Customer Reviews

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

5 star:		(161)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I was first recommended this book a few years ago, and I admit it did not sound very stimulating to me when I read the first paragraphs. Reading more than 100 pages about birds was not the book that I wanted to read at that moment.
But a few weeks ago my friend mentioned it and I thought it was time to start reading it and see what was all about.
I have to admit that it was a great experience and the moment I started to read I simply could not put the book aside. I felt great when I finished it and it made me think that life can also be nice and full of optimistic things. 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull' is one of them.

This is a very nice fable about life, ambition and pushing one's own limits. The more you read it, the more you start asking questions about yourself and your life.

Jonathan Livingston is a seagull that chooses a different path than the rest of the birds in his flock. He spends his days looking for perfection - he prefers to learn to fly rather than eat, unlike the other birds. He is single-minded focus on and flying is not the way to make him popular with other birds. Such an attitude made Jonathan an outcast, rejected by his community and he finds himself alone but doesn't want to give up his dreams and ideas.

I think the one big thing this story teaches us is that we should all admit our limitations, but the secret consists in trying to get over them, to challenge ourselves and evolve.

Only great challenges will make us reach "heaven", which is just a matter of being perfect. If there is no challenge, then there are no failures and we cannot evolve. Only excellence,
intelligence, and skill can set free a spirit that is looking
for important challenges in life.

Richard Bach, who is an accomplished pilot and who has written a great deal about flight, uses the theme of flying in this book as a way of making us think. We have to think of ourselves as creatures of total freedom, free from all rulesin our minds, the place where actually everything happens. We can fly at the speed of our minds, not limited by anything .

I think the book is also a story about modern society, where people who are different, the ones who want to make a change, are seen as crazy and are often rejected by the society that tends to be more and more ordinary, with limited views, and no dreams or desires.

It is a good story from which we can learn a lot of things: never be afraid of reaching perfection, never stop dreaming. It is a short and very easy to read story, written in a very nice language, full of deep meanings. I think it should guide us all in life. I recommend this book to all of you who want to be different and "fly high". You will love it!

A poor immitation of the New Testament (with animals behaving like people), the book has little to offer for an adult reader. The author, as a former pilot, has intimate knowledge of flying, but for others the goal is hardly attainable, and thus - of little value.

Other negative reviews have already told the truth about this psycho-spiritual babble book. I'm mainly writing a review to try to help lower the book's average review rating.

The only good thing you can say about this book is that it is short, so it doesn't waste as much time as it might. Of course, for some "time" is a meaningless concept - "Being wasted is sooner that wasting time" as it were. Take my word for it - getting wasted is no more a waste of your time than reading this book.

And if getting wasted leaves you with a hangover, you might learn something; an experience that reading this book is unlikely to give you...

"Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight--how to get from shore to food and back again". "For most gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight." That is what the author of this book says about the "hero" of this story, a seagull named Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is different to the other gulls in his flock. He doesn't live to eat, but eats to live and pursue his passion: flight. But his search for perfection and speed doesn't endear him to the other seagulls, that eventually expel him from the flock for daring to be different. To know what happens afterwards, you will need to read this book, because I don't want to spoil the ending.

The real question here, I guess, is whether you want to read a story about gulls... I mean, there are so many good books out there, why read a book about a bird?. The answer is simple: the story in "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" is a metaphor about things that can happen to you in real life. Have you ever felt tempted to do the same that everybody else, just for the sake of conformism?. Have you often felt like given up when something you really want to do demands too much work?. Just think about it...

I believe that many of us are sometimes like most of the gulls in this book, and we need to learn the lessons that "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" gives us: the most important thing is to believe in ourselves, and always do our best without giving up.

I would like to point out that some people say that this book is full of New Age ideas. I really don't think so. Okay, I certainly don't know much about those ideas, and I'm not interested enough to learn more about them. But in my opinion, we often find in a book what we want to find in it.

For me, this is only a charming allegory with a very pertinent message: DON'T ABANDON YOUR DREAMS... For that reason, I recommend this book to you. And whether you read "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" (English edition) or "Juan Salvador Gaviota" (Spanish edition), enjoy it !!!

Belen Alcat

I read this as a teenager, and I have to admit it, I got sucked in. O.K., let's get something out of the way: this isn't great literature, nor is it a great story. This is a sermon, a parable, a mildly entertaining allegory about seeking a higher purpose in life, not simply living for food (or money or job or survival or routine -- whatever else Bach and you might substitute here). For young adolescents this is an easy read with a good message. As simple and easy to read as it is, it really doesn't surprise me that it sold so many copies. I have no idea what kind of editorial reviews this received when first published, but I suspect they were mostly critical of the message's simplemindedness. Bach isn't subtle, nor is he morally ambiguous. But then, I'm sure this really hit the spot for the idealistic flower power children at the time. I only wonder what Bach thinks of it now.

Very different than I had anticipated. I have heard quotes from this book and know it was popular in the 70s & 80s, and was excited to read it. However it wasn't as profound as I thought it would be. In fact, it is written VERY simply. Which means, that it is not very polished. The language is weak and not very captivating. The story was also a bit disappointing. Originally I thought the story would be about a sea gull learning to fly better and see farther, but it turned out to be a religious allegory that was not entirely Christian and not entirely Bhuddist either. In fact, I found the allegory a bit far fetched, and simple. The gulls relationships was unrealistic and the dialogue was hoaky. I'm sure this book was interesting for its time, but definitely would not fare well in todays world, if published today. People just expect better writing out of people now-a-days.

this was a pretty good book. it's about a seagull with a passion, or a vision of something beyond his current reality. he strives for this vision, much to the dismay of the other seagulls and in the end he achieves what he's looking for, which i guess would be enlightenment. this is a quote that pretty much sums up the book for me

instead of our drab slogging forth and back to the fishing boats, there's reason to live!
we can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. we can learn to be free! we can learn to fly!- jonathan livingston seagull

the moral is about having a dream and making that dream happen. the process is not without its difficulties but essentially the end goal makes the whole process worth it. ... in a nutshell. not the most groundbreaking read, but worth the trek if you're in the mood.

A lot has been written on this work's ties to 1970s spirituality; I will personally focus on its Platonic aspects. It uses two fundamental motifs of Platonism. 1) The allegory of the cave. Jonathan has a lot in common with the liberated philosopher who manages to free himself from the narrow rules that enslave his peers; the character's vertiginous ascension towards another world mirrors the philosopher's efforts to contemplate Good itself; Jonathan's return to his people, late in the book, shows the necessity of going back into the cave to help the remaining prisoners. (Incidentally, Jonathan's isolation and the lack of understanding he faces throughout his quest is akin to Plato's description of the philosopher in many of his dialogues.) Another key Platonic motif used by R. Bach is 2) the relation between the Idea and its sensible copy. It can be seen in the notion of a True Seagull (the Idea of the Seagull) which serves as a model and guide to each and every particular seagull; their goal is to emulate this paradigm in their thoughts and actions. This tale is evocative and enables many different readings...

This is a truly magical book. Its message can be interpreted in many ways by different people as the reviews posted here attest. To me, this book is an eloquent reminder of the power of persistence. Most things in life worth achieving don't come easily, they are preceded by struggle and hard work. There is usually a direct relationship between what we put into something and what we get back in return.

Jonathan had an insatiable desire to learn. He wasn't interested in ordinary goals or activities. He was seeking nothing less than perfection. His thinking was on a higher plane than his fellow gulls. They were thinking - "fly to eat". Jonathan was thinking - "eat to fly!". He was driven to acheive his goal of perfect flight regardless of the consequences or sacrifices he had to make. Few people have this attitude, but the few who do are lucky indeed. That attitude, combined with persistence, is the key to all great acheivements.

There is a quote by Calvin Coolidge that seems appropriate here: "Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

A Gem Pick in my collection, this book is a prized treasure. Growing up Gracefully is the theme of the Book with very good illustrated pic of Sea Gulls on the cover page. Captivating attention with this classic read, Richard Bach's fable Seagull named Jonathan Livingstone is an example that teaches about 'Flight' and capture the moments of love and kindness. Jonathan had a deep desire to soar high in the skies and hardly cared for eating like other seagulls. The message was to aim higher for a purpose in life even if its against the wishes of own people. Jonathan is courageous and in pursuit of excelling, he almost has to leave his flock and experience learning with wise seagull who taught him perfect speed. It's the art of perfection one develops keeping the spirits alive as one rise up aiming higher in life. A good read and great message for taking Flights to achievement. Must Read!