Ishmael

An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

By: Daniel Quinn

Narrated by: Anthony Heald

Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

One of the most beloved and best-selling novels of spiritual adventure ever published, Ishmael has earned a passionate following. This special 25th 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 bought us all a little more time.” (Los Angeles Times)

©1992 Daniel Quinn (P)1995 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

“Deserves high marks as a serious - and all too rare - effort that is unflinchingly engaged with fundamental life-and-death concerns.” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

“[Quinn entraps] us in the dialogue itself, in the sweet and terrible lucidity of Ishmael’s analysis of the human condition....It was surely for this deep, clear persuasiveness of argument that Ishmael was given its huge prize.” (The Washington Post)

Interesting twist

Simple, yet deep. The meaning in the story is fascinating.
I did find the part of the human to be quite annoying at the beginning. He came across as unconscious, and maybe it was intended. Just irritated me somewhat.

I like this book

even though this book is short i loved the message it gave. I would recommend.

Brilliant all around

If you could sum up Ishmael in three words, what would they be?

Thought provoking. Brilliant.

What does Anthony Heald bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Listening to books helps be better utilize time on the move.

Anthony reads beautifully however, I did not enjoy the strict British accent of Ishmael (just a preference), and I continuously needed to replay different sections to appreciate the meaning.

Any additional comments?

A must read/ listen. In my top 5.

A journey for the mind!

This book takes the reader through a journey to discover the short, clear and concise idea that humanity is not above nature laws and that as agricultural civilization breaks the environmental equilibrium of the planet, men is living in the edge of its own annihilation.

Either we change and save the planet, or we perish and the planet heals itself. Are we to remain in the picture?

What is mankind without nature? What is nature without mankind?

get ready to have your eyes opened.

allow your taker brain space to question the intentions of the creation story presented to you since birth. maybe we're aren't evil from birth, not here to rule and reign over the world, bit instead here to teach and help bring life to what is to come along side and after us.

Outstanding

Makes one think. And eventually understand that we are all one. Mr Quinn makes that point and more in this wonderful book.

Abridged, but very good.

Though heavily abridged, everyone should listen to this or read the original. Forget about all this "green" and pseudo-sustainability crap from corporations and conservation sell-outs. Quinn gets to the heart of why the world is falling apart. Ishmael addresses the big picture and fundamental biology, whereas later books like The Story of B and My Ishmael dive into the origins of social and economic inequality as well.

This audiobook is an excellent start with superb narration. If you like it, read the original for even more detailed discussion of topics such as overpopulation.

Listen, ponder, take it to heart, and carry Quinn's message forward. Together we can save the world.

Leaves you with more questions than answers.

I wish the narrator had a deeper voice, but the book has a solid premise which is explained relatively well.

Highlighting Need of Social Change From Within

Although the story is told in an atmosphere of a modern day bible story, it is a quick read, which resurfaces the importance for individuals to find and follow their personal visions.

philosophical

loved it, made me think about the world and my place in it, in a new way