 "Essential reading on the environment" | 2009-11-14 |
| - Reviewed By arthurdigbee |
This book was given me by a student who said it changed the way she looks at the world. I can see why. It's exactly the kind of book that can change the way a 20-year-old looks at the world. Being rather older than that, it told a story that I already knew and agreed with in most respects, and crystallized that thinking in various ways. But I heartily recommend it to anyone who wants to think about the relationship between humans and nature.
It's mostly written as a Socratic dialogue between the protagonist and a telepathic gorilla. Quinn pulls off this preposterous premise with wit and elan. The dialogue is an old teaching method, and of course Quinn is trying to teach the reader how to think about the ways that civilization necessarily destroys nature and itself. The theme goes back at least to George Perkins Marsh, and is found in the writings of Derrick Jensen among other modern environmentalists. But this is the best introduction to this line of thinking that I've ever seen.
What you won't find in these other writers is Quinn's exegesis of Genesis. The core reading of conflicts between agriculturalists and pastoralists against the background of "indigenous hunter-gatherers" will be familiar to other careful readers of Genesis. Quinn's twist is to read it as the text of the losers (the pastoralists), desperately trying to figure out why the agriculturalists do the crazy things they do. That counterrevolutionary perspective helps inform Quinn, much more briefly, as he reads Jesus. He's not writing as a Christian, but his exegesis provides a much more insightful read of the continuity between Jesus and the Hebrews than more overtly religious commentaries. These people are dissenters from civilization.
My greatest objection is that Quinn privileges discourse over historical materialism. (I'm intentional saying that in a jargonized way to evoke larger currents of thought.) He imagines that humans can transform civilization by telling a different story about the species and our relationship with nature. This ignores the concrete, material foundation of our problems. It ignores political economy and the real interests of powerful people in maintaining this destructive system.
For that reason, Ishmael doesn't give us a practical political program. But it provides an essential introduction to rethinking the way we approach civilization and its alleged benefits. It's a highly accessible and engaging book. Read it.
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 "Interesting but seriously flawed" | 2009-11-02 |
| - Reviewed By User: ATPP3IWN4S9PW |
I finished this book in two days, so it's a quick read. The basic premise of the book is to not be wasteful. Not to take more than we should, not to do things that are destructive and pointless. Hard to argue that. I agree.
However, there are too many points and arguments that are seriously flawed and stink of mainstream feeblemindedness. The idea that primitive man lives in harmony with nature is a given. To think that primitive man lives in a utopian world, and that nature is perfect is simply stupid. Any world where there is suffering is far from utopian. The path of evolution we are on is insane and horrific, but we can only guess where we are going with it. We could think of it like an ordinary boy who becomes a heroine addict and then through his hard experiences becomes incredibly compassionate. We just don't know where all this craziness is taking us, and therefore how to make sense of it. I cannot even begin to list all of the problems in logic and subjective points of view the author takes, but if you're not bright enough to know the basic premise of this book already, then you should probably read it. Otherwise, skip it.
(in all fairness, it was written 30 years ago, and this book must have seemed much more insightful at the time, and if I were able to read it then I'm sure my opinion would have been much different) |
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 "Trash for pseudo-intellectual children" | 2009-10-13 |
| - Reviewed By User: A22M6P4RBU83LF |
| This book is the WORST. There's nothing wrong with earnest idealism, Socratic dialogues, intellectual journeys, talking gorillas, mythology deconstruction, or ecological-mindedness. Taken together, however, and done by Daniel Quinn? If you like this book you are either a monster or a freshman. Go read Steve Healey's "How I Became a Famous Novelist" instead. Namaste! |
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| "A Definite Re-read!" | 2009-10-04 |
| - Reviewed By robinredtailhawk |
| I was fortunate enough to stumble across this book in high school (long ago) and was transformed by it. I'm so glad I now own it myself, as I am reading it for the second time, and will be re-reading it many times after that. It is highly illuminating and inspiring. |
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| "You will never look at the world the same" | 2009-09-25 |
| - Reviewed By User: A30QO670JSVX6A |
| Ishmael is an amazing book, it takes you on a journey and will thoroughly change the way you look at your world and and the interactions of man and and world. You must read this. |
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| "Great spiritual read" | 2009-09-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2F9TP0CBTMU0B |
As soon as I saw "A Novel By...", I decided to approach this book as one intended to sway the reader that man's impact on the earth as a whole has been negative (nevermind that the earth may decide to kill all living creatures one of these centuries with massive volcanic eruption) with a narrative not totally surrounded factual information.
Also I want to preface that I was hungry for spiritual growth and was trying anything to get away from 9-7, 5 days a week work week that consumes my life.
With this in mind, my overall impression of this book was that we are taught (via a gorilla to our protaganist) of a thought provoking alternative on how humans should live on/with the living earth. The predominant culture in the Western and "ized" world is that of accumulation of wealth, material possessions, procreation, and ensuring creature comforts and security for us and our family. Obviously not everyone on earth (consisting of some human societies and animals) is necessarily caught up in this cycle of human non-evolution. And if there is a question of which side of this rough description of humanity is happy, the one answer everyone is familiar with is that happiness is not always found on the side of the Westernized world. Aren't all of us somewhat envious of our pets who seem perfectly content in their lives devoid of striving to reach some societal goal, or standard of living as judged by society. Maybe these thoughts don't resound in some people's minds as loudly as others, however, the major point of this book is that the culture we are a part of is highly effective in muffling these thoughts that suggest alternative paths to reach a right way to live. |
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