Just wondering if anyone out there has read Ishmael or other books by Daniel Quinn. "Ishmael", and its sequel "My Ishmael", were fairly easy reads but had heavy philosophical issues. Basically Quinn is saying that people need and deserve a better societal system, one that is drastically different from ours. He emphasizes "tribal living" (not primitive living though) and changing society's focus away from greed and destruction.
If you've read it let me know what you think!
And you can visit the site at http://www.ishmael.org
Thanks!
~Sand

Thanks for the heads up sand. I can think of several people here that this book would interest!

I didn't actually read the book, but I listened to an audiobook version of it. It was very thought provoking, and I did not know that there was a sequel to it. I will have to check out that website....

Read Ishmael many years ago (four, I think?) and loved it. When they say that "you will put books you read into two categories: those you've read before Ishmael and those you've read after" they are not kidding. Even if you disagree totally with everything in the book or you can't get past the gorilla/teacher premise, it will show you a whole world/paradigm you had no idea existed. Every book (on philosophy) that I've read since then (and there have been many!) has been read with a new, clearer eye. I would recommend this book to everyone. As I've said, the premise is a bit hard to imagine but don't let that block you from reading the book.
Daniel Quinn also wrote the Story of B. Frankly, not as good as Ishmael and was the same ideas rehashed. If you have to pick just one, read Ishmael.

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...enjoying the journey...

Oh, well said LindaK29!
Some of my friends who haven't read the book get sick of me trying to push it on them.
My friends who have read the book know exactly what I'm talking about.

When I watched The Matrix the second time around, I thought the writers must have read this book. The parallels are amazing.
We see "Mother Culture" and its effects all around us; it is like the Matrix that blinds us from the truth!

Initially this book depressed me and made me cynical, but after a while I just incorporated it into my other views and it became a part of the way I think.

I am on the Ishmael community website and actually became a part of a email list of Ishmael/Story of B readers in my state. Thanks for the thoughts on B LindaK, perhaps I'll skip that one.