1. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. It is a must must must must must must must must must must read for every human being. 2. The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten. It's essentially about the zen of music. 3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Beautiful book about the importance of keeping your eyes open to the world around you. 4. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. 5. Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko. It's honestly a difficult read because it follows Native American's view of cyclical time. Beautiful writing with a large theme of appreciation.
Since you listed it twice, I feel like I have to ask exactly what you thought made Ishmael worth reading? I found it to be a waste of my time so I'm curious what would make it such an amazing book to someone else.
I'm almost offended that you said it was a waste of time. Regardless of if you agree or not with Quinn arguing we should be 'Leavers' instead of 'Takers,' you have to admit that the beauty with which he describes his belief is great. Why I thought it was worth a double listing is because it does resonate strongly with what I believe. He speaks of balance, compassion, love...and I agree with him that the world would be such a better place if we all were 'Leavers.'
No offense meant, I was genuinely curious about your obviously very different opinion of the book.
I figured it was out of curiosity. It's just that that book is so aligned with my philosophies I hold it dear to my soul.
My issue was more with presentation than content. While I think Quinn had some good ideas the book came across as very .... obvious (?) ... and to me quite shallow and simplistic. Although I think there's something to be said about the shallow/simplistic part in terms of it allowing the reader to fill in the depth on their own, that's not really what I'm looking for in that type of book.
Completely understandable. I loved the book more so for the content. I think I fell in love with the content to much I didn't even care about the simplistic writing.
I would like to ammend my list to include The Man Who Quit Money by Mark Sundeen. It has shaped who I am today.