Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit
by Daniel Quinn
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Book Summary Information
Author: Daniel QuinnEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1995-07-01
ISBN: 0553375407
Number of pages: 263
Publisher: Bantam
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780553375404
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit
Book Review: "Will there be hope for man?"
Summary: 4 Stars
Deep in thought but thin on plot, Daniel Quinn's award-winning novel is actually a series of telepathic, Socratic dialogues between an enlightened gorilla (Ishmael) and a less evolved human (the narrator), a student who has "an earnest desire to save the world" (p. 4). Over the course of several days (and 263 pages), Ishmael takes his student on an educational journey that encourages him to rethink man's relationship with the Earth. Ishmael teaches us "to discern the voice of Mother Culture humming in the background, telling her story over and over again" (p. 37), murmuring in our ears, "there's nothing to think about, nothing to worry about, just listen to my voice and go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep" (p. 53).There are two ways of living, Ishmael observes, taking and leaving. Whereas "Takers" (our culture) believe the world belongs to man, "Leavers" (hunter-gatherers) believe that man belongs to the world (p. 240). Since 8000 B.C., he tells us, the Taker story line (derived from the Bible) has regarded "the world as a sort of human life-support system, as a machine designed to produce and sustain human life" (p. 59). This way of life "makes people stupid and destructive and greedy and shortsighted" (p. 83), and leads to greed, cruelty, mental illness, crime and drug addiction (p. 147). In other words, the Taker mentality has brought civilization to the point of collapse in just five hundred generations (p. 119). The 3,000,000-year-old story line of the Leavers is: "Take what you need, and leave the rest alone" (p. 127). Ishmael reminds us, "the world was not made for any one species" (p. 145). After living harmlessly on the planet for over three million years, the Leavers have become the "endangered species most critical to the world--not because they're humans but because they alone can show the destroyers of the world that there is no one right way to live" (p. 248).
If we want to save Mother Earth, ISHMAEL teaches us that we must first liberate ourselves from Mother Culture, possibly alienating ourselves from our friends, family and associates in the process (p. 37). And then we must change the way we live our lives.
G. Merritt
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