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Ishmael

A Novel

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About this listen

 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, available on audio:
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 Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Magical Realism Psychological Fantasy Magic Nonfiction Solar System

Critic reviews

“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

“[Quinn entraps] us in the dialogue itself, in the sweet and terrible lucidity of Ishmael’s analysis of the human condition. . . . It was surely for this deep, clear persuasiveness of argument that Ishmael was given its huge prize.”—The Washington Post

“It is as suspenseful, inventive, and socially urgent as any fiction or nonfiction book you are likely to read this or any other year.”—The Austin Chronicle

“Deserves high marks as a serious—and all too rare—effort that is unflinchingly engaged with fundamental life-and-death concerns.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
All stars
Most relevant
Spectacular and meaningful philosophy about how the world has come to be this way and human unsustainability, through the tongue-in-cheek lens of a surreal relationship between a man and a gorilla.

One of the most eye opening books I've ever read

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Absolutely riveting story. What a way to make one think about humanity’s impact, roles and responsibilities to each other and to the planet. Great reading.

A great story.

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I was recommended this book without the person going into too much detail about what it was about.
The recommendation was based on our shared interest in exploring long told and firmly held beliefs that permeate our society and our lives.
So I began listening and the skilful way the author covers such a topic, while at the same time not being patronising kept me listening. The writing teases out the main message until the reader is fully ready. And then delivers it in an unforgettable few words. Totally decimating a long told and firmly held belief of my own upbringing, and that of most of us.
A life changing book. It you allow it to be.

Hard to describe.

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The book helps to explain why we're headed toward the next extinction. We have, in a very short time, caused a lot of damage in the name of progress. This book confirmed a few of my thoughts and added light where I was unsure.
An interesting approach that removed what could have been seen as a 'sermon'.

An unusual interview but very interesting.

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Really easy to listen to this book. I listened to it very quickly and was blown away at certain parts by concepts i hadn't quite considered before! Really interesting view of how we came to be here.

Great perspective

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