Ishmael
by Daniel Quinn
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780553375404 |
Only 1 left in stock at $8.50!
Powells.com Staff Pick
For those of us who have been in the rat race of modern culture long enough that we have stopped thinking, and for those of us who have never deeply examined our place in the world, this book is an awakening. It just may change the way you think about everything. Ishmael is a teacher, unlike any you have ever met, with a final mission — to teach man about fixing the ills of the modern world before it's too late. This book is a must read, and a wonderful eye-opener.
Recommended by Linda, Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
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?
Review:
"[Quinn] entrap[s] 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
Review:
"It is as suspenseful, inventive, and socially urgent as any fiction or nonfiction book you are likely to read this or any other year" The Austin Chronicle
Review:
"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
About the Author
Daniel Quinn's first book, Ishmael, won the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship, a prize for fiction presenting creative and positive solutions to global problems. He is also the author of Providence, The Story of B, and My Ishmael.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 4 comments:









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Arboreality, July 29, 2008 (view all comments by Arboreality)
To say that this book changed my life is not at all too strong a sentiment. EVERYONE should read this book. Possibly more than once.





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Starr, July 4, 2008 (view all comments by Starr)
Life-changing, and powerful. Something we all feel but can't quite articulate. No words other than the book itself can explain. We are so sure we know what life is all about.... but are we? Quinn answers the important question, "How did we come to be this way?" Once you get it answered, you'll never look at the world the same again.... thank goodness!!!





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Angel of Starlight, December 5, 2007 (view all comments by Angel of Starlight)
'Ishmael' should be required reading in high school, then required again at the college level. Its phenomenal insight into both human and global experience will profoundly and unalterably affect most readers.
View all 4 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780553375404
- Author:
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Bantam Books
- Location:
- New York : Bantam/Turner Book, 1992.
- Subject:
- Literary
- Subject:
- Fiction
- Subject:
- Human ecology
- Subject:
- Visionary & metaphysical
- Subject:
- Gorilla
- Subject:
- Human ecology -- Fiction.
- Subject:
- Didactic fiction
- Edition Description:
- Bantam trade pbk. ed.
- Series Volume:
- 104-24
- Publication Date:
- May 1995
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Language:
- English
- Illustrations:
- Yes
- Pages:
- 272
- Dimensions:
- 832x594x76 52











