Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit School & Library Binding – 1 Oct. 1999

This is the first book where I've finished reading it and then gone straight back round to the beginning and read it all again. The message really is that important to understand.Rather like Ishmael's question as to why human beings believe they are the last part of creation, I've thought that one or two books I've read in the past have made the most impact on my life, but none of them have as much as this one. Now I can't walk through a shopping centre, seeing all the people rushing around with their bags full of expensive stuff and all the other attempts to get people's money from them, without thinking of Ishmael's message. That message is that mankind is the only living species that's destroying the earth we inherited and the only species that's attempted to defy the laws of nature.The Los Angeles Times said that Ishmael 'may just possibly have bought us all a little more time'. Well, it was written in 1995 and here we are 20-something years later and not improving much. When asked by the narrator of this story how he could use the knowledge he'd learned, Ishmael suggested it wouldn't be easy but maybe to start by teaching the message to 100 other people and imploring them to do the same. Maybe that way it won't be too late. I hope 100 people read this, then read Ishmael, then do the same too.

This is a remarkable book, taking the reader on a journey into human culture, and the kind of underlying culture what we have. And it's not a pretty culture, in many ways, and these ways are often underpinned by the same few themes - a culture of "takers" versus "leavers". It's remarkable because the evidence is all around us, but many of us (including myself) had never seen this, or at least thought of it in such clear terms.Although it's possible to take issue with the author for creating paper tigers which he then knocks down, or for not having his characters mount the strongest possible arguments against his thesis, I found it almost impossible not to be carried along by the flow of his argument, and to reach the same conclusions.My criticisms are only two (and I'm not sure the second really counts as a criticism, more a comment). My first criticism is that I found the book took a while to get going. So if you are reading it then I encourage you to stick with it - it really is worth it!The second criticism/comment is that it's not clear what to comes next! Now I know more or less in precisely what way we're broken as a culture, but it's not clear what I personally can do about it. It's been a few days since I finished, and I desperately don't want to drift back into my "taker" cultural view of the world, but given how embedded everything around me is in it, I struggle with how to improve things. To quote the marvelous Anne Lamott, I need to take it one bird at a time, I guess...

Theres not much more I can say than what has already been said by other reviewers. I will just say there are two types of people that will read this book. The first is the person who is not ready to hear the message contained within the book, and will go back to living in a culture that is not only destroying the world but causing the human race to quickly head towards extinction. These are the people that cannot understand the premise of the book, and will simply continue to bury their heads in the sand ignoring the signs all around them.The other type of person is ready to hear the message, and allows the book to explain why despite all of human advances in civilisation, there is still something fundamentally wrong with modern human culture. These people can see the bigger picture than what is written in mere words, and are ready to help others see the message of the book too. These people like myself, don't want the world destroyed and don't want the human race to end soon.

Tried hard to read it, wasn’t able to finish l, found it naive and patronising.

Ordered book...and arrived in a timely manor

Bad condition, not as described, very disappointedDescribed as: Minimal marks or notes, not effecting text, light marksUnderlining on lots of pages, plus scribbles, book water damaged. Attatched some of the pages...

Definitely one of must read if you feel this world has an opportunity to survive. The recommendation is not to read it, it is more like a question. Would you be brave to read it and action it?

Wow. Just finished reading this and I couldn't put it down. It's certainly thought provoking and very well written. I wasn't sure if I would be "intellectual enough" to understand it, but to my surprise I understood, digested and analysed the words I was reading, it made sense!On the cover there is a quote from Jim Britell, Whole Earth Review. He says "From now on I will divide the books I have read into two categories - the ones I read before Ishmael and those read after". Nail on the head Mr Britell!I have just ordered The Story of B and then I'll go on to My Ismael.