Daniel Quinn

An award-winning, compelling novel of spiritual adventure about a gorilla named Ishmael, who possesses immense wisdom, and the man who becomes his pupil, offers answers to the world's most pressing moral dilemmas. Reprint.

Ishmael

sam kruczek

…they were unable to find the bars of the cage. If you can't discover what 's keeping you in, the will to get out soon becomes confused and ineffectual"

Laura Mauler

This book caused a radical shift in my thinking.

Meagan Fischer 

Seemed profound and convincing when I read it, but in hindsight it's a completely oversimplified, uncited argument about human history and evolution, that perhaps even leans into the noble savage trope.

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

A Novel

Barbara Williford

Although there were a FEW sound philosophical concepts, the audible was well narrated (I loved the added music), overall the book wasn’t impressive. It was full of Daniel Quinn’s own philosophy and personal agenda. Unless you have patience to muddle through all his philosophical mambo jumbo, discern what is sound and what is trash, it is a complete waste of 3 hours. It came highly recommended by a student and I’m sorry they read it and I’m sorry I read. 

The mythical stories that twist the Bible trouble me for those without Biblical knowledge. To completely rewrite, take out of context and pretty much spit on it was extremely troublesome.

Jayme Bosio

** spoiler alert **
           I love to read any book that leaves you feeling confused and unsettled at the end, and Ishmael does a fine job of that. The author forces the audience to ask the BIG questions that nobody wants to ask.

An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

Emily Delventhal-Sali

If you have little to no background in philosophy or religion & like idea of being condescended to by an gorilla, then by all means read this book. However, if you have any academic knowledge of the aforementioned topics or don’t care what a fictional gorilla might have to say about human anthropology, then don’t bother. 
In high school I thought what Ishmael had to say was very profound, but after 4 years I find it to be a shallow, pseudo-intellectual waste of my time.

Maria Oana

One of those books that changes you: the way you think and the way you look at the world

Tara King

I recall feeling like my mind was blown apart by the book, and it probably was--I was only eleven years old. Daniel Quinn visited our school and was kind of a jerk, unfortunately, which left a sour taste around some new revelations in my young brain.

Ishmael

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