I cant really improve on the amazon blurb, so I'll just paste it:
This is a sublime and inspirational fable about the timeless quest for higher meaning ... told in this case though the eyes of an sensitive, lonely, and highly intelligent seagull, named Johnathan.Amazon.com wrote:"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 higher purpose in life, even if your flock, tribe, or neighborhood finds your ambition threatening. (At one point our beloved gull is even banished from his flock.) By not compromising his higher vision, Jonathan gets the ultimate payoff: transcendence. Ultimately, he learns the meaning of love and kindness. The dreamy seagull photographs by Russell Munson provide just the right illustrations--although the overall packaging does seem a bit dated (keep in mind that it was first published in 1970). Nonetheless, this is a spirituality classic, and an especially engaging parable for adolescents. --Gail Hudson
I first read it when I was in high school, and at the time it moved me ... very deeply. I also grew up, and still live, near the ocean, where seagulls always maintain a constant presence - which made the metaphorical vehicle for this story particularly apt in my case. It remains one of my very favorite books, even to this day.
The truly amazing thing (the thing that elevates this book to a 10) is how elegantly, simply, and deftly the author covers such profound material, with such a minimum of effort and words. The book weighs in at a mere 128 pages ... over half of them B&W photos of seagulls ... so it's actually less than 60 pages of text. If you reformatted it to small, normal size print, it'd probably drop to about 30 pages. I recently re-read it in about 2 hours, so it's a very fast read - but it's tiny size is greatly outweighed by it's impact. One could easily argue that the story is prose poetry, rather than a short story, because of it's well honed cadence.
I highly recommend this gem for anyone (particularly those in their teens and twenties) who's groping about for their emotional, spiritual, and intellectual niche in society, and life in general.
Life can be hard, lonely and painful at times - but every once in a while we stumble across a rare gem ... be it a person or a moment or a song or a book or the touch of a friendly hand ... that helps us catch a glimpse of what it's really all about, and which lets us know that we're not alone, and that there are others out there, like us, who occasionally 'get it' too.
For music lovers, there's also a lovingly produced full length orchestral album (by Neil Diamond) that was inspired by this book. Highly recommended.
Click on the image below, and scroll down to listen to free samples.
