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Richard Bach

Jonathan Livingston Seagull Hardcover – September 1, 1970

by Richard Bach (Author)

4.7 12,722 ratings

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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 an uncommon treat.

Print length

96 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Macmillan
Publication date

September 1, 1970
Dimensions

6.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

B000M5J57M
ISBN-13

978-0684846842
Lexile measure

890L
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Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

12,722 global ratings

5 star		80%
4 star		12%
3 star		5%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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g33ksquared

when the time comes you will read this book

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2023

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It’s a very short book. With photos.

I read this book years ago and in reading it again, I feel like I was wrong in thinking I understood it.

This time, I can at least ask myself a couple of questions to maybe figure out what it is I misunderstood or what it is that I want to understand.

Can I say it’s all semantics?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Where you are now is exactly where you are supposed to be.

Cheers!

05/02/2023

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

It's a classic

Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2023

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This is a classic, excellent for night time mediations before bed. I read it years ago. It is good to have it on my night stand once again.

One person found this helpful

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Wu Wei

Are we free or doomed from birth?

Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2007

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This is my all-time favorite book. It contains the most important truths I have ever learned.

This book certainly could be viewed as Eastern Religion / New Age, and considering Bach's other books perhaps that is his main meaning.

However, JLS also contains important non-religious truths which apply to everyday life. For example, based on one of the most quoted parts of the book, "Jonathan" might answer everyday questions like this:

Are you saying I can lose weight and be thin, even though I've been fat my whole life?
I say you are free.

Are you saying that even though I finished near the bottom this year, with hard work I could finish near the top 3 or 4 years from now?
I say you are free.

Are you saying that even though the aptitude test showed I'm bad in math, that I could be successful in my dream job, engineering, if I try hard enough?
I say you are free.

Those answers are very, very different from the prevailing paradigm / meme within our society, which says that nearly everything is determined at birth, so that we are born either "fat" or "thin" people, born "smart" or "bad at math", born as "great athletes" or "losers". Society then tells us that we shouldn't try to change anything about ourselves (since it supposedly won't work), but should spend our lives happy or bitter because of the gifts that were handed out at the birth lottery. A key turning point is when Jonathan rejects the "strange hollow voice" in his mind which tells him:
"There's no way around it. I am a seagull. I am limited by nature. If I were meant to learn so much about flying, I'd have charts for brains. If I were meant to fly at speed, I'd have a falcon's short wings... I must... be content as I am, as a poor limited seagull."

Jonathan rejects this when he realizes that by tucking his wings close to his body he can simulate the falcon's short wings and fly fast even though he wasn't born with short wings. After he tries this and is able to fly faster than any gull could with extended wings, Jonathan realizes: "We can be free! We can learn to fly!"

JLS says that mental restrictions are the biggest factor keeping us from reaching our potential. Some of those restrictions come from society, and some are self-created mental straitjackets. All of those mental limits are false and unnecessary. The truth according to Jonathan is:
"Your whole body... is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chains of your mind, and you break the chains of your body, too..."
(That can be seen as a totally non-religious statement. Our bodies today are the result of how hard we worked in the past and the mental limitations we didn't shed, and "our thought" = our mind is what determined that.)

This leads Jonathan to answer these questions very differently from society: Who am I? What is my purpose in life? Should I be egotistical?

Society tells us that we should conform, and we specifically are what the birth lottery gave us, like someone might be "heavy set, average intelligence but good in math". Society says that we should be immensely proud of everything we (supposedly) were born with, and of every victory, and should be intensely ashamed of anything we were born without, and of every defeat.

Jonathan however, believing we are not limited by birth, sees each of us as being unique and of unlimited potential. Our goal and purpose in life is simply to be ourselves. This is not the limited self we are at the start of adult life, but everything which hard work could make us:

"you have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way.
Are you saying I can fly?
I say you are free."

"Each of us in truth is an idea... , an unlimited idea of freedom, and precision flying is a step towards expressing our real nature. Everything that limits us we have to put aside."

This means that ego is meaningless, because what we are today is simply the result of yesterday's hard work, and whatever races we lose today could be won in the future if we work hard enough. Today's ranking and abilities are just the starting point for the rest of our lives, not something to get egotistical about. As one of Jonathan's students thought with a smile once he began teaching his own students, "No limits, Jonathan? Well, then, the time's not too distant when I'm going to appear out of thin air on YOUR beach, and show you a thing or two about flying!..."

The reason why I discussed this in length is to disagree with reviews which say that JLS must be seen as a religious book, and that it teaches only "common sense" truths. It is rare, not common, to meet anyone who believes what JLS teaches.

34 people found this helpful

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Josh K

Wonderful

Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2023

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I’d say this book should be standard reading for all students but then it would lose some of its magic. Discover this one for yourself.

2 people found this helpful

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Josue Mena

Great read for anyone!

Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2023

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- I never knew a book can make you cry.

- Part 4 is really good and recommend purchasing the completed edition if you've never read it.

- I think this book should be recommended for every young person (teenage) out there.

- If you've suffered great depression or felt lost at one point in your life this book might move you.

2 people found this helpful

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Pam

Great Book

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2023

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Great beach book. Good condition & quick delivery

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DJ James

Richard Bach: Jonathan Livingston Seagull: The New Complete Edition

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2014

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I truly love to read!!! Before I discovered quilting, reading was the thing one thing I loved most to do! Now there are two things I love best but as the cost of reading rose, and the cost of fabric fell, I had to choose which I could afford so quilting took the lead and unless someone gave me a paperback with a good recommendation, I rarely read much besides the computer manuals required for my job (that they paid for). But a normal-sized novel is a one day treat and then it's back to quilting. Now, there's the Kindle App for my iPad that let's me read nearly all I want to; often for Free or just 0.99 cents (sorry, e-book publishers but $3.99 is my limit).

The group of "readers" I sat with on breaks and at lunch were all talking about Jonathan Livingston Seagull but I was down the list for borrowing so I bought my own paperback copy that Saturday and read it that evening! I was so charmed by Jonathan that I read it again, more slowly, on Sunday! This had to have been in the early 1970s but this book has been my Spirit Guide ever since. Sometime in the mid 1980s I treated myself to a rare 2-night vacation at the far end of Montauk Point on Long Island, NY. Of course, I had to have a booklet of post cards and a trinket for me. I was quickly twirling a case of gold charms and what do I see but a 1-inch long gold Jonathan in full flight. I had to hold it, and check the price. I couldn't believe how heavy it was and then checked the tag to discover it was solid 14-carat gold and the price was the same as one night in my motel!!! I knew if I bought it, there wouldn't be another special vacation that summer but even though it had been at least a decade since I'd read the book, I had to have that necklace! I paid for it and asked the sales clerk to put it on me. It's never been off except for a few surgeries, x-rays, and to replace a broken chain; and now, more than ever, Jonathan is still my Spirit Guide!

If you're going to read this book, and it truly hope you do, try to forget that Jonathan is just a seagull like the rest of his Flock. He's not! He's no more 'just a seagull' than I'm 'just a woman' like the rest of my Gender. I can learn and do and be anything I want! And with Jonathan mentally guiding me and always there around my neck for me hold when there's a tough decision to make, I've proved this to myself again and again over the years! Finally, I was old enough and financially secure enough to take the offered early retirement and here I am reading Jonathan again and I can't say "Thank You!" enough to Richard Bach for once again giving the world the inspiration to learn and do and be their best! If I could only own one book, this would be the one!!!

3 people found this helpful

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Jonathan J.

KINDLE VERSION DOES NOT INCLUDE PART 4 !!!!!

Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2023

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I was named after this book, abut only now I understand the depth of it's meaning.
This book is about a spiritual journey.
The part four is for me a great addition as it brings us back to the difficult reality of teaching spirituality.
Unfortunately, the part 4 is not included in the Kindle edition, which makes the title 'complete edition' misleading.

6 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Anand Kumar

It's motivational and at the same time philosophical

Reviewed in India on June 19, 2017

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During the seventies, Richard Bach was not a sensational writer. Obviously, he went from pillar to post and still couldn’t get his book published. Finally, one day Alnor who worked for Macmillan got the publishers for this novella. It was published in 1970 and Richard got $2000 as an advance for the book. By 1973 more than a million copies of this book were in print. In Publisher’s Weekly United States bestseller for 1972-73, it was on top and it stayed on the top of New York Times Best Seller list for 38 weeks.

This small novella of hardly a hundred pages is of four parts today. Initially, it had just three parts. The first part tells the story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull who wants to fly high. Instead of being busy in looking for food all the time he devotes his time to fly. Somehow, seagulls are not meant to fly, they don’t have the wingspan required for excellent flight. So Jonathan Livingston tries and fails every day. Finally, his flock banishes him. Still refusing to give up he learns a few tricks of flight when suddenly two more seagulls join him and start teaching him more about the flight.

In the second part, Jonathan Livingston learns to fly and gets acquainted with a new flock of seagulls. His new teachers teach him and he proves to be a gifted learner. In the third part finally, his teacher says this was all he can learn at this level and for further, he will have to move on. Jonathan Livingston is advised to keep working on love. Slowly he understands that forgiveness is the key to next level. Finally, he sheds all enmity towards his old flock which banished him. He takes up students from amongst them and starts grooming new fliers.

The book used to end here, but in 2012 Richarch Bach faced a near death experience and he felt the need to add a fourth concluding part to the continual story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. In the year 2014 his other book Illusions II also came and this book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull found an added chapter. Even after the addition of few new pages, it’s still about a hundred pages. It's motivational and at the same time philosophical.

For someone looking for a book which can be read and then re-read, I would suggest Jonathan Livingston Seagull. It’s a must read for everyone looking for meanings in life.

92 people found this helpful

John Pullin

Seagul flies again

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 7, 2018

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An old favourite 'classic', well priced and swiftly delivered.A good seller.

Vikram

Read whenever you feel low

Reviewed in India on December 3, 2016

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Are you going through bad times or feel low for any reason?

Try reading this book and it will hardly take 30 minutes. You will discover that you do have potential. It's just you need to remind self and give try once more.

39 people found this helpful

Shanker Ramanathan

Live life Large

Reviewed in India on April 7, 2018

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Amazing book by one of the best motivation am writers.Richard Bach a pilot himself uses the metaphor of flying to pack in motivation for all of us. His main character Jonathan Livingston , who is a seagull. Jonathan is told by all his personal that seagulls can't fly, like many of us are dissuaded by family and friends from realising our true calling. According to the world compliance is a must. Jonathan meets his mentor who carefully encourages him to achieve what he has detour to. A truly inspirational story. The book is beautifully produced with breathtaking photographs. A must read for all youngsters and all aspirants.

13 people found this helpful

Rashmi Mohan

Heaven is not a place and it is not a time! Heaven is about perfection

Reviewed in India on November 24, 2019

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It is a beautiful story about belief and what you can do if you realise your belief's true potential. Jonathan livingstone is a seagull, who just denied to think that he needs to fly to find food, he believed that flying and flying high is life.
He surrendered himself to the sky and his flying found his purpose in the life. From being outcasted from his group to teaching groups of other seagulls in various flocks, the story narrates and elicites how we in our lives at times restrict our minds, hopes and dreams.
And how for all of us, there is one Jon who can show the true purpose of life, only if we believe.

5 people found this helpful

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