Reviews (425)

Food for the soul
The book "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah" written by Richard Bach, is a must have for everyone. I have heard from time to time in the past that Richard Bach is Stephen King's alias. Whether it is true or not, i don't know for sure. Anyways, this book is very uplifting. I refer back to this book when i feel my life needs some adjusting.

A Life-Changing Read for Humans 8 to 108
This is one of those life changing books.I first came across this while looking midlessly through my local "spiritual" bookstore and ended up reading the entire thing in the next two hours.
AN EXCELLENT GUIDE TO LIFE
"Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah": A good novel and an inspirational book rolled into one.This is a very profound, deeply meaningful book, which takes the reader to a road of personal growth. It creates in the reader a sense of responsibility to mankind as it "demonstrates" that anyone and everyone can be a messiah, or live like one, or perhaps even is one, just because of the lives we, as human beings, are able to touch and influence day after day.
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Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. Literary    4. Fiction / General   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (18)

"They give you a book to read"
I keep this book on the shelf with my favorite books. I think of this as a wisdom book. It's the 'lost' book from Richard Bach's Illusions. I usually pick this up when there's something bothering me, or something big is going on in my life. Sometimes I open it up, and get nothing (or so I think at the time). Then, there are times when I open it up and amazed at what I find! For instance, I was trying to decide WHY I should go into a certain career. I was back and forth over "should I do it or not?!" -I picked up this book, and this is what I read:
Love this book.
What a great little book! Not too big, and not a lot of content, but very powerful and thought-provoking words. These "proverbs" are from the previous Bach book Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, which is also a book I highly recommend. Page after page, each with an idea or thought that is at once simple and logical in so many ways, yet very insightful and inspiring. Very nice indeed. The suede-like cover is a nice touch also.

Messiah's Handbook:Reminders for the Advanced Soul
Was surprised with the book's size but it proved to be quite handy to carry with you.Anything I have read of Richard Bach I have enjoyed.Would recommend this book to anyone who would like quick "advice" or something to ponder on for one's own continued learning. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternate Spirituality    2. Conduct of life    3. Meditation    4. Miscellanea    5. Personal Growth - General    6. Self-Help    7. Spirituality - General    8. Popular psychology   

Editorial Review

"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. Read more

Reviews (257)

Mind over matter
To take yourself beyond percieved boundries and limitations is to achieve true innovation and greatness. Jonathan Livingston Seagull embodies the principle of mind over matter. He inspires us to push ourselves into the realms where our dreams are in reach. I think the most important lesson that Jonathan offers is what he does with this knowledge of flight after achieving excellence. He gives it back to the community that had once cast him out. We can take Jonathan with us in whatever we endeavour.Whether it's to run that extra km or the bravery to try out a new idea in business, Jonathan Livingston Seagull is an essential read. "No Lmits".

Great book..
This is a great book and had fun reading it, except for I still cannot understand completely the message of the book in the last page.

Feathery fluff.
This little book falls in the same category as "The Celestine Prophecy"; that is to say, badly written, preachy, pseudophilosophical fluff. So bad it's funny, which is why I gave it 2 stars instead of only 1. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. General    4. Gulls    5. Literary    6. Fiction / General    7. Modern fiction   

Reviews (39)

A bit too preachy and pretty..
I grew up reading Johnathon Livingston Seagull over and over, and became a fan of Richard Bach after reading a few of his other books later in life, but with One it seems he's become too comfortable in his role as an always-inspiring and thought-provoking author, and didn't strain himself to be either.The book rambles on quite a bit and has an extremely different tone than something like Illusions.Still made you think a few times, but I definitely didn't feel at all enlightened when reading it.Very mushy and soft throughout, and occasionally even preachy and self-righteous.I'd recommend one of his earlier books over this.

Another great book by Richard Bach
Have you ever read a book that made you stop and think? One that is different than all the others? Wonderfully inspiring!
I think I read this book at exactly the right moment in my life. It was when I was ready and when I needed this type of inpiration and insight the most. It was a time in my life when I felt like things were going downhill faster than an avalanche. It was this choice I made to read this book that changed my life. Because I read this book, I am much more fully aware of what I do and how it might affect my life as well as those of others in the long run. Thanks to this book, I am much more mindful and aware of my life and feel like I am "living" in the fullest sense of the word! Another book I really like now is "The Ever-Transcending Spirit" by Toru Sato. It is a theoretical book on human nature and consciousness in general but it is truly inspiring! I am absolutely sure that my life would not be the same without these books. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - General    3. General    4. Fiction / General   

Editorial Review

Bestselling author Richard Bach explores the meaning of fate and soul mates in this modern-day fairytale based on his real-life relationship with actor Leslie Parrish. "This is a story about a knight who was dying, and the princess who saved his life," Bach writes in his opening greeting. "It's a story about beauty and beasts and spells and fortresses, about death-powers that seem and life-powers that are." Yes, it is all that, and more. On the earthly plane this is about the riveting love affair between two fully human people who are willing to explore time travel and other dimensions together even as they grapple with the earthly struggles of intimacy, commitment, smothering, and whose turn it is to cook. Their love affair and happy ending inspired many enthusiastic fans. Years later, some of these fans were devastated to discover that this match made in heaven didn't manage to stick (the couple are no longer together). But in an Amazon interview, Bach explains that lovers don't have to stay married forever to be lifetime soul mates. Read this as a lesson about love's enchantments and possibilities, but don't count on this book to keep you and your mate on the bridge across forever. Read more

Reviews (112)

Bach's underlying philosophy makes you think about life
Light reading with a heavy message....brilliant book!
Disappointing: 'Do as I say, not as I do?'
I used to love Richard Bach's books -- 'Illusions' and 'JLS' were both wonderful and had a huge impact on me as a child.I even enjoyed this book when it first came out in hardcover -- I was an idealistic teenager (and much more forgiving).But now as a 30something woman, in repurchasing the paperback again recently, I was really surprised at how terribly Richard Bach comes off as a character in his own book -- he's simply awful.Narcissistic, rude, smug, complacent, womanizing, and frankly just a ginormous jerk who's way too proud of his own 'humility' and 'growth.' I could barely get through the book this time out, I was so appalled at his behavior.
Bargain-Basement Romanticism: A Love Story
This is the sort of novel Richard Rorty might write if he weren't so bright; for Bach adumbrates, in popular form, some of the same romantic polytheism, trendy Prometheanism, egoism, etc., that has been developing in Rorty (and in our culture) for decades.The novel is bad for divers reasons: its ideas are adolescent, the plot is visibly idealized; indeed Bach's folly in the first half of the book is a "straw man" to be knocked down all too easily in the second half.Bach's self-absorption, his selfishness: who can take them seriously?Probably too many.Withal, Bach, in the end, is a self-rightous purveyor of cultish nonsense.Astral projection, immortality.Indeed.Bach's only saving grace is that for a while he listens to the sane voice of Leslie; and we may take a modicum of comfort in this temporary--he's always GROWING, you know!--rapprochement.Very convenient, too, that children are never mentioned in all this soul-mate blather! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Authors, American    3. Bach, Richard    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Literary    9. Love & Romance    10. Marriage    11. Personal Memoirs    12. Family & Relationships / Love & Romance   

Reviews (4)

Great to read first hand the first scientific steps
Putoff and Targ were among the first scientists to put anomalous cognition under the scientific spotlight. Through their work at SRI, remote viewing became a reproducible phenomenon in scientific laboratories. In reading this book I gained a more intimate knowledge of those exciting early days. It comes across on a personal and honest recounting of their experiences and experiments, and the people they worked with (within the limits of military program secrecy obligations they were under at the time).
A classic now back in Print!
The is a real classic in the field of psychic development and remote viewing. Its great to see it back in print!

Brilliant Insight Into The Human Breakthrough in Conciousnes
This is the most expansive and far reaching Remote Viewing book ever written. Russell Targ draws on an absolutely amazing career that spans the dimensions of thought. Mind-Reach redefines cutting egde. Within the borders of this book is the story of remote-viewing at its most intimate and deep regions. Russell has truly championed the peaceful use of psychic energy. I thank Russell for his continued honest approach to exposing, allowing for universal discovery and exemplifying true transparency in the remote viewing arena. I highly suggest to the amazon readers out there to get all of Russell's other books as well. His daughter, the late Elisabeth Targ was and continues to be a true pioneer as well and continues to work from the other side to further the exploration of conciousness. Elisabeth's spirit shines brightly andlives on in the hearts and minds of everyone she touched. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Mind & Body    2. New Age    3. New Age / Body, Mind & Spirit    4. Parapsychology    5. Parapsychology - ESP (Clairvoyance, Precognition, Telepathy)    6. Philosophy    7. Philosophy (Specific Aspects)    8. Clairvoyance & precognition    9. Occultism & quasi-religious beliefs    10. Parapsychology, psychic powers, ESP   

Reviews (16)

A Gift of Wings
Richard Bach has a gift of using metaphore to write his experience.... You don't have to be a Pilot nor a Seagull to get caught in his web.... His uinque way of enfolding one into his story, is most delightful...
Oh dear, everyone else loves this book, but not me.
I'll paraphrase the intro from the front of this book: "This book consists of a bunch of short essays written for magazines like AOPA and other amateur pilot publications. Some of the stories were written a long time ago and are not well-written but I have not updated them." An amazing creation
If you love flying, or the feeling of freedom that comes with flight (and who doesn't?), then you will absolutely adore this Richard Bach amazing creation.Beautifully written, it will expand your horizons and touch your soul!Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. General    3. Science    4. Science / General   

Reviews (17)

Not a book, but more like a magazine
This was like a kid's first reader for adults.Only about 20 pages, and definately not worth more than a dollar or two.
Beautiful!
Some one very special gave this as a present to me at a time when nothing else could have made me understand the way that this book did, that theres no such place as far away. Such a simple read yet so meaningful... id recommend to everyone whose apprehensive about the unknown.

A Wonderful Spiritual Story........
My father read this book to my sister and I when we were young.I loved it from the moment I heard it.I bought a copy of it when I was 19, a little over a year later I read it to him at his funeral.This book will remain my favorite book and I will read it to my daughter. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Religious    3. Religious - General    4. Fiction / General    5. Modern fiction   

Reviews (22)

Excellent read for the right mind!
Great book. It will appeal to you only if you are ready to read a book in its class. If you manage to read the whole book, you will gain alot from it. If you have acquired this book it must be meant for you. Read it!

Afraid of taking risks? Read this!
This is one of the very few books which teach how to come out of comfort zone! If one wants to take risks, he/she needs to come out of so called 'safety zone'. These lines are enough to describe this book.

Inner Child meets Grown Man
This is a dichotomy of inner child meeting up with grown man, in metaphorical terms.An autobiographical account of the author's life, although a mental stretch, will make the reader re-examine their lives and choices along the way.Made me laugh and cry.Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Air pilots    3. Authors, American    4. Biography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. General    8. United States    9. Body, Mind & Spirit / New Age    10. Mind, body, spirit: thought & practice   

Reviews (2)

Uplifting bedtime reading
This Hampton Roads reprint is an anthology of five small books written from the viewpoints of five sets of ferrets. Bringing these creatures' accounts under the roof of one book makes perfect sense here, because this really is one story. Furthermore, even as a sum of five books, Curious Lives is only 371 pages long.
Action packed moralistic Chronicals
Years ago, when I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull, I loved it and subsequently read the other books that Richard Bach wrote.It was exciting to me to find Bach's new book, a single volume of all five novels in the Ferret Chronicles, a world populated by admirable ferrets living by their code of ethics "The Courtesies".Some of the mottos that the ferrets live by are, the more ideas you have, the more shall you be given; you give who you are, the money follows - what you do with the money, there's a different test; we find our happiness only when we follow what we most love in all the world.
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Subjects:  1. Action & Adventure    2. American Science Fiction And Fantasy    3. Fantasy    4. Fantasy - General    5. Fantasy - Short Stories    6. Fantasy fiction, American    7. Ferrets    8. Fiction    9. Fiction - Fantasy    10. Adventure stories    11. Animal stories   

Editorial Review

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• Audiobook
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Reviews (12)

Rescue Ferrets at Sea
If you are lost at sea, who you gonna call? Rescue Ferrets at Sea VERY GOOD!!!!!
I loved this book. It was well written. And whoever said they don't like ferrets because they are vicous and bite they are WRONG!!! La mezcla perfecta
El libro de las cronicas es excelente porque ensena que si realmente deseas algo y te esfuerzas por conseguirlo al momento de tenerlo vas a vivir la mejor experiencia de tu vida.Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Fiction/Science Fiction & Fantasy    2. Action & Adventure    3. Audio - Science Fiction / Fantasy    4. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    5. Audiobooks    6. Fantasy - Epic    7. Fiction    8. Fiction / Fantasy / Epic   

Reviews (5)

Those were different times...
This is a simple, well written account of a summer spent trying torecreate the 1920s 'flying circus' days of aviation in the America of 1965. If you're a pilot ... you'll become a dreamer
I found this book in my father's library when I was 15 and starting groundschool. It's now 20 years later but I have a suppressed desire to someday have a go at the gypsy-pilot lifestyle. Mr. Bach's novel speaks tothe romantic heart of every pilot and leaves a lasting imprint.

Flying in its Purist Form
Bach has captured flight in its purist form.He set out to do this and he did. Bach acquires an antique biplane (in this book a Fleet Biplane and in "Biplane" a Parks-Detroiter Biplane) and spends a summer in theearly 1960's flying passengers throughout the mid-west, sleeping under thewing, eating questionable food, and meeting people who, in many casesremember the golden days of flight.This was the age of the Barnstormers. Bach wanted to re-create the majic and romance of these eariler aviators,share with them the joy of introducing flight to the every-day people whomake up the back-bone of the great mid west.Bach cared little, as did themajority of the early aviators, of the rigid regulations imposed upon theearly aviators by the Federal Government.These same regulations that soonbecame the demise of that beautiful time in aviation history.Part of thatsummer was spent traveling with a young "parachutist" and a youngphotographer who flew an old Luscomb.Together they re-wrote the exploitsof the Barnstormers as only they could and as only Bach can write about.Iloved this book, and all of Bach's books, and read it frequently.I lovedthe book so much I too finally was able to obtain my own antique biplane-a1930 WACO KNF, and intend to recreate the adventure of Bach in his questfor the purist form of flight, that is, the true freedom of flight. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Aeronautics    2. Air pilots    3. Bach, Richard    4. Biography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. General    8. United States    9. History / General    10. Modern fiction   

Reviews (1)

If you love flying. . .or love someone who loves flying. . .this is the book to get
This work is an "omnibus" edition of Richard Bach's three great classics on flying. Readers familiar with Bach tend to think of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" (any of us in college in the 70s remember that one!) but long before Jonathan took wing, Bach had his own flying adventures, first as a military pilot during the early years of the cold war, and then, remarkably as a "barnstormer" flying an antique plane around the country. These three books recount those adventures of his earlier years.
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Subjects:  1. Aerial Navigation    2. Aeronautics    3. Aeronautics & Astronautics    4. Aircraft Operation    5. Airplanes    6. Aviation - General    7. Aviation - Piloting & Flight Instruction    8. Bach, Richard    9. Biography / Autobiography    10. Flights    11. Personal Memoirs    12. Piloting    13. Popular works    14. Technology    15. Transportation    16. Travelers    17. Transportation / General   

Reviews (7)

Boring? No!
Indeed, "a reader" is correct ... this book contains little or no philosophy per se (it's much closer to "Stranger to the Ground" than to "Illusions"). But it is NOT boring, particulary if you have even passing interest in aviation (and if you don't, why are you reading Richard Bach?!).

An Odyssey of flight
This is truly a delightful odyssey of flight through time and space, into unknown dimensions.Simultaneously lovely and spine tingling.An amazing portayel, Richard Bach has a way of arranging words to describe the indescribable! An Echo of my Experience
In Richard Bach's words, the emotions of flying come alive to the reader.As someone who has experienced those same emotions in an ancient biplane, I was moved to tears while reading my deepest feelings put into words. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Air pilots    2. Airplanes    3. Aviation - General    4. Biography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Biplanes    7. General    8. New Age / Body, Mind & Spirit    9. New Age / Parapsychology    10. Piloting    11. United States    12. Modern fiction    13. Transportation / Aviation / General   

Reviews (18)

A thoroughly accurate reflection
I read this book several times when I was a USAF pilot training student in the late 80's.The fears and thoughts and surprisingly the cockpit instruments were similar.Bach captured all the emotions pilots seek to subdue and presented it in a sober and forthright book.Passages still come back to me flying over the places he mentions.What a great book.

Haunting allegory
This book is a very haunting allegory about Richard Bach's ordeal with his own mortality.Deals with facing death, the great unknown, and all the fears and anxieties that go along with topics we prefer not to think about.Reading it will open your heart and touch your soul, and stay with you long after the book is finished. Take Off
Calling all Flying Aces...put the rudder to the metal and let's fly!!Great Book! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Aviation - Piloting & Flight Instruction    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. General    5. Fiction / General    6. Modern fiction   

Reviews (1)

Special story
On earth Shamrock Ferret has always answered questions almost from the day she was born so it is not surprising that she especially enjoys responding to those inquiries that seem impossible to obtain a reply.Her upbringing became her workand her skills have earned her a reputation as a successful sleuth.What Shamrock does is sit in theCases Unsolved Chair to ponder the puzzle until she finds the solution.Read more

Subjects:  1. American Science Fiction And Fantasy    2. Fantasy    3. Fantasy - Epic    4. Fantasy - General    5. Fantasy fiction    6. Ferrets    7. Fiction    8. Fiction - Fantasy    9. Inspirational - General    10. Mystery fiction    11. Fiction / General   

Editorial Review

Richard Bach, the writer who flew to success on the wings of Read more

Reviews (45)

short but sweet
I picked up this book unaware of the author or what the book was really about. My college had a lot of books for sale for used books at cheap prices. I purchased this book for about 50cents. I started reading it, laughing, because I was thinking, "Is this guy going to go on forever about this airplane latch?" Next thing I know the book is going in a different direction than I had started to expect. It's a wonderfully written book, short but it made me feel good inside to read this. I recommend it to everyone. I would say more but I'm afraid I would end up spoiling the entire book. Buy this book!

Lovely introduction to Richard Bach
This was the very first Richard Bach book I've ever read. I read it without expectation, without comparing it to anything previously written by Bach, without looking for the return of previous characters from other books, without needing it to be a certain number of pages, without looking for a plot, without needing it to take me further than Bach's other books, without needing Bach to be married or divorced, without needing him to be a flawless person. I strolled quietly through this book unencumbered, and with a relaxed openness, simply listening as if with an ear cocked to the wind, listening to whatever it wanted to say to me. And so, I found it delightful, charming, evocative, sensitive, imaginative, tender, touching. Bach's heart was in this book, and that was enough. I was very grateful to have found "Out of My Mind". It makes me want to read others that Bach has written because in it I found the clear recognition of something intriguing and lingering... and an intense but gentle kindredness that continues to beckon to me. This is a very lovely and compelling introduction to Richard Bach.

Do not overlook power in simplicity.
As the character Laura Bristol says of why she suggested leather, rather than steel cable, "...It seemed the simplest solution to your problem, and likely the most practical."Read more

Subjects:  1. Fantasy fiction    2. Fiction    3. Fiction - General    4. General    5. Visionary & Metaphysical    6. Body, Mind & Spirit / New Age