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Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit…
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Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit (original 1992; edition 1995)

by Daniel Quinn

Series: Ishmael (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
6,4301211,490 (3.92)54
Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. HTML:One of the most beloved and bestselling novels of spiritual adventure ever published, Ishmael has earned a passionate following. This special twenty-fifth anniversary edition features a new foreword and afterword by the author.
 
/> ??A thoughtful, fearlessly low-key novel about the role of our species on the planet . . . laid out for us with an originality and a clarity that few would deny.???The New York Times Book Review

Teacher Seeks Pupil.
Must have an earnest desire to save the world.
Apply in person.

It was just a three-line ad in the personals section, but it launched the adventure of a lifetime.

So begins an utterly unique and captivating novel. It is the story of a man who embarks on a highly provocative intellectual adventure with a gorilla??a journey of the mind and spirit that changes forever the way he sees the world and humankind??s place in it.
 
In Ishmael, which received the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship for the best work of fiction offering positive solutions to global problems, Daniel Quinn parses humanity??s origins and its relationship with nature, in search of an answer to this challenging question: How can we save the world from ourselves?
 
Explore Daniel Quinn??s spiritual Ishmael trilogy:
ISHMAEL ? MY ISHMAEL ? THE STORY OF B

Praise for Ishmael

??As suspenseful, inventive, and socially urgent as any fiction or nonfiction you are likely to read this or any other year.???The Austin Chronicle

??Before we??re halfway through this slim book . . . we??re in [Daniel Quinn??s] grip, we want Ishmael to teach us how to save the planet from ourselves. We want to change our lives.???The Washington Post

??Arthur Koestler, in an essay in which he wondered whether mankind would go the way of the dinosaur, formulated what he called the Dinosaur??s Prayer: ??Lord, a little more time!?? Ishmael does its bit to answer that prayer and may just possibly have bough… (more)
Member:nkimphil
Title:Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit
Authors:Daniel Quinn
Info:Bantam (1995), Paperback, 263 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn (1992)

  1. 40
    My Ishmael by Daniel Quinn (teelgee, HoudeRat)
    teelgee: Sequel, every bit as good.
  2. 10
    Endgame, Vol. 1: The Problem of Civilization by Derrick Jensen (owen1218)
  3. 10
    Civilized Man's Eight Deadly Sins by Konrad Lorenz (Lucy_Skywalker)
    Lucy_Skywalker: but without being didactic and irritating
  4. 11
    The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure by James Redfield (amyblue)
  5. 11
    Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder (weeksj10)
    weeksj10: Their both lecture style novels which use fiction to present a variety of different thoughts and philosophies.
  6. 00
    We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler (KatyBee)
  7. 00
    The Nature of Economies by Jane Jacobs (aneurysm1985)
    aneurysm1985: Both are about similar social-ecological issues. And both are the result of the authors (Quinn and Jacobs) enlightening readers about non-fiction topics through the use of fictional characters and Platonic dialogue. Both novels are written with the overarching purpose of educating their readers about unfamiliar topics.… (more)
  8. 23
    Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (fyrefly98)
    fyrefly98: Another perspective on the spread of our culture and civilization.
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» See also 54 mentions

English (117)  German (2)  Spanish (2)  All languages (121)
Showing 1-5 of 117 (next | show all)
The narrator of this extraordinary tale is a man in search for truth. He answers an ad in a local newspaper from a teacher looking for serious pupils, only to find himself alone in an abandoned office with a full-grown gorilla who is nibbling delicately on a slender branch. "You are the teacher?" he asks incredulously. "I am the teacher," the gorilla replies. Ishmael is a creature of immense wisdom and he has a story to tell, one that no other human being has ever heard. It is a story that extends backward and forward over the lifespan of the earth from the birth of time to a future there is still time save. Like all great teachers, Ishmael refuses to make the lesson easy; he demands the final illumination to come from within ourselves. Is it man's destiny to rule the world? Or is it a higher destiny possible for him-- one more wonderful than he has ever imagined?
  PendleHillLibrary | Mar 7, 2024 |
This book caused a radical shift in my thinking. ( )
  blueskygreentrees | Jul 30, 2023 |
This novel was a revelation for me.

When I stumbled upon this for the first time, I couldn't tear myself away from it. I read it in class. On the bus. While walking down the street. Late at night. It dominated my thoughts for weeks, lingered for months afterwards, and has permanently shaped the way I think about everything.

While not entirely whole (i.e missing significant analysis into the rise of modern medicine), Ishmael provides an incredibly refreshing take on an issue I'd never even thought of before and sheds the world in new light. ( )
  JasonAbides | Jan 10, 2023 |
Quite gripping. ( )
  womanwoanswers | Dec 23, 2022 |
When I was in HS, my Chemistry teacher gave me this book because he thought I would appreciate it. While everyone else was concerned with having fun, social status, and impressing the teachers and peers- I was just looking for the next book to impress me. He was absolutely right.
Socially urgent (not exactly forward and blunt in presentation, but definitely profound and strong in delivery), thought-provoking and makes you have a conversation with yourself. It covers a lot of deep topics like ethics, sustainability, evolution, global crisis, and where modern civilization went wrong in general.
If all of that sounds painfully dry or boring to you- I want you to consider this. Imagine a telepathic gorilla that caused a mutiny and disagreement amongst a judge's table that eventually awarded it $500,000 dollars and an ecological prize. (That's not the plot, but quite literally this book caused this little uproar in real life)

Because that's what happened with this book. It gives me chills. This book was published in the early 90s, and it aged so well. So many of its topics are still relevant, perhaps even more shockingly to this day. It sort of predicted the future. Let Ishmael teach you something.

“You’re captives of a civilizational system that more or less compels you to go on destroying the world in order to live.”
~ quote from the book that I think is a good summary in one sentence ( )
  am08279 | Oct 23, 2022 |
Showing 1-5 of 117 (next | show all)

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The first time I read the ad, I choked and cursed and spat and threw the paper to the floor.
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. HTML:One of the most beloved and bestselling novels of spiritual adventure ever published, Ishmael has earned a passionate following. This special twenty-fifth anniversary edition features a new foreword and afterword by the author.
 
??A thoughtful, fearlessly low-key novel about the role of our species on the planet . . . laid out for us with an originality and a clarity that few would deny.???The New York Times Book Review

Teacher Seeks Pupil.
Must have an earnest desire to save the world.
Apply in person.

It was just a three-line ad in the personals section, but it launched the adventure of a lifetime.

So begins an utterly unique and captivating novel. It is the story of a man who embarks on a highly provocative intellectual adventure with a gorilla??a journey of the mind and spirit that changes forever the way he sees the world and humankind??s place in it.
 
In Ishmael, which received the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship for the best work of fiction offering positive solutions to global problems, Daniel Quinn parses humanity??s origins and its relationship with nature, in search of an answer to this challenging question: How can we save the world from ourselves?
 
Explore Daniel Quinn??s spiritual Ishmael trilogy:
ISHMAEL ? MY ISHMAEL ? THE STORY OF B

Praise for Ishmael

??As suspenseful, inventive, and socially urgent as any fiction or nonfiction you are likely to read this or any other year.???The Austin Chronicle

??Before we??re halfway through this slim book . . . we??re in [Daniel Quinn??s] grip, we want Ishmael to teach us how to save the planet from ourselves. We want to change our lives.???The Washington Post

??Arthur Koestler, in an essay in which he wondered whether mankind would go the way of the dinosaur, formulated what he called the Dinosaur??s Prayer: ??Lord, a little more time!?? Ishmael does its bit to answer that prayer and may just possibly have bough

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