Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful tale of a compulsive learner
Review: I first read this thin book with lots of black and white photos of flying seagulls at age 18, while taking a break from my intensive preparations for my "A' level exams in the school library.It turned out to give me much more than a break: It set my spirits soaring as I read and identified with Jonathan for being so enthralled in doing what he loves doing that he "forgets" everything else. The other seagulls "flew to eat" while he "ate to fly". In a way, Jonathan is symbolic of people who "live to learn" while many others merely "learn to live". Since then, I've re-read this book two or three times at different ages - in my twenties and more recently, in my thirties. Its meaning to me and the feeling of kindred spirits turned out to be stronger than ever. This is now one of my prized possessions.
Rating: 
Summary: DON'T ABANDON YOUR DREAMS ...
Review: "Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight--how to get from shore to food and back again". "For most gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight." That is what the author of this book says about the "hero" of this story, a seagull named Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is different to the other gulls in his flock. He doesn't live to eat, but eats to live and pursue his passion: flight. But his search for perfection and speed doesn't endear him to the other seagulls, that eventually expel him from the flock for daring to be different. To know what happens afterwards, you will need to read this book, because I don't want to spoil the ending.
The real question here, I guess, is whether you want to read a story about gulls... I mean, there are so many good books out there, why read a book about a bird?. The answer is simple: the story in "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" is a metaphor about things that can happen to you in real life. Have you ever felt tempted to do the same that everybody else, just for the sake of conformism?. Have you often felt like given up when something you really want to do demands too much work?. Just think about it...
I believe that many of us are sometimes like most of the gulls in this book, and we need to learn the lessons that "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" gives us: the most important thing is to believe in ourselves, and always do our best without giving up.
I would like to point out that some people say that this book is full of New Age ideas. I really don't think so. Okay, I certainly don't know much about those ideas, and I'm not interested enough to learn more about them. But in my opinion, we often find in a book what we want to find in it.
For me, this is only a charming allegory with a very pertinent message: DON'T ABANDON YOUR DREAMS... For that reason, I recommend this book to you. And whether you read "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" (English edition) or "Juan Salvador Gaviota" (Spanish edition), enjoy it !!!
Belen Alcat
Rating:
Summary: Timeless, inspiring, for the rebel inside each of us.
Review: Timeless, inspiring, for the rebel inside each of us.
I honestly understand why many people give this book a bad review. I would suggest them to keep it near their deathbed at old age, and read before the last breath!
One could see the whole life lived as a "seagull from the flock", struggling just in order to eat, procreate, fly around dead fish.
Written decades ago, it is timeless. Jonathan is Neo, the flock is "plugged" to the matrix, and deluded in a life they don't have a clue about. One doesn't know where he comes from, what he is doing here and why, or where he is going. And most don't even bother to know. Most "believe" in what the preachers, the politicians, and the kleptocrats from the corporations say it's best for them and go on satisfied with titbits on the beach. Jonathan is the rebel that lives inside all of us (but quite sleepy in most), aspiring for something higher, deeper and more meaningful about life. Richard Bach wrote as a "channeller" who sits down and get inspired by higher beings, who call us to reassess what we are doing, what kind of life we are living. As in the phrase: whose life are you living today? Most probably not a unique life. Whatever your profession, you are likely to be substituted in a week if you die now in a car crash, you are very replaceable, in your job, family, as a friend. There is almost nothing UNIQUE among all of you. Jonathan is searching for the uniqueness each of us potentially has. He can't be satisfied in the everyday fast food, TV, going back and forth to the office, as most do. The flock of seagulls allegorically shows that. The moment you start to look and search for deeper truths, beyond the Bibles, Korans and Talmuds, beyond CNN, beyond the poisonous cheeseburger in the next mac-something restaurant, you are bound to be an outcast. By not compromising and accepting the loneliness of the rebellious spirit, one will eventually taste the "eagle's flight", where bitter loneliness turns into peaceful and grateful aloneness. The "perfect speed is just being there".
I heard about this book first time in a meeting of friends, where we would discuss which interesting books we had been reading lately. One of the friends commented the book, "just for the record", as he said. He was one of the "half star judges" we see here. After leaving, another friend joined me and gave "his" view about Jonathan Livingston Seagull. His comment drove me to the next bookstore the day after. A short text, I didn't read it in 30 minutes, as others. I had to feel and wonder during the slow read. I have given a copy as a present to many friends. I asked my two daughters to read it as teenagers. If you like Donald duck, buy some more comics. If you are looking for more than Disney world to life, if you are questioning and longing for answers to everything you see on your TV news, if you feel you are "plugged" to some controlling hidden agendas that keep you flying around small dead fish, then take the jump into your heart, close your eyes and ask for the answers. Richard's book is about that quest. There is plenty of hot dog, coke, Mickey mouse and "dubya" for all who feel satisfied with crap. The Jonathans of today read Noam Chomsky, research about Inedia, read Karmabanque's and Greenpeace websites, paid attention to the metaphoric Matrix trilogy, and know what the mega corporations are after. They know the so called "democracy" is nowadays just about electing the best in the art of campaigning rather than choosing the wisest men to govern. They do not follow the flock. They know there is an "eagle's flight" for all human Jonathans to discover.
Rating:
Summary: Jonathan, Paul Twitchell and Eckankar
Review: I remember when Jonathan came out. I think Paul Twitchell had just died, or was just about to. I found it a tribute to his life. Being at multiple places at the same time. Using Paul's 'Soul Travel' to rise above time and space. Leaving the body, learning one's own lessons on one's own path. The lower planes where so many dwell and exist is death to those who starve for more. Even at the risk of death it's hell going back so why not go forward.
Like Paul Twitchell. It's his life and his story. Right out of 1970.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring Metaphor
Review: This is a great book which I've read many times.
It's a great metaphor for the "live your life the best way you know how to and be true to yourself" philosophy.
PS. I'm not religious and I'm not a fan of Seagulls ;-)
Rating: 
Summary: Eh. Not Bad. Not Great, But Not Bad.
Review: A friend loaned me this book once when I was going through a very rough time in my life. Somehow, the book made me feel worse, so you may wish to hold off giving a copy to someone diagnosed with depression. Other than that, the book was very easy to read and straightforward. The philosophy of the book wasn't terribly deep. If you're looking for serious philosophy, look elsewhere. If you want an easy feel-good read, then by all means, read this book
Rating:
Summary: 6 stars if I could...
Review: I left home to join the Navy when I was 21 and this was the only thing I took with me that I still own. I was told I could only keep a bible with me in bootcamp and I told them that it was my bible ...they let me keep it. I designed my bootcamp company flag and it had a seagull on it. The book travelled with me around the world to my first ship in the Indian Ocean and then back to the US. I've had it ever since.
There is magic in these pages. You can read this book at different points in your life and you will focus on different things ...often things that you never noticed before. I've probably read this book 30 or 40 times now ...generally about once a year. It gives me strength ...and compassion ...and reminds me how rewarding it is to attempt the immpossible once in a while.
My life would not have been as rich or as rewarding without the gentle nudge this book gave me to reach out and try to touch perfection in my own way. Thanks so much for this gift Richard.
Final Note: Regarding the great concern regarding "New Age" ideas ...I can't say exactly how Richard intended this story, but I read it as an allegory. I never assumed the author thought gulls could instantaneously travel through time and space, just as I never thought 3 pigs could build houses. To me, the charactors in this book simply provide a mechanism to show an approach to life that can include excellence, beauty, perserverence, acceptance, etc.
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Summary: Gives you flight..
Review: This little book was the first book i purchased on my own several years ago at a mundane second hand book fair in southern india. i was a struggling college student with no money, an oppressive family situation and struggling with chronic health issues, to top it. this book gave me hope, in a strange way, let me think of myself as different and yet positive and capable of my own flight. i did not meet a lot of people who liked it or even understood it, most people dismissed it as psycho babble or were too dry to appreciate the humor and spirit. i kept the book with me and read it through life's ups and downs - 20 years later am in the usa, comfortable financially with positive relationships and good health to boot. This book gave me flight, and i have given away as many copies as i can to friends and people i love. And in many ways i owe my own life to it.
Rating:
Summary: Jonathon Livingston Seagull
Review: The book Jonathon Livingston Seagull is an excellent book. Hands down. This book gives you wings not only to fly with but to free your own mind from the illusions of everyday life. The book focuses on Jonathon Livingston Seagull (big surprise) and his desire to learn to fly. Of course, this is strictly tabooed by the Flock, or other birds. His desire to fly and to learn to fly are symbolic of the love of learning. Flying isn't just another natural instinct but rather an art. Such an art also is language and this book is a Mona Lisa then.
Rating:
Summary: Richard Bach Pretends He's A New Age Seagull
Review: This book was a worthy attempt. It seems like a good idea to equate our universal human aspirations for greatness and uniqueness, with the whimsical trials and tribulations of a friendly, iconoclastic, renegade coastal pigeon. Through the inspiration of his example, (Jonathan, in case you're not with me just yet) we might too one day soar high above the flock, dare to glide outside societal norms and boundaries, challenge blind authority, stand strong in the face of the disapproval of one's peers, and ultimately like Jonathan, transmogrify ourselves into mega-achieving phenoms, who are not too busy with our daredevilry to spend a great deal of quality time doubling as inspirational coaches and gurus for a whole new generation of freshly-hatched oceanic avians... *whew* hold on, let me catch my breath for a second. I haven't waxed that sententious since reviewing "Harold, The Friendly Buddhist Beaver" late last year. There, that's better. Anyhoo, for me, in the course of reading this book, which incidentally took me approximately 39 minutes, I always felt like it was Richard Bach speaking to me, pretending he was Jonathan. And hey, I felt gypped! If I'm going to read the memoirs of a seagull, then by golly, I want to hear from the bird himself, not some human who wishes he were some sort of wing-ed beak-ed creature. Meanwhile, as I honestly wanted to like this book and come to care for the flying feather bundles therein, I felt there was not sufficient character development to learn to feel anything much for any of them. I did however learn to feel that Richard Bach is several light years away from being a substantial writer, although I'm sure he's a perfectly nice man when he's not comandeering some innocent typewriter, and using it to churn out more of this sort of cotton candy philosophy of his. In closing, I would like to address the subject of the book's photography. I was absolutely baffled by its mundaneness. I'm sure most of us agree that seagulls are very beautiful birds. Their antics are charming and they possess a great sense of grace, bravery, strength and even humor in their countenance. (I live by the ocean, trust me on this.) The photography in this book is decidedly "artsy" with many photos in black and white, and intentionally out-of-focus, blurry, and non-distinct. In my opinion, the text would have been far better served by photography which captured more of the natural beauty of this bird, both in flight and at rest. Signed, Barry Ballpoint, the Internet's zestiest reviewer.
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