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192nd out of 17,082 books
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57,493 voters
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Jonathan Livingston Seagull
People who make their own rules when they know they're right...people who get a special pleasure out of doing something well (even if only for themselves)...people who know there's more to this whole living thing than meets the eye: they'll be with Jonathan Seagull all the way. Others may simply escape into a delightful adventure about freedom and flight. Either way it's a...more
Paperback, 112 pages
Published
January 3rd 2006
by Scribner
(first published 1970)
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(fade in from commercial)
Oprah Winfrey (O): My next guest is an icon, and a source of inspiration for millions! Please welcome Mr. Jonathan Livingston Seagull!
(audience cheers … seagull flies in from offstage, loops around over the audience, and then alights on the guest chair next to Oprah)
Jonathan Livingston Seagull (JLS): Thanks for having me Oprah. It’s great to be here.
O: The pleasure’s all mine! I'm a huge fan; your message of individuali...more
Oprah Winfrey (O): My next guest is an icon, and a source of inspiration for millions! Please welcome Mr. Jonathan Livingston Seagull!
(audience cheers … seagull flies in from offstage, loops around over the audience, and then alights on the guest chair next to Oprah)
Jonathan Livingston Seagull (JLS): Thanks for having me Oprah. It’s great to be here.
O: The pleasure’s all mine! I'm a huge fan; your message of individuali...more
I read this book after hearing for years that it was great and life-changing. I expected at worst that it wouldn't be quite as good as advertised. Boy was I in for a surprise!
What I read was the biggest load of self-indulgent, pseudo-inspirational tripe I've read in my life!
Apparently, the moral of the allegorical tale is that being "ordinary" is bad, ignoring practical needs to pursue your passion is good and if others don't understand you it's because you're a...more
What I read was the biggest load of self-indulgent, pseudo-inspirational tripe I've read in my life!
Apparently, the moral of the allegorical tale is that being "ordinary" is bad, ignoring practical needs to pursue your passion is good and if others don't understand you it's because you're a...more
Jonathan
rated it
Recommends it for:
people who smell like patchouli
Recommended to Jonathan by:
my birth certificate
Shelves:
contemporary-fiction
Basically, you've got a seagull who just can't fit in with other seagulls. If this was written within the last decade, Jonathan would be coping with his outcast status by wearing a black trench coat and rolling 20-sided dice for fun. He would also achieve a loyal following of other socially awkward birds by totally kicking ass in Guitar Hero.
Sadly, this was written in the halcyon days of the 70's, so Jonathan goes on a soul searching quest and learns how to fly better than any othe...more
Sadly, this was written in the halcyon days of the 70's, so Jonathan goes on a soul searching quest and learns how to fly better than any othe...more
Puerile platitudes posing as wisdom.
This book is a response to the flawed and disappointing underbelly of humanity, revealed for author Bach in Vietnam, the Kennedy assassination, the battles for Civil Rights and Feminism, and the Sexual Revolution. Unfortunately, it is not a work which embraces or explores those changes, but seeks an escape from the difficult questions of the world.
Perhaps it should be unsurprising that the author would want to escape the everyday anxieties which mark the changing world. There is a so...more
Perhaps it should be unsurprising that the author would want to escape the everyday anxieties which mark the changing world. There is a so...more
I was told that everyone who reads this book, find something different in it and it is an eye opener and what not. I found nothing great in this book. It is a simple story which could be an analogy at best. Look in old Marathi or other language literature for good analogies which are better eye openers or help thought process...
Here is what I wrote immediately after reading the book.
The best thing about this book is that it gets over quickly as it is pretty small and of t...more
Here is what I wrote immediately after reading the book.
The best thing about this book is that it gets over quickly as it is pretty small and of t...more
Janet
rated it
Recommends it for:
people who are inspired by Abraham Lincoln
Shelves:
life,
spirituality
"Most gulls don't bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight--how to get from shore to food and back again," writes author Richard Bach in this allegory about a unique bird named Jonathan Livingston Seagull. "For most gulls it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight."
Flight is indeed the metaphor that makes the story soar. Ultimately this is a fable about the importance of seeking a hi...more
Flight is indeed the metaphor that makes the story soar. Ultimately this is a fable about the importance of seeking a hi...more
Good book! It tells us to go beyond our limitations and don't give up intimes of failure.Richard Bach have shown that even the ordinary can make a difference.To do that we should enjoy whatever we are doing.Very different one.
I cried to this book.You must try to read it too.
I cried to this book.You must try to read it too.
Well, this definitely fits in to the "short books" category! I read it yesterday morning while my husband was packing for a trip :)
This book has it all -- The Power of Positive Thinking, Transcendental Meditation, reincarnation, The Little Engine that Could, aerodynamics, with a little bit of Mr. Miyagi thrown in for good measure.
The inside of the front cover says 1970, but it also says the first printing is 1973. Which explains to me why I was so confused abo...more
This book has it all -- The Power of Positive Thinking, Transcendental Meditation, reincarnation, The Little Engine that Could, aerodynamics, with a little bit of Mr. Miyagi thrown in for good measure.
The inside of the front cover says 1970, but it also says the first printing is 1973. Which explains to me why I was so confused abo...more
Janice
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone wanting to see further by flying higher
Recommended to Janice by:
The Love of My Life
Shelves:
religion
Ethan just finished reading this book to the kids, and I had to update my rating from a three to a four. I guess this book just meant more to me right now than it did when I read it in the past. And I think the fact that it is one of Ethan's favorite books and he read it with so much adoration kind of helped it to grow on me. I feel like there is so much going on in both our lives that is exciting, but that personally I have become a little stagnant with where I am going. It is like I have b...more
Loved this one. This is a fast, easy read. A wonderful lesson to learn about friendship, freedom and the value of things that really matter.
In it you'll follow Jonathan's travel around the world and see everything through his eyes. I know it seems you could not learn anything from a seagull, but you really do. This is a wonderful tale. I really do recommend it, specially while you're at holidays.
In it you'll follow Jonathan's travel around the world and see everything through his eyes. I know it seems you could not learn anything from a seagull, but you really do. This is a wonderful tale. I really do recommend it, specially while you're at holidays.
I'm a sucker for this book. Throughout early Christianity, and especially in the second and third centuries, it was commonly believed that Jesus was just a really exceptional guy that God "adopted" and put to use as a redeemer of sins. Even after the Mark and Q Gospels were written and the circumstances of Jesus's birth were decided, the vote at Nicea was pretty slim that made Jesus the only begotten of the Father. Well, here's a book that goes back to the roots; any gull with a mi...more
Peter
added it
I confess to enjoying this book more than I like it. The writing is often heavy-handed, and the story is a generic hero epic. But who, if you dream of adventure, can deny it?
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is an outcast member of his flock. Unlike other gulls, he is not content flapping around and squawking and scavenging for food. He wants to fly and hunt like hawks and eagles. He wants to break out of the static mould and old ways of the elder gulls. His brazenness earns him exile,...more
Jonathan Livingston Seagull is an outcast member of his flock. Unlike other gulls, he is not content flapping around and squawking and scavenging for food. He wants to fly and hunt like hawks and eagles. He wants to break out of the static mould and old ways of the elder gulls. His brazenness earns him exile,...more
A timeless inspirational story (published in 1970) about Johnathan Livingston Seagull, a seagull bored with the limitations of 'seagull life'. What sets this book apart is its simplicity in conveying thoughts on life and what the reader takes away depends on their personal perception. Motivation to seek a higher purpose, follow your dreams and not be held back by conventional limitations.
I don't even know what to say about this book. One of my favorite books ever. It's very short and extremely easy to read. Great for children, even better for adults. JLS is my hero, pretty much.
Our copy of this book no longer resembles a book so much as a stack of papers.
Our copy of this book no longer resembles a book so much as a stack of papers.
Don't read this. Go look at a seagull and think about life on your own if you must. What you come up with will be better than this.
anne
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Tweens and Teens in small towns
Recommended to anne by:
Matt Young
ok, like I just wrote in a comment . . . this is probably one of those books that you have to read at a particular moment in your life.
for me I was 15, had just run away from home and was in utter despair that the entire world was as mean, strict and narrow-minded as my peers seemed to be at that time. I longed for a friend, I longed for a sense of the world being more than what was drowning me.
the friend who put this book in my hands also gave me Blind Melon's first al...more
for me I was 15, had just run away from home and was in utter despair that the entire world was as mean, strict and narrow-minded as my peers seemed to be at that time. I longed for a friend, I longed for a sense of the world being more than what was drowning me.
the friend who put this book in my hands also gave me Blind Melon's first al...more
I read this years ago. I've dipped into it a few times since then. I just don't. . .get it.
I was aware of SEAGULL's considerable reputation when I did read the book. I was hoping to be knocked on me arse by some incredibly profound, "HEA-VEEEEE, man!" allegorical experience. What I got was a fairly pleasant, tolerably written tale about---a bird. I suppose one could make a connection between JLS and Jesus, but that seems a bit too easy. I mean, this book sold in boa...more
I was aware of SEAGULL's considerable reputation when I did read the book. I was hoping to be knocked on me arse by some incredibly profound, "HEA-VEEEEE, man!" allegorical experience. What I got was a fairly pleasant, tolerably written tale about---a bird. I suppose one could make a connection between JLS and Jesus, but that seems a bit too easy. I mean, this book sold in boa...more
بشر دوست باید تا حدی متنفر از بشر باشد
جاناتان نماینده گروهی از انسانهاست که قصد دارند پااز مرز ترسیم شده زندگی فرا تر بگذارد وقدرت خود را بیرون از مرزهای تعین شده بسنجد.
جاناتان می خواهد ناممکنات را بیازماید تا شاید راهی برای خلاصی از چنگال این قوانین دست و پاگیر بیابد تا آنگونه که خود می خواهد زندگی کند نه آنگونه که مرغان دیگر طی طریق می کنند و با رسیدن به این کمال دیگران را نیز ترغیب کند که خودشان باشند
جاناتان ابر انسانیست که گوشه ازلت تنها مامن اوست
جاناتان نماینده گروهی از انسانهاست که قصد دارند پااز مرز ترسیم شده زندگی فرا تر بگذارد وقدرت خود را بیرون از مرزهای تعین شده بسنجد.
جاناتان می خواهد ناممکنات را بیازماید تا شاید راهی برای خلاصی از چنگال این قوانین دست و پاگیر بیابد تا آنگونه که خود می خواهد زندگی کند نه آنگونه که مرغان دیگر طی طریق می کنند و با رسیدن به این کمال دیگران را نیز ترغیب کند که خودشان باشند
جاناتان ابر انسانیست که گوشه ازلت تنها مامن اوست
I found a copy of this in a thrift store for a dollar and I'd heard so much about it for so long I figured it was time to read it. It reminded me a lot of Hope for the Flowers but with seagulls instead of caterpillars and the caterpillars only turn into butterflies while the seagulls turn into, as my friend puts it, demi-gods in the end.
jonathan livingston seagull is a gull who used his body for more than getting food all day he would be out at sea teaching himself how to fly.
untill he was outcasted and had to learn on the far cliffs away from the flock but that was were he really learned flight...
untill he was outcasted and had to learn on the far cliffs away from the flock but that was were he really learned flight...
The book was especially bought and sent to me by a cyber friend. That was the time when i really needed an overhaul of my personal belief system. i found jonathan the ultimate inspiration for our struggle for excellence, freedom and perfection. Everybody is perfect but the truth is veiled by the limitations of our thoughts.
"the trick, according to Chiang, was for Jonathan to stop seeing himself as trapped inside a limited body that has forty-two-inch wingspan and performance t...more
"the trick, according to Chiang, was for Jonathan to stop seeing himself as trapped inside a limited body that has forty-two-inch wingspan and performance t...more
Where do I begin? The positives? It has a good, albeit somewhat patronizing message about thinking outside the box and reaching for your dreams. Also, it was very short. There. That said, I must say that I just don't get the hype. I found the story simplistic and uninspiring- just a bunch of 70's, new-age psycho-babble... and don't even get me started on the Neil Diamond movie (pretty pictures... that's all it was). AARRRGGGHHH! Fingernails on the chalkboard. I wish I liked it more as a go...more
با خواندن اين كتاب آدم احساس ميكند محدوديت كلمهايست بي معني و دلش ميخواهد تا افقهاي دوردست توان خود را به كار گيرد و از هيبت يك انسان عادي فراتر برود. ريچارد باخ با نوشتن اين كتاب به شهرتي عالمگير رسيد كه لياقتش را داشت و اين كتاب هم جزو زيباترين كتابهايي است كه به دوستانم پيشنهاد ميكنم بخوانند
Michael
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
dreamy teenagers or anyone else who wonders a lot
I read this originally when I was about 11 years old I think. I had never read anything like it.
I enjoyed the simplicity, and I think I identified with Jonathan more than a little—even at 11.
As I think about this book almost 30 years later, I wish that I hadn't sold my copy of it, as I have an urge to re-read it and refresh my memory of Jonathan's struggles to break through.
July 2, 2009:
Just re-read this for the first time in many years. "...more
I enjoyed the simplicity, and I think I identified with Jonathan more than a little—even at 11.
As I think about this book almost 30 years later, I wish that I hadn't sold my copy of it, as I have an urge to re-read it and refresh my memory of Jonathan's struggles to break through.
July 2, 2009:
Just re-read this for the first time in many years. "...more
Janet
added it
If only the blurb hadn’t already used the word delightful. This is the exact adjective that I would have used myself to sum up this little, but gorgeously written, novella.
Fewer than 100 pages long, and that includes some drawings and photographs of seagulls, this tells the story of Jonathan Seagull, a bird who is determined to learn the art of flying - despite strong objections from his flock, which eventually see him ostracised by the rest of the group.
But rather than be dejected, Jonathan ...more
Fewer than 100 pages long, and that includes some drawings and photographs of seagulls, this tells the story of Jonathan Seagull, a bird who is determined to learn the art of flying - despite strong objections from his flock, which eventually see him ostracised by the rest of the group.
But rather than be dejected, Jonathan ...more
This book is about Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a bird who wants to fly. Wanting to fly is unusual in this flock of seagulls, because apparently flying other than to get food is bad.
Whoa. A bird... that ISN'T SUPPOSED TO FLY.
Then it goes on and describes how he's outcast... for wanting to fly. Jonathan then dies after years of wanting to achieve perfection, then goes to the afterlife to acheive perfection.
Whoa. Perfection. With enough work, perfection w...more
Whoa. A bird... that ISN'T SUPPOSED TO FLY.
Then it goes on and describes how he's outcast... for wanting to fly. Jonathan then dies after years of wanting to achieve perfection, then goes to the afterlife to acheive perfection.
Whoa. Perfection. With enough work, perfection w...more
I adore this book. In one sit and read, for it is that slim, it soared to one of my top favourites. This little story contains big messages. So big, to me, that they cover every message I ever want to remember. The story covers the rat race of life, being different, learning, living true to one's self, some important aspects of different religions, being Here and Now, teaching, and recognising that none of us is divine yet we are limitless and free. Though I would not consider myself limitl...more
I had read this book this summer and it profoundly changed how I see learning in all of its daily manifestations in our life. Summers are the days where you take everything else lazily; knowing that there will be a time tomorrow to do the things you hadn't done today. And with the triteness of each day you just yearns for that "something" to shake things up and get you movin'--that's the time for me to grab any book within my grasp. That' how I met Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. Hope ...more
I'd like to steal Ray Bradbury's words about this book: This book gave me flight! Yes, for the half-an-hour in which I read this book, I actually felt as if I had been magically transformed into Jonathan Livingstone Seagull and was doing all the soaring and flying!
To those who accuse the book of plagiarism, I would only say that putting facts in the form of a fable to make it more interesting and to drive the message more deeply doesn't make any book contemptible! If we all ...more
To those who accuse the book of plagiarism, I would only say that putting facts in the form of a fable to make it more interesting and to drive the message more deeply doesn't make any book contemptible! If we all ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| شاعرانه ، عارفانه، و تامل برانگیز | 11 | 42 | Dec 28, 2011 11:54am | |
| i read this four times... and twice of its sequel | 9 | 73 | Sep 03, 2011 02:02pm | |
| The DVD is out today | 2 | 41 | Jul 03, 2008 08:58pm |
![Hope for the Flowers [With Recorded by Trina Paulus] by Trina Paulus](http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171345275m/96629.jpg "Hope for the Flowers [With Recorded by Trina Paulus] by Trina Paulus")
Richard David Bach is widely known as the author of the hugely popular 1970s best-sellers Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions, The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah and others. His books espouse his philosophy that our apparent physical limits and mortality are merely appearance. He claims to be a direct descendant of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is noted for his love of flying and for his books r...more
More about Richard Bach...
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“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.”
—
142 people liked it
“If our friendship depends on things like space and time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we've destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don't you think that we might see each other once or twice?”
—
77 people liked it
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