Ishmael
A Novel (Ishmael Series, Book 1)
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Ishmael
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Narrated by:
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Kirby Heyborne
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Morgan Freeman
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By:
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Daniel Quinn
About this listen
One of the most beloved and best-selling novels of spiritual adventure ever published, Ishmael has earned a passionate following. This special 25th 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)
©1992 Daniel Quinn (P)2021 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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)
What listeners say about Ishmael
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 26-04-22
mind opening
makes you really stop and think about how we live as humans and what needs to change for us to have a future on this planet.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 10-07-23
Believe Ishmael
A book that opened my eyes when I didn’t believe they were close. Our human purposes and behaviors so gracefully explained. I think about the message of this book in many of my encounters ever since
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 28-02-23
Book for every human being
Incredible story. Each human being should read this, If there is a way how the improve humanity, I think this is a good place where to start.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Mark
- 10-10-22
An unusual interview but very interesting.
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'.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Liam Hastings
- 03-01-22
A must read/listen
A fantastic novel - I believe is a must read for everyone! Found myself pausing and trying to answer the questions posed by the teacher very often! Very engaging.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Samantha Williams
- 15-11-22
Great perspective
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.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 18-01-24
Life changing read!!!
Ishmael is a teaching for life. It has turned my vision of the world, of our place as humans in the world and our relationship with nature completely upside down! And for the better! A must must read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Leo
- 23-09-21
Hard to describe.
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.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- StephanieRogers
- 05-02-23
One of the most eye opening books I've ever read
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.
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- Anonymous User
- 21-09-22
This should be taught in schools
Simply the most important book you could read. This book and its teachings should be taught in schools.
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