating:
Summary: my favorite
Review: i loved it. i read this book a year ago and it really changed the way that i look at the world. If everyone were to read this book than the world would be much wiser, i know that i am.

Rating:
Summary: Good Start
Review: I made the odd choice to read "The Story of B" and then "My Ishmael" before I read "Ishmael", and as a result I feel my impressions upon finally reading "Ishmael" are ones of disappointment.

For those who do not know, "Ishmael" tells the story of a man who answers an ad in the paper for people who are interested in saving the world. What follows is roughly two-hundred pages of Platonic dialogue, between the narrator and a half-ton gorilla named Ishmael, about the nature of our civilization and its effects on the earth and the lives of all creatures and ourselves. In such the ideas are intriguing and offer interesting insights, especially after page 160 when Ishmael starts correlating the nature of agriculturists (Takers, or "Civilized" people) with the conflicts encountered with the pastoral Semites (one of the many Leavers, or "Primitive" people) and how their story is basically chapters three and four of Genesis.

Unfortunately a lot of verbal gymnastics between a patient and very wise gorilla and the curious, but not too engaging narrator takes place that proves more frustrating than enlightening. Daniel Quinn simply does not have a good knack for smooth dialogue, and after numerous conversations that involve Ishmael saying something of a grand assumption and the narrator responding with a simple, "True", or "Yes, that is so." I begged for a token challenge to Ishmael's statements, or at least to strip down some of the veneer of the all-wise sage he was trying to portray in the great ape. If the narrator is trying to be a portrayal of the average reader, I felt insulted.

That being said, I do believe that Daniel Quinn has done a marvelous job trying to get his ideas into print, but his attempt in "The Story of B" is by far the most effective and engaging and worthwhile out of the three books. Maybe if Ishmael were used as a starter -- as it is intended -- I would have felt different. I was tempted to give this book three stars, but I decided to keep in mind the potential of having read this book before the other two.

Rating:
Summary: Environmental Science class
Review: i read ishmael a month ago and thourghly enjoyed it. Now the principles in the book were not all that earthshattering, everyone knows that what we do is against nature, people just look the other way or are not bothered by it. Although there is some validity to the literary criticisms of this book, the telepathic gorilla and the dogmatic approach certaintly are less than ideal. But if you think about our it culture forces idea that humans are supreme down our throut. Quinn is offering another perspective, and a damned good one at that. as stated by others there are several groups of people who review this book, the life changed, the open to ideas but not this one kind of person, and the liberal propaganda people. the first group i have no problems with, the second group needs to smell the coffee, hm it doesn't agree with the bible, well the bible is in human writing, even if it is god inspired it was human written and therefore subject the ethnographic influences. the liberal haters are the worst group, don't tell me that just because it is in favor of nature it is universally bad. it is small minded to lambaste quinn purely on your perception of his political stance.
read this book and think, the world would be better off if everybody was more aware of what pigs we humans can be