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Summary: jonathan livingston seagull
Review: this is a book I treasure.It's inspirational message meant very much to me when I neede it the most.Jonathan's constant search for a higher plain told me anyone can do anything if they want it badly enough.I love to fly and always think of him when I do.
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Summary: More than just "a story"
Review: This book is about a seagull's struggle to learn more in life than just how to survive. Hey, that's great! Of course, stories like this generally go beyond the literal meaning. And that's what ol' Jonathan does for us. This is a very short, yet surprisingly inspirational and thought-provoking story. I really recommend reading this because, for one thing, it's not even that long. In fact, it even comes complete with some dinky photographs of real seagulls! Uh... not every exciting. The book is a little perplexing in some areas, but the overall message is well worth the read. -- A simple, yet amazingly deep book.
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Summary: easy book report material
Review: The only true law is that which leads to freedom
-Jonathan Livingston Seagull Flashback: Sixth Grade. Miss Bock's class. Former nun. Pretty strict but very nice. One day when it was a little loud as we changed classes in our inner city school, she yelled at us; "At East orange high School they may all be shooting heroin in the bathroom but at least it's quite in the hallways!" Our assignment--read a book and build a diorama. You remember dioramas don't you? You take a shoe box, some construction paper & some glue and you build a little scene inside of the box. Let's put it this way, I'm firmly convinced that my wife only wanted to have kids so that she could one day build dioramas with them. I, on the other hand, had no interest then, nor any now, in such projects. Racing through my fevered eleven year old's brain went various schemes and dodges to get out from under this burden. Sadly I did not have the kind of parents who were embarrassed by having me turn in woefully inadequate projects. Remember when your Cub Scout troop did Pinewood Derby and there were always those kids whose Dads had clearly built their car? In our troop we actually had two kids whose dads were Shop Teachers. The Derby cars they brought in could have been sold in stores. Meanwhile, my Father told me it would be a good learning experience if I built my own. The predictable result was that I produced this misshapen, day-glo green, bricklike car with the wheels accidentally glued into immobility. Suffice it to say, I was no challenge to the shop brats, but I did learn something: cheaters win. Absent any illicit parental assistance and devoid of the requisite personal motivation, I needed a really easy book and an extremely basic diorama scene. Thank you Richard Bach! I read mega-bestselling Jonathan Livingston Seagull--all of 127 pages with copious numbers of photographs. Then I took some blue construction paper and glued it into the bottom of the box, cut out the picture of a seagull from the cover of the book and glued it onto the blue background. Voila! Five minutes, project done. As you might intuit, Miss Bock was significantly less impressed by my ingenuity than I was. As I recall she took inordinate and sadistic pleasure in comparing my box to Mark Caldwell's Call of the Wild action scene, which included trees, snow, a moving dog and a little view portal like a binocular lens through which you viewed the scene. Returning to this book now, I feel compelled to defend my vision. The story of the book is almost ridiculously simple. A young seagull wants to learn to fly better. The elders of his flock inform him in no uncertain terms that a seagull only needs to fly well enough to feed himself, that flying is not the point of being a seagull. But Jonathan rebels against the proscribed ambitions of the other gulls; he yearns to explore the boundaries of flight. As he continues to test these limits, the Flock expels him, but eventually a group of younger gulls join him in his quest and together they transcend their seagullness. The message of the book is perhaps best expressed in the epigraph above and in a conversation between Jonathan and Elder Chiang: "Chiang, this world isn't heaven at all, is it?" The Elder smiled in the moonlight. "You are learning again, Jonathan Seagull," he said. "Well what happens from here? Where are we going? Is there no such place as heaven?" "No, Jonathan, there is no such place. Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being
perfect. This dual message about freedom and the pursuit of perfection is simple but classic. In his own way, Jonathan fits easily within the mainstream of American Literature with heroes like Huck Finn (see Orrin's review), RP McMurphy (see Orrin's review), Cool Hand Luke and the rest. His quest to escape the limits accepted by the Flock is the quintessential quest of Western Man. And what image expresses Bach's allegorical notion better than a solitary seagull soaring? In retrospect, I think I deserved an A. This book is not particularly profound. It is sufficiently ambiguous that different readers will focus on different aspects of the story and take away different messages. But there is something undeniably compelling about Bach's fundamental faith in the individual. It is an especially appropriate book for teens and even adolescents, but adults looking to kill an hour will enjoy it too. Heck, if you and your kid read it, you can build a diorama together afterwards. GRADE: B
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Summary: Shaped my life
Review: I related so powerfully to this book that I have allowed Richard Bach's words to shape my life. I believe strongly in the ideas that he proposes in this simple, short story -- that forging your own path is always the best option. I have done so in Jonathon Livingston style, serving as a woman in the nearly all male U.S. military branch, the Marines; skydiving, rock climbing, learning aerobatics in a Cessna, attending undergraduate college in Japan and now, attending graduate school in Egypt. The second message of Bach's book is not just to forge your own path, but to encourage others to do the same -- to choose their own paths and to inspire them to their own individual greatness. I try whenever and wherever I see possible to do so.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull lives!
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Summary: It's lost on me!
Review: I have never really understood the appeal that this little book has had for its thousands of fans. I find the writing simplistic to the point of irritation, and the subject matter banal. However, having said that, my husband adores it and would give it 5 stars. As I said, it's lost on me!
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Summary: Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Review: This book was a forvorite of mine as a teenager and as an adult I can pull a deeper meaning out of it. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is inspiring and thought provoking!!!
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Summary: An Amazing Literary Success
Review: As an author with my debut novel in its initial release, I am still amazed by the success of Richard Bach's JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL. In an era when books are growing increasingly complex and complicated, Bach's book continues to stand out because of its simplicity. Bach spins a tale about a ordinary seagull who finds himself on an extraordinary spiritual journey. This book is a fascinating read, and Russell Munson's photography provides the perfect illustrations for the story. JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL remains one of my all-time favorite books.
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Summary: Great book!!!
Review: I think this book is really great. It's about our life - mine and yours. Richard Bach is genius. I'd like to rate this book 6 of 5 stars.
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Summary: One of my all time Favorites
Review: Jonathan Livingston Seagull is one of my all time favorite books. I read it first time in 1998 and have refered to it once every few months. Each time I dicover something new in this book -something new which is quite inspiring. It challenges the idea of herd mentality and motivates one to achieve one's dreams. This is a must read !!
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Summary: this book flies with the birds
Review: In this mini (93 pages, many pictures) classic, Richard Bach deals with a philosophy similar to the teachings of Mami. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, an aspiring bird, learns and listens. This book is very rewarding and philosophical.
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