Rating: 
Summary: A good book?
Review: I would like "xodarap7" to suggest us a good book. A novel that's inspiring and intelligent.
Rating: 
Summary: Ishmael
Review: I didnt know what to expect when i started reading this book. As soon as i made my way through the first chapter i was hooked. The book changed the way i thought, and the way i acted. What Ishmael does is open our mind to the truth about our culture, and our past. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to grow as a person. Read it and youll see what i mean.
Rating: 
Summary: Overblown and sophmoriphic
Review: Aren't we a magnificent genius, Mr. Quinn? ! While Ishmael may wow naive college students, anyone who is at least marginally introspective has probably already discovered the ultimate moral of this novel on their own. And since the whole book only exists for this one conclusion, there is no real reason to read it.
Quinn sounds like he comes from the same soap-boxing style that Ayn Rand likes so much-- you'll discover the life lesson in the first few chapters, then drag through several dozen more only to discover Quinn has the same moral as an episode of Captain Planet.
To be fair, he does have an interesting explanation for the origin of the Adam and Eve myth. But that is hardly worth suffering through the rest of this plotless dialogue.
Rating:
Summary: An important read.
Review: I must agree with everyone else, this book is a life changing read. We live in a world that refuses to open it's eyes to reality. We are programmed from our very day of conception to believe that the human race was born of devine creation, and the earth and it's inferior animals are only second in line of the list of importance. We have ripped ourselves from the roots of nature and surrounded ourselves with artificial technology, superficial desires and fantastic beliefs. This book, however, was NOT meant to be taken sooo literaly. It is mostly aimed at a younger audience, like teenagers and those entering college. It was to open our generation to a new view of our world. I find it a great book for those who are fed up with our cultures' worlview, for those who realise they too are as much animal as all other animals, for those who are fed up with carelessness of man's manipulation of our earth, for those who are looking for a fresh new perspective on reality. It isn't the single greatest philosophical book in history, but for most it is a stepping stone to a new world of intellectual thought. Though, Quinn's ideas are not wholy original, he has very true arguments, and it is a helpful tool to see through the cloud our world has cast upon our heads.
Rating:
Summary: IT GOT ME THINKING AND READING AGAIN
Review: This book is by far the most important book ive ever read. Ishmeal and other books by Daniel Quinn have opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at the world. Great book.
Rating:
Summary: Different from anything I've ever read before...
Review: This book got me thinking about so many different ideas about life and society that, up until reading it, I'd just come to accept. The idea that our culture is mythological is completely new to me, but the way Quinn explains it, it makes perfect sense. I think that Quinn's point or goal in writing this book was to get the reader thinking in the way Ishmael the character gets his pupil thinking. I'm not saying I wholeheartedly subscribe to all of Quinn's ideas in this book, but I don't think he's trying to get people to agree with him. Reading this book has planted a seed in me -- it has changed me.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely Interesting
Review: I must say that I enjoyed the book. It brought up (or slapped me in the face with, rather) many interesting points, and really made me think. I'm sure it helped that I agreed with the author's views, and that I had already been pretty pissed off about the state of the Earth BEFORE I read the novel. But, as much as I liked the book, I wouldn't say that it was incredibly well-written, although compared to a lot of the YA crap out there it's amazing. Not everyone will like Ishmael. Some will dislike the writing style, some will dislike the treatment of Christianity, some will disagree with the points the book makes, and some will just think it all-around sucks. But I encourage you to give it a try. I am, apparently, younger (14) than most of this book's readers, so I can't say what it will do for you. I will say that Ishmael opened MY eyes and made me think more deeply about the world and the culture in which I live. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. Interesting issues balance out mediocore writing.
Rating:
Summary: Who is rating this with a FIVE?
Review: I have a masters in philosophy, and I am working towards my doctrate. I am, of course, aware that this does not make me the ultimate authority in literature or discourse, but it also points out that I am far from ignorant or unable to "think with an open mind."
I am also not a Christian, nor am I a conservative. I, like Quinn, am a liberal enviromentalist. I even agree with many of his conclusions.
That said... -- This is honestly the worst book I have ever read. Honestly. -- I have no idea why so many people are praising it as an intellectual triumph. My guess is that many people agree emphatically and passionately with the themes of the book, even if they didn't before reading it. When finding that they have a champion for their cause, which is so virulently opposed in mainstream culture, they stand behind him just as emphatically and passionately as they stand behind his ideals.
It can't be his writing. Please tell me it isn't the writing.
This was so poorly written, and the conclusions were so poorly argued or supported, that I was genuinely intellectually insulted. I felt mentally offended. I was angry that I actually read through this, trying so carefully to find what all the hype was about. Unfortunately, it only got worse from the front to the back.
Ishmael, a gorilla, is teaching the main character an extremely one-sided view. He constantly champions his view as totally original, world-changing, ultimate, and perfect. Not only is it cliche liberal propaganda (again, which I actually agree with!), but it is far from well-phrased, well-argued, well-supported, or even consistently intelligent. The philosophy is nonexistent, the dialogue is purely lecture, the anthropology is uneducated, the history is ad hoc, and the sociology is contemptuous. The points he tries to make are presumptuous, horribly exaggerated, one-sided, arrogant, unoriginal, audacious, anti-humanist, pessimistic, cynical, unfounded, and sometimes defiantly untrue. This is propaganda, pure and simple. I am sad, though unsurprised, to see my fellow liberals champion their own hollow propaganda with the same rabid, arrogant, extremist fervor so common to their conservative counterparts.
Indeed, the left and the right are separated only by the mirror.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible and Disturbing
Review: This book is blatantly anti-Semitic and anti-Christian blaming both groups with everything from over-population to animal extinction. The overall tone is pessimistic and negative. It premises are ridiculous and offensive and display nothing more than the author's twisted take on history and his strong anti-religious views. Who will like this book? It will be loved by KKK members, environmental terrorists and people with no hope for the human race.
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite
Review: The only book I've given a 5-star, so far. I would recommend that people not allow themselves to be influenced by reviews, and be their own judges. You don't have to agree with the content of book in order to appreciate its author's creativity. It is thought-provoking for the open-minded.
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