Ishmael

4 books in series
1,397 ratings

Ishmael Publisher's summary

One of the most beloved and bestselling novels of spiritual adventure ever published, Ishmael has earned a passionate following. This special twenty-fifth 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
Show more Show less
Fantasy Science Fiction Thought-Provoking
You're getting a free audiobook


You're getting a free audiobook.

$8.99 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Try Standard free
Product List

  • Book 1

    Ishmael Audiobook By Daniel Quinn cover art

    $18.00 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free

  • Book 2

    The Story of B Audiobook By Daniel Quinn cover art

    $20.25 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free
  • Coq au Vin Audiobook By Charlotte Carter cover art

    $13.50 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free

  • Book 3

    My Ishmael Audiobook By Daniel Quinn cover art

    $18.00 or free with 30-day trial

    Try Standard free

Similar series

 Earthseed Arc of a Scythe The Ender Saga Jurassic Park Foundation Forward Collection The Great Cities The Passenger Ender's Shadow The Carls Themis Files Audible Original Stories