Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit

But what is the civilization that Quinn looks at? Instead of muttering about monumental building and written language, Quinn treats civilization in a method that is becoming increasingly popular: as the result of a critical mass of humanity that makes possible rapid advances in knowledge and science. For this to be possible, intensive agriculture must be used to raise the population density to such a point that civilization occurs.

So Quinn uses a gorilla as an outsider looking in and perceiving the reality of civilization - of cultures using intensive agriculture to dominate the world. His conclusions are for the most part negative: he concludes that civilization is not sustainable in the long term (that is, over millions of years).

The observations used to come to this conclusion are relatively well-known; that civilization is the greatest disaster to befall earth in the past 65 million years. In terms of pollution, deforestation, extinction, and overall negative impact to the web of life itself, humanity is supreme among all the species. What Quinn does not share with the others who know these facts is a belief that civilization will overcome any difficulties it encounters. Civilization, to Quinn, is the problem, not the solution.

_Ishmael_ is the presentation of these ideas in a Socratic method from a gorilla to a man "with an earnest desire to save the world." There isn't really any plot to this book, nor does Quinn intend there to be. The disappearance of Ishmael at the end of book is the only story-like element in _Ishmael_, and it is really an attempt by Quinn to set the reader free - to encourage him/her to think about civilization for himself rather than be told about it by a telepathic gorilla. I've always had the feeling that this should be considered nonfiction, rather than a story.

The problem presented by _Ishmael_ is simple: civilization is the problem. The solution is both simple and complex: in order to preserve a human niche in the ecosystem, we must go beyond civilization. Working to figure out just what this means is one of the great joys of reading _Ishmael_, whether or not you agree with Quinn's assessment of the situation. _Ishmael_ is a book that will make you look around and think, and perhaps reach some conclusions that you may find surprising. Highly recommended.


Excellent   May 2, 2006
Steven R. McEvoy (Canada)
38 out of 40 found this review helpful

Much like the One Book for Waterloo this year, Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer, this book looks at the history of humankind on this planet and all we have done to it. It will challenge the prevailing belief that more and bigger is better. The book begins with an ad in the paper "TEACHER seeks pupil. Must have earnest desire to save the world. Apply in Person." In the book, the gorilla Ishmael has learned to communicate through thought with humans. He also has a message that we cannot afford not to hear. The book focuses around a series of conversations between Ishmael and his student. It presents a different interpretation of how we went from being a hunter-gather society to an agrarian one. Also how that system is bound to fail. For me the most haunting thing in the book is two quotes. Early on we see a poster that states: "WITH MAN GONE, WILL THERE BE HOPE FOR GORILLA?" p.9 and much later, on the back of the first poster, "WITH GORILLA GONE, WILL THERE BE HOPE FOR MAN?" p.263. This is a great read especially for a sunny summer afternoon, or two. This is also the first in a trilogy.


Reviewing the Reviews   October 25, 2000
Sebastian Eq (Houston, TX)
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

Almost as many words from reviewers appear here as appear in the original book, providing a generous sample of reader reactions. Clearly it's a book that people either love or hate passionately, and clearly the author wasn't trying to write one of those books, like, say Simple Abundance, that NO ONE can hate. There are plenty of sharp edges in Ishmael, and Quinn didn't go out of his way to blunt them so that no one's feelings would get hurt. (There are even more sharp edges in his later books.) The haters generally justify their contempt in one of two ways.

The first way is by charging Quinn with saying the opposite of what he's saying. For example, several reviewers complain that they're tired of hearing our problems blamed on humanity's flaws; but Quinn consistently ATTACKS the idea that our problems can be blamed on humanity's flaws; in fact, he insists that humanity is NOT flawed. Several reviewers suggest that he blames civilization for our problems; in fact, Quinn ATTACKS this idea as the unconsidered conventional wisdom of our age. Several readers charge him with resurrecting the image of the "Noble Savage"; in fact, he dismisses the "Noble Savage" as an idealization and insists that our "savage" ancestors and contemporaries are no more noble than we are. One or two reviewers dismiss Ishmael as "New Age drivel," failing to realize that New Age journals and reviewers shunned this book (and all of Quinn's books), recognizing that he is no friend to New Age sensibilities. One reviewer suggests that Ishmael was inspired by The Celestine Prophecy--failing to note that Ishmael was in print several years BEFORE The Celestine Prophecy (and that the two books are philosophically incompatible). In fact, if Ishmael embraced all the views that these reviewers charge it with embracing, then it would indeed be trite (as some say it is). The fact that Ishmael ATTACKS these views is what makes it most definitely NOT trite.

The second way is by asserting that in Ishmael Quinn gets something "wrong"--most often anthropology, history, philosophy, or biology. What's interesting in these reviews is the total absence of EXAMPLES of things he's "gotten wrong." In fact, hundreds of university professors of anthropology, history, philosophy, and biology have used Ishmael as a text or as recommended reading in classrooms all over the world (in twenty languages). Clearly these scholarly professionals don't seem to think that Quinn has "gotten it wrong."

Several readers charge that Quinn "oversimplifies." It's easy to pick out ideas that are oversimplified: if you don't like them, then they're oversimplified. People never denounce simple ideas that they like. In fact, in Ishmael, Quinn is attacking a constellation of very simple ideas that form the foundation of our cultural mythology: the idea that the world was made for Man, and Man was made to conquer and rule it; the idea that the world is a human possession, to be used as suits us; the idea that everything would be fine if it weren't for "human nature"; the idea that humans belong to a separate and higher order of being from the rest of the living community. If you happen to like these simple ideas, then you're probably NOT going to like this book (or any of Quinn's books).


Book for Reraders with an Earnest Desire to Save the World   October 7, 2000
J. M. Elliott (New Orleans, LA)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

A friend of mine recommended this book to me in 1992. When she described to me the book's premise, a dialogue between a telepathic gorilla and a not-so-subtly dense man, I have to admit, I was not exactly eager to buy a copy. Thankfully, she persisted, and when finally she just presented me with a copy of it, I began to read... and read... and read... to find that she was right when she told me that what the book is actually about is something you have to read for yourself to discover.

My history prior to reading Ishmael had involved efforts to address problems regarding the environment and social justice. I had always been frustrated at the conventional devices for change, never quite able to communicate exactly where my frustrations lay. I did know that my frustrations were rooted in a sense that what I was doing was having little more effect than trying to stop a dam from breaking by stopping up the cracks with tissue paper. I also knew that the changes needed were much more than any amount of political persuasion, noble savage idealism, scientific sequestering, philosophical masturbation, or religious transcendentalism could possibly produce.

It has been seven years since my first reading of Ishmael, and this book's profound impact on me, my goals, and my overall cosmology has not wavered since, but has in fact increased exponentially, particularly with reading Mr. Quinn's follow up pieces, The Story of B and My Ishmael. In Ishmael, Daniel Quinn manages to cut to the heart of our culture's various ailments without resorting to any of the expected conventions of our time. The reason for this, as Mr. Quinn clearly illustrates, is that these conventions are as much a result of our culture's ill paradigms as the problems they occasionally attempt to remedy.

But this does not even begin to touch on the depth of insights contained in this masterful work. Mr. Quinn synthesizes numerous schools of thought - primarily anthropology, history, biology, and theology - in such a way as to paint a truly all-encompassing portrait of how we got here. Most importantly, he successfully fleshes out the root of what it will take for any significant and lasting change to be made.

The premise of the conversation between man and ape is more a metaphorical framework, a vehicle for the eye-opening ideas therein, than a device to provoke an emotional response. Nonetheless, one cannot help feeling a sense of loyalty and affection for the humorously smug (and rightly so) gorilla we come to know as Ishmael.

And we owe a debt of gratitude to the book's fictitious narrator. His dense skull need not be taken personally as an estimation on Quinn's part of the mentality of his readers. It is a practical device that makes this book comprehensible to even those readers with little prior understanding of the laws of biology, the principles of evolution, or the various other foundations of this piece, and merely requests the patience of those readers who do have knowledge of such subjects. And for those readers who find this man's ignorance occasionally frustrating, you will find humor and respect in how Ishmael himself responds. At least, if you do not, you will find a role model for the patience you will need to develop if you wish to be a part of provoking such change yourself.

My involvement and concern for issues such as the environment and social justice have not wavered either, but have merely changed their expressions... to ones more effective in the long run and with a deeper, more practical understanding and a sense of hope that I had not known before.

Deeper and more profoundly mind-altering than any book on conspiracy theories, celestine prophecies, or back-to-the-woods survivalism - by the simple virtue of its depth and profundity laying in its unabashed stripping of our cultural mythologies - Ishmael is truly a book for any reader with an earnest desire to save the world.


Ready to rethink your entire existence?   October 13, 2000
yo-tambien (Reno, NV)
122 out of 151 found this review helpful

This book alone reshaped how I think about everything. It is a narrative dialogue between a gorilla and a naive, disgruntled young man. The man represents a common cultural icon, the kind we all know too well: unhappy, hopeless and confused. The gorilla: wise, challenging and viewing the world of humanity from an animal's perspective. Ishmael, the gorilla, takes the narrator onto a journey of humanity while challenging the him to see humanity, and its role on this planet, in a way never before told. What's more is that everything Ishmael brings out is confirmed by the work of anthropologists, philosophers, biologists and ecologists, and, unlike others who question humanity's position in life, Ishmael questions whether we need prophets. A new way to live is more on his agenda, and it may follow the model lived by humans for millions of years: the tribe. This book is touching, easy to read and difficult to grasp. I've read it six times, taught it as a high-school unit twice, and I still haven't received all that is presented in here. I joined an Ishmael email list for some time and discovered most of the people on there saw Ishmael as some New Age guru telling us to eat a vegetarian diet and live simply. (Needless to say, I quickly left that list.) I recommend this book selectively--because I'm not sure many who read Ishmael actually understand it.