Rating: 
Summary: Great?
Review: I'm not sure I'm as fond of this book as so many others are. Although I know that this story is not written in concrete-that it's not to be taken totally literally, I have some views against it. Messiah is a word I have always taken to mean the blessed son of God, or the deliverer...which I deem as Jesus. I understand that messiah also carries the meaning of a leader that can deliver people from his/her problems. Because of my Christian background, I give credit to only one that can even be considered to be called something so great. So I'm not all for bettering ourselves with the intent to make ourselves perfect-it can't happen. And I'm not necessarily saying this is what Bach was trying to tell everyone to do.
I really like his idea of bettering ourselves...becoming a messiah. It can do everyone a lot of good to think this way-to gain a feeling of personal well-being, and so on. But really, in the grand scheme of things, I don't think it's going to take us anywhere. So I am not banging any sort of belief, but as for me I feel while it is good to be a good person and do good deeds, I feel those deeds alone will take us nowhere in life. Therefore I'm not wholly impressed with the emphasis of this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Read it again and again
Review: Who is this reluctant messiah? What are 'illsusions?' YOU, are the reluctant messiah and illusions are reality (or lack of it), according to Richard Bach, in his novel "Illusions." According to "Illusions" we are the messiah who walks on water, who walks on 'illusions'. Throughout this book I continuously thought back to one of my favorite books by the Buddhist monk and peacemaker, Thich Nhat Hanh, entitled "The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching." Both of these books are not about religion, but rather, spirituality, the realms of reality and what part we play in them. Both Hanh and Bach teach that "reality" is what we make of it. Our spirit, what is innate in all of us, is the golden compass."Illusions" is simply a fabulous book, not because of any great literary merits but because it awakens the spirit. I am sure the pages of this book will become worn and weary as I read it again and again.
Rating: 
Summary: A different book
Review: The book Illusions by Richard Bach is different than all the books I've read so far. It is some sort of life lesson, but covered in a good story that makes you think.
It's easy to read and understand, but if you are opened for it, the deeper thougts can be really complicated, but interesting.
Rating:
Summary: A Powerful Journey
Review: "Nothing good is a miracle, nothing lovely is a dream," declares Donald Shimoda, the author's "Reluctant Messiah" in his 1977 novel, Illusions. With his level-headed, nonchalant mannerisms, Shimoda delivers countless (often ambiguous) lessons to a skeptical Richard Bach.
Posing as a fellow aviator, Shimoda accompanies Richard as he travels from state to state, offering passers-by ten minute rides in his biplane. Richard immediately realizes that this is no ordinary man, and his life-altering lessons soon begin. A journey of self-discovery commences over the pastures and cities of rural America as Shimoda guides Richard to understand that what he perceives to be reality is in fact an illusion.
Prepare yourself for a new way of thinking, as Illusions will leave you reconsidering your outlook on existence; what is real, what is possible?
Rating: 
Summary: This book was interesting
Review: This book was interesting in the fact that things took some twists and some turns. I would only give this book an 8 out of 10 because I personally was not all into it. The fact that the guy got to chose how he wanted to die in the end was kind of bazaar because that isn't really how life works. If we got to choose how we wanted to die, why are their cancer and all kinds of illnesses? No one wants to die a horrendous death, so it would be a great thing if we did get to choose how we died. The book in all was ok.
Rating:
Summary: I am about to read this for the second time
Review: "Illusions" is different than most books I have read in my life. The title is accurate but also slightly misleading in that it tells you it is about a Messiah, but it is not the Messiah we are most familiar with. Illusions chronicles a small part of the life of a seemingly everyday man who turns out to be capable of miracles, but he is no longer satisfied with his position as a Messiah. In trying to 'quit' he challenges the reader and a man he encounters in an Illinois field to find how they might become a Messiah themselves. You begun to understand his fears along with the fears of the man who finds him in the field, (surprisingly he fears the Messiah at times.)
After reading this, I left with more motivation to see in what ways I could change life for those around me for the better and motivation to live a better simpler life. It doesn't answer many questions you may have in your life but makes you ask new ones, such as "What defines a Messiah?" and "When is your life as a Messiah over?" Perhaps we all have Messiahs around us to take care of us but take them for granted. It is easy reading that is applicable to all in some way.
If for nothing else, I suggest this to readers for the great maxims and motivational quotes. The one that is staying beside me now is "We are all free to do whatever we want to do."Happy reading!
Rating:
Summary: Book of Life
Review: "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah", is most definitely the only book I have read in my life that has had an impact on my ways of viewing things. When I first began to read, I wasn't sure where the story was going. It was discussing planes and pilots and I was sitting there thinking to myself, "What does this have to do with anything?" As I continued to read I realized that planes and pilots had nothing to do with the overall message that the book was trying to get across to its readers.
This book did a great job at allowing people to see how powerful a messiah can be, and how much of a positive effect they can have on life. When Shimoda was giving airplane rides and a man came who was in a wheelchair, who clearly couldn't walk and hadn't been able to in 11 years, Shimoda did something to him. He gave the man in the wheelchair something that no one else could give to him. The book never came right out and said what that "something" was, but it is obvious that whatever it was allowed the man to walk again and had a positive effect on the rest of his life.
Shimoda opened up Richard's eyes to a new way of viewing life. shimoda opened up my eyes as well. There was a passage towards the end of the story that I really liked: "Even if the rule was changed to 'Do unto others as they want to be done to', we can't know how anybody but ourselves wants to be done to. What the Rule means, and how we apply it honestly, is this-'Do unto others as you truly feel like doing unto others'." (Pg. 157) What I liked so much about that passage was the fact at how bluntly true it was. No one knows how we want to be done to, only we ourselves know how we want to be done. So how is it possible that we are supposed to do unto others as we do unto ourselves? What someone else wants done may not be what we want done, so it doesn't really work out too well, as Shimoda pointed out.
Shimoda said that we can make anything out of anything. If we need some food, imagine food, and you have it. If you need a wrench, imagine the wrench, and it comes floating to you, as he showed us in the story. I'll admit that after reading that part about the floating wrench I actually tried to make my book float. I'm sure all of you can guess the outcome of that one! But it never hurts to try, right? Although it may not be possible to make things float in mid-air, I do believe it is possible to imagine things that you don't have, and eventually it will be as if you have them. If you want it enough, you can have them. That is the overall message I got from Shimoda. In life you can have anything you want to. I feel that life is like a book with blank pages. You can write it however you'd like, rip out pages here and there, go back and erase, you name it and you can do it. It is your life. And as Shimoda made me realize, what you see in life is not always what you get. There are universes upon universes out there with much more to offer than just what this universe can offer to us. The trouble is that many people only see what they want to see, and refuse to see anything beyond their own universe. I'm sure that now I will see more in life than I ever, ever imagined; in this universe as well as others.
Rating:
Summary: Another way of Life
Review: Illusions The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach should be under one of the top books that any High School students should read right next to The Catcher and The Rye. It tells you, that we should look in the world, in another way, in a different pair of eyes that we do not own. And all of the quotes from the handbook that was all around the book were:
"Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they're yours."
And
"The world is your exercise-book, the pages on which you do your sums. It is not reality, although you can express reality there if you wish. You are also free to write nonsense, or lies or to tear the pages." From these two quotes do we argue and stand against what somebody else says. And also the second quote is really saying that, don't answer the questions, but question the answers. We always need to look in a different ways of views. All in all, this was one of the best books I've ever read in my life, and I would also recommend it two any High School Student or any other person in the world, to say to them there is always another way of life.
Rating:
Summary: My view on Illusions
Review: I think everyone should read the book Illusions. It is good for the mind to ponder why we are here. Illusions made think about the world around me and question the daily events that happen in my life.
Why are things the way they are? It it okay to question what I've been told for so long? Read the book Illusions and find out. On top of really giving your mind something to think about Illusions is a fun and intresting book with a good story line that will keep you captivated until the very end and leave you with something to think about for a long time to come.
Rating:
Summary: THE Way Of Living...
Review: I have read this book, and re-read, and again and again. A never-ending Learning. This book to read after Jonathan Livingston The Seagull, and you have all you need to comprehend what Life is about. Imagination? Dreams? YES!!! That's all what it is, really, these are your only limitations and believes. Go meet with spoonbenders, watch The Matrix... that it what it is. It is all about our mind and ILLUSIONS. but illusions are not where and what we thought and what we were told about... Give yourself a healing, walk a step forward up to your True Self and encounter your friends, stop avoiding yourself as a Messiah, because this is who and what we all are. I didn't believe this book was speaking about the true at first. I thougt it was only a nice story well written. But life brought me up to experiments about all what Richard Back speaks about in this book. 5+ Stars!
|
