Ishmael by Daniel Quinn – A Bold Step Forward
One of the biggest influences in my life was the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. Daniel Quinn won the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship for Ishmael. The award was given to a book offering creative solutions to global problems. The book begins with the narrator viewing an ad in the local newspaper, “TEACHER SEEKS PUPIL. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.” As it turns out, the teacher is a gorilla and we are in for quite a ride. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn and other books by Daniel Quinn have generated a large following and also seem to ignite controversy. These books by Daniel Quinn have also been criticized for not offering any concrete solutions. What readers fail to recognize is the solution he is offering is the most powerful of all – a change in our worldview.
The book, A Life Worth Living seeks to do the same – alter our view of the world and create a new possibility for life on this planet. Ironically, strong followers of Ishmael by Daniel Quinn may find this book too soft, and too open to solutions that could lead to the very thing Daniel Quinn warns against – the destruction of the human race. Likely, they’ll struggle with language in this book like “creating what you want” as being too “pop culture” and at the heart of why we find ourselves in this predicament in the first place – people want too much. I say, the predicament we find ourselves in is not that we want too much; it’s that we don’t want enough. Regardless, any objection to the idea of “creating what you want” ignores the obvious – people (even potential objectors) want something to happen in the future that’s different from what’s happening right now. And the question is “How are we going to do that?”
At its core, the question A Life Worth Living tackles is, “How do we create a different future other than the default future, one that is distinct from our past?” Ishmael by Daniel Quinn helped people see that what we were living wasn’t life, it was only one possible way of life. This book does the same and more. It helps us to understand how to create the world we want to live in.
Are you a fan of Daniel Quinn? Read a book that takes Ishmael by Daniel Quinn a step further. Get your copy of A Life Worth Living today!