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  • Ishmael

  • An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit
  • By: Daniel Quinn
  • Narrated by: Anthony Heald
  • Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (120 ratings)

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Ishmael

By: Daniel Quinn
Narrated by: Anthony Heald
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Publisher's Summary

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: 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)1995 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House Inc.

Critic Reviews

“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

“[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

What listeners say about Ishmael

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  • Tim
  • 16-09-2023

Another perspective

Listen with the intent of understanding and you’ll see that we are the first custodians with challenge, not enfants given a new toy.

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Powerful story

If only humans could get it!!! Our world would be a completely different place to live. Glad somebody has the courage to bring this topics to the table.

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A novel all should read

This is an outstanding novel. A great way to refocus the way one views our surroundings, our fellow man and ourselves.
This novel isn’t about finding the “answer”, it’s more about trying to understand why mankind has accepted the current ‘answer’ to our questions.
The narrator is an outstanding reader also

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    5 out of 5 stars
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I wish the story didn't end that fast

I wish the story could go further. really captivating I didn't expect it to end this fast.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Life changing

There's hardly any words that do this more justice than simply saying it offers a life changing perspective. It's up to you to grasp it.

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This is the best audiobook I have in my library

I have probably over 30 books and was reluctant to buy this one as it only goes for a few hours but the lessons in here are the most zoomed out an important lesson you can learn
Siri

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Perfect book if your having a bad day

This is the worst book that I have ever read. if you are have a bad day and need some cheering up then download this book immediately. This is one of the worst stories ever told in history. What an absolute BS story. Honestly if your having a bad day and want to have a laugh then listen to this complete nonsense of a book. I'm not sure how this passed the editors or how this book made it all the way to be published but it gives me hope that even I can become a writer. Stupid story, no point to this and none of it makes any sense once you apply reason to any of the points made. Avoid if your serious about learning anything. only listen if you need to be cheered up by listening to bs.

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A story for the ages (please read with urgency!)

where have we come from, and to where are we going?

are we on the right path, and if not is there time to correct our course?

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A MUST listen

This story is more relevant than ever, really intelligent and deeply touching. I hope that as many people as possible listen to this audiobook, it can have a positive influence on where we steer this ship of mankind.

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This book ruined my life

This book laid waste to my original viewpoint on the meaning of life and what I though life was about. I can't even tell you what this book is about, I can only tell you that it filled my heart with a feeling of Thumos. Truly captivating, I can't wait to listen to it again

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