Daniel Quinn - Ishmael

Pros: At least it's original
Cons: Goes nowhere, doesn't offer solutions to the 'problems' it suggests

According to Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, “The Turner Tomorrow Fellowship Award was created in 1989 by Ted Turner, to be awarded to a fiction work offering creative and positive solutions to global problems. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn won ...

Pros: Interesting premise, makes readers sit up and think about the world around them.
Cons: Calling this a "novel" is misleading, gets a bit preachy at times.

Ishmael is an unusual and potentially life-changing book. Billed as "A Novel," futurist Daniel Quinn's tale of humanity's condition and fate on the planet is only a "novel" in the same sense that James Redfield's "The Celestine Prophecy"...

Pros: Thinking WAY out of the box!
Cons: A litany of doom and gloom

You may love it or hate it, but you will find this unusual book interesting---some have said life-changing!! A student responds to an advertisement for a course for those with "an earnest desire to save the world." It develops that the ...

Pros: It's nicely written. The parts without Ishmael are actually quite good.
Cons: Not so much a story, as a dumbed-down philosophy lecture masquerading as a story.

Ishmael was among the most frustrating novels that I have read in some time. It was recommended to me by a friend, and littered with reviews that praised its “suspenseful [and]… socially urgent” narrative. Jim Britell of Whole Earth Review, whose ...

Pros: This book may open your mind and change the way you see the world
Cons: You may not want your mind opened

Daniel Quinn is an agent of change, are you? This may seem strange to you, but I have bought this book more than a dozen times. Let me explain: over the years since I first read it, I have found this book to be one of the best presents you can ...

Pros: unique plot, thought-provoking
Cons: sometimes repetitive

This highly unique novel by Daniel Quinn was recently made into a movie, entitled Instinct, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Anthony Hopkins. This movie, however, bears very little relation to the novel, despite the fact that I believe Daniel Quinn...

Pros: Very thought provoking. Completely original and obscure...
Cons: Almost too thought provoking. Almost too much information at one time

Wow its been awhile since I posted...but here I am returning. This is a paper I wrote on Ishmael with many of my feelings on it, as well as many ideas to applying your life to it. The poem at the beginning is mine as well...based on Ishmael:

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Pros: Fearless question asking
Cons: Occaisonally distracting student interjections

Up until November, I had dreamed of being only two things during my high school career: a Computer Scientist or a Physicist. Ishmael rocked my world.

Three months ago, a friend handed me a book. I had listened as he and his girlfriend...

Pros: Quick read, thought provoking, unique "third person" perspective of people
Cons: Occasionally repetitive, the protagonist is often slow to learn

When I saw the movie "Instinct", I decided to read the book that inspired the movie and have never regretted it. The book (as is usually the case) is MUCH better than the movie.

Premise:

The book begins with the protagonist being...

Pros: Fast reading, very insightful
Cons: a little slow to understand

Like many others who've read this book it took me a little while to really understand what the author was trying to get across. It was almost like I knew what he was saying but I wasn't sure if he could be serious. Also unlike many others I have had...

Pros: Clear, simple argument reflecting even clearer thinking.
Cons: Very good prose, though admittedly Quinn is no Capote.

I just read a review in which Ishmael was lumped in with other "environmental-type" books in claiming that man has no place in nature. The statement of that reviewer clearly reflects a DEEP misunderstanding of ALL of Quinn's work, not just Ishmael. ...

Pros: A book with meaning
Cons: None that I can think of

I've always had different views about society than others and while expressing these views to a friend I was introduced to the book Ishmael. While reading this book, I realized that I was not the only one who held a different view on society. The...

Pros: A quick read; genuinely thought provoking.
Cons: Over-arching.

At its core, Ishmael is a narrative about a grand narrative. It aims high, and its failure to achieve what it sets out to do is ultimately more interesting than its stated premise. Ishmael, however, is conscious of this ...

Pros: A little bit of truth
Cons: Premise, a talking gorilla, will not be accessible to everyone

I was of course skeptical about this book, as I would be about any New Age-y book about a talking gorilla. But after reading it, I felt it to be not merely good, but very good. I almost had the sense I was reading my own book, except that I wouldn't...

Pros: The subject matter itself.
Cons: Leaves you with so many more questions.

This book is one of those few that can alter people's lives forever.

This novel, and those that have followed (The Story of B, My Ishmael), are some of the best I have ever read, and I do read a lot. They have the power to open up ones eyes,...