Total Page : 263
Publisher : Turtleback
Publication Date : 1995 06 01
>> opens the mind
For those who truly want to explore how we got to where we are this is the best book around In order to grasp Ishmael s teaching it is necessary to set aside preconceived ideas about dogma and organized religion Anyone who cares about the planet we live on the way we treat all species including ourselves can learn much from this book Since the publication I ve read Ishmael at least a dozen times Every time I pick it up I learn something new a different way to look at events an approach to change I had not thought of
>> Should have been written in a non fiction format
An Environmentalist Antarctic Traveler Lovable Wacko gave the book to me 13 years ago I just saw it on my shelf last week and thought might as well read this so I can get rid of it During the fist half hour of reading it I almost dumped it in the trash several times but because of my respect for the Lovable Wacko I kept reading it She d told me your neuronal firing patterns are going to be changed by the time you finish the book
Damn it She was right I stuck it out despite the extremely irritating dialogue The adolescent banter between the gorilla and the ignorant student grated so completely upon me that I simply couldn t wait to finish the book and get it out of my house
However despite his horrible writing Quinn gives us several nuggets to take away to weave into our current understanding of the world I m certainly in agreement with his take that overpopulation is the number one problem facing humanity He gives us Taker and Leaver societies I am suspect whenever someone breaks down the world into two kinds which is a way of looking at how humankind has gotten itself into this pickle running out of fossil fuel losing the ability to feed itself filling the atmosphere with CO2 and filling the waters and land with pernicious pollutants In some of the other reviews we see that perhaps Quinn s precision of facts is not always accurate I say that it doesn t matter His concept that there are innate Laws of Life in the same way as there are Laws of Aerodynamics is a good one and it does me well to delve into that further I am not too keen on his veneration of the native American culture been there done that but Quinn s premise that they were a Leaver society should be scientifically examined There s another fact of Quinn s that I d like to look into further did the Hohokam simply walk away from their canals and waterworks I don t know that we can know that based on the archeological evidence They disappeared but did they disown their way of life and walk into the sunset
The book has given me food for thought and leads me to books of greater scientific substance I was offended by the way Quinn talked down to us and I wish he had written in the direct style of an Al Gore or a Neil DeGrasse Tyson because his ideas will lead us to deeper thoughts
In the end I found myself missing the gorilla but I m still getting rid of the book
>> For people who have never bothered to think about the world
I do not want to be too mean to this book because I believe its intentions are the best but really this is a form or elite theory on how to manage the world
Ishmael postulates that people are a cancer and then the only logical solution is removal of this cancer However this is always something that comes from the developed world directed at the developing world so it seems that the book is arguing for some kind of sterilization program for those in the developing world which frankly is racist and elitist among other things
The book also does not address why so many people exist in the manner they do Why do people go on about their lives with little to no care about the environment This is because many of the poorer people in the world again something I think the book is aiming at as the source of the earth s woes life is an everyday struggle to live and to provide for one s family Population control and the environment do not figure into this Also I believe that when people of any class or country attempt to provide the best for their family best home best schools best vehicles best standard of living which is understandable they have an environmental impact thereby
This book then provides no real thought out solutions to any of the Earth s woes People should conserve and should try not to have an impact on the environment but blaming overpopulation in poorer nations as the problem is frankly wrong And further the book is arrogant because it assumes we should believe everything it has to say because it comes from an old talking gorilla
