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It's really amazing that this book, published in 1970, got onto the top sellers of all time list. It is barely 127 pages long - and that includes many pages of seagull photos, with very few words per page. The margins are very large :) It's a story about a seagull who, unlike his comrades, is not happy yelling "Mine! Mine! Mine!" for food. He loves to soar, and fly. He faces rejection and ridicule for his quest for greater heights. And of course, he inspires all of us to reach for our goals.

So first, obviously this book is REALLY short. I just re-read it and, without racing at all, I was done in 16 minutes. It's very short. There aren't long, drawn out characterizations here. Jonathan learns to fly well in about 2 pages, and by page 31 he is fully aware of all of his skills. By page 57 he in "Heaven" - or at least in another stage of life in with like-minded seagulls, speaking with telepathy. Chiang is the elder there who tells Jonathan that there actually is no Heaven - that Heaven is the state of being perfect. Jonathan decides to return to Earth and help others. He spends a few pages teaching Fletcher his skills, and then vanishes, leaving Fletcher to teach the new seagull students how to fly. The story ends.

Really, the story here is that Jonathan and Fletcher were not "special" in any way. The point is made many times that they were seagulls like any others. The difference is that they chose to strive to better themselves. They were not content to merely eat and sleep. They wanted to become really good at what they could do - fly. The elders explain that for many people, this process takes many lifetimes. If you do well in a given life, you graduate to a "higher" life where you can then work with people on your next stage of progress. If you just get by in your current life, then you get reborn into that same level, to have another chance to strive.

So it's very interesting how different people have interpreted this book to be a religious tome. Christians often say that Jonathan stands for Jesus. He was born "with men" - he learns his special skills, and then he returns to earth to help guide mankind to be better. There's even a mob scene where the "normal seagulls" try to kill Jonathan for being different. On the other hand, the story clearly says there is no Heaven - that the point of life is to keep trying and trying until you figure out your own path to perfection. The reincarnation and perfection-from-within is very Buddhist. It's not an external God that gives you this perfection. You are born with the innate ability to attain perfection - but it is up to you to find the desire and take the steps to reach it.

I've owned this book for many years and do enjoy it. But I do have to say that it is REALLY short and really basic. The whole Jonathan evolution is barely touched on. You don't get much sense of growth as he instantly goes from normal seagull to glowing Special Seagull. This is sort of a theological primer for those who don't normally read books on philosophy. There are many, many books out there that get into these sorts of topics in a far more meaningful way. But on the other hand, much as the Matrix series got many non-philosophy students to learn about some pretty basic philosophical ideas, this book also opened the door for many people on the ideas of striving for inner perfection. If you handed all of these people a complex tome on the topic, they probably wouldn't have read it. But maybe by getting that door opened, and that interest piqued, they then went forward and learned more. You have to get that interest started somewhere. If the interest came from a super-short, super easy to read, picture-filled booklet, does it really matter?

On a personal note, I really do feel that people need to sit back and consider what they spend their hours each day doing. We only have one life - and most of us who can afford to buy books have an amazing wealth of luck that 90% of the world's population dreams of having. We have clothes, we have places to sleep, we have access to healthy food and water. It would be a wonderful thing if each of us spent even a portion of our day reaching out to help others, to help the world become a better place for us all to live in. We don't need to watch TV - there are other far more important things to do in life.

Jonathan I loved this book. Jonathan when he came back to help the birds on a lower level of spiritual development, is like, Michael in the book An Encounter With A Prophet, coming back to help Nathaniel. Their statements of truth seem rather hard to accept at first, even by those high flyers who want more than the "herd" or "the flock" are willing to blindly accept as truth.

"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

If there is anything that this book teaches, it is that we have the ability to change reality with the power of our own thoughts. This is one of those books that no matter how many times I read it, will never fail to amaze me. It's the kind of book that leaves you speechless, unable to do anything but think, and wonder.

Presented in the form of a charming parable about a seagull's education in flight, Jonathan Livingston Seagull is about far more than the life of one seagull. It is about each and every one of us, struggling to find the answers, to reach something higher that we are not even yet aware of. We are all a little bit like Jonathan, and when we read Bach's story, we realize that we all have the same power inside. That we can do anything, be anything that we want, if only we can believe in ourselves. Bach's message is a powerful and timeless one that stretches across all barriers to reveal the simple truth that we all, at one time or another in our lives, knew: the most powerful force that exists is that of belief, especially in ourselves.

I can't tell you exactly why you need to read this book. It's not about something as simple as plot or writing style. There is a rare magic in the words that cannot be conveyed by any other means than the experience of reading the book. All I can say is that once you read this book, you will understand.

He made me eager to yearn for learning and reaching my limit of learning. It is important for one to know his limits in order to improve them. Bach made me able to stretch my mind and to know my capabilities within some activities. It is not life that is unfair. It is us who are unfair to ourselves. We limit our potential to what is tangible, realistic and reachable. It is the fear of failure. The fear of disappointment. If we manage to break these limits, we impose on our ambitions and capabilities, we will reach a higher level of life. We will know what is the real life we really want to live. By exploring what we don not know, we can learn new things and actually realize who we really are. We can't be parts of others who we know. We will be parts of people we want to acquire parts from. he idea of perfection is too far from our thoughts. Perfection, like any other thing is there. We just need to go up and find it. Find the perfection that we are looking for in ourselves, not the one, others are looking for in us.

As a preface to my review, I would just like to say that as I looked at some others' reviews of this book, I found it interesting that almost every one of the 259 other reviews before mine either say that this was an amazing book that changed their life and made them understand the true meaning of things or say that it was a waste of time and is a load of 70's feel-good rubbish. This book did not change my life; the theme was fairly standard thinking and is easy to find in other books. However, I still found it an enjoyable quick read that was worth the short amount of time I spent on it

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a story of a seagull who rebels against the traditional thinking of his kind: he flies for enjoyment and excitement, not just for food. This behavior is not tolerated by other seagulls, and he is banished from the flock. Throughout the rest of the book, he learns the true meaning of perfection and that what is most important is to always try your hardest.
I would recommend this book to everybody. It is very short and should only take one to two hours for most people to read. If you are interested in philosophy and symbolism, you could study this book and find all sorts of hidden information; if not, it is still a good book.

I haven't read the way I use to in a long time but reading Jonathan Livingston Seagull has brought me back to the beautiful world of literature. It's very easy to read and doesn't even take long to finish but the mark it leaves on your mind will never go away. It's a story that will actually make you feel safer about life itself and confident in whatever you're pursuing. This story could change someone's life around and make them believe what's impossible can be possible. If your in a situation where you feel everyone is against you this book will show that even though they're not with you there may be people out there like you but they're just waiting for someone to step up. This is truly a story that everyone should read and with all of the stories schools force on kids why isn't Jonathan Livingston Seagull one of them.

As a child I found this a riveting book. It revealed to me the possibility of being other than what I was. Upon reviewing this memory it has revealed that Jonathon Livingstone Seagull, against all odds, struggled for his own idea of perfection, and I applaud the author for his unique ingenuity in giving human attributes to a bird so that those wishing to go beyond the limiting social constraints can identify within themselves the architect of their constructs, and therefore bring about evolutionary change.

This book is Richard Beak's finest work. A simple story told with complex texture, the bird symbolizes the ineffable longings within humanity for a transcendental epiphany; a neon in the night of our stumblings; flash! I see! I hear! I fly! Valleys of failure and hills of hope are the topographic text through which the tale travels, and white-winged and wide are our stretchings towards self-actualization. This is a work of singular vision, aided by a slight editorial suggestion by me. Beak had just finished the final draft and we were sitting together on Santa Monica pier, feeding bread to the gathering gulls. Hundreds of the wretched creatures, all squawking and pecking and flapping. It was like being in the centre of a feathery blizzard and we were covered in gull-goo and crumbs. Fearing for our lives and an exorbitant dry-cleaning bill, we decamped to the safety of a nearby bar. After a dozen or so fortifying flagons, Beak unwrapped the splattered manuscript and showed me the title. Something about it wasn't quite right, so I propped the stupefied scribbler back into his chair and said, "Richie, sure the bird idea's got legs, but Jonathan Livingston TURKEY? When those flocking gulls disappear, take a stumble along the beach and see what else you can come up with."

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a novel about a seagull who wishes to improve himself and to be able to fly faster and better. He is expelled from his flock for this desire, so he continues to live life alone and establish his individuality. Jonathan struggles to reach perfection in his life by flying; this theme of striving for perfection is ever constant in his growth. The story is provocative and makes the reader think about his or her own life. I enjoyed this amazing precursor to the 70's, when people were striving to reach inside themselves to "find" themselves and be individuals. The novel by Richard Bach is full of great metaphors that can be interpreted by the reader in many different ways depending on his or her point of view. This book can be about anything you want it to be. It can be about life in general, a day in your life, a job, a goal, or almost anything. It's about making happen that which is important to you; its about making a commitment to accomplish your goal so you stick to it no matter what. In Bach's own interpretation of the book he says, "Find out what you love to do and do your darndest to make it happen." He also says the book was the result of a series of visions; that he really didn't write it by himself, leading one to realize the book is open to interpretation. Setting and accomplishing your own goals and deciding on your own destiny is socially significant in any society; it is important to every individual. There really isn't much of a plot in this book, and most of it is set in the air. The whole story is a metaphor for rising to and meeting your goals, then setting higher goals. Jonathan tells his mother, "I don't mind being bones and feathers... I just want to know what I can and can't do in the air" (p.13-14). Once Jonathan reaches his peak, he is confronted by other gulls who tell him, "We are from your flock... we are your brothers...we've come to take you higher...One school has finished and it is time for another to begin" (p.53). As in life, we tend to reach a certain point where we are saturated with what is available and then we move on, to learn more in a new place. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a provocative story that induces the reader to contemplate life. It expresses the ability of an individual to succeed at his or her own goals with or without a group. It is an interesting book and "readers find themselves motivated and inspired by a book that reflects their desire for success, freedom, perfection, and love." This simple story about an everyday creature is really a metaphor for life. Accomplish your goals and ambitions, then create new and higher ones. As Jonathan learns, "The gull sees farthest who flies highest" (p.86).