Ishmael: A Novel

Daniel Quinn

Dec 2009 · Ishmael Series Book 1 · Sold by Bantam

About this ebook

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 bought us all a little more time.”—Los Angeles Times

Ratings and reviews

Ishmael is the type of book that is either loved or hated by readers as its ideas are very controversial. The message in this book is a very intriguing one, but also difficult to accept. If the reader does not go into this novel with an open mind, it will be impossible to enjoy as it is known that skeptics who already know the premise of the book will not take Ishmael’s messages well. I enjoyed the book as I had no idea what it would be about. I knew it would be controversial as the review on the cover said, “From now on I will divide the books I have read into two categories---the ones I read before Ishmael and those read after.” I would definitely recommend Ishmael to readers that do not mind thinking while they read. Although the language is very easy to understand, it is not a straightforward read as you will often want to set it down and just think for a while. There are some who say this book changed their lives and still others who tossed it aside. No matter one’s set of opinions, this is a must-read because of the ideas it brings to the table.

Probably one of the best books I've ever read. My mind has been officially blown. Can't say that about a lot of books but this books exceeded my expectations with flying colors.

The message of this book fundamentally misunderstands how the world functions. All life will spread unchecked through its environment. Humanity is literally the only animal that will try and curtail it's growth so as to not damage the world around it.

About the author

Daniel Quinn grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and studied at St. Louis University, the University of Vienna, and Loyola University of Chicago. He worked in Chicago-area publishing for twenty years before beginning work on the book for which he is best known, Ishmael. In 1991, this book was chosen from among some 2,500 international entrants in the Turner Tomorrow competition to win the half-million dollar prize for a novel offering “creative and positive solutions to global problems.” It has subsequently sold more than a million copies in English, is available in some thirty languages, and has been used in high schools and colleges worldwide in courses as varied as philosophy, geography, ecology, archaeology, history, biology, zoology, anthropology, political science, economics, and sociology. Subsequent works include Providence, The Story of B, My Ishmael: A Sequel, Beyond Civilization, After Dachau, The Holy, At Woomeroo, The Invisibility of Success, and The Teachings. Daniel Quinn died in 2018.