Reviews - Ismael: Como o Mundo Veio a Ser o que É

1.34k reviews for:

Ismael: Como o Mundo Veio a Ser o que É

Daniel Quinn

3.91 AVERAGE

trish14's review against another edition

4.5

challenging inspiring reflective fast-paced

justmealison's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

This book should be required reading for human beings.

I reread once every few years.

ccmorgan's review against another edition

2.0

some really interesting content that was totally overshadowed by the random neomalthusian messaging in some of the chapters. would have loved the way the book deconstructed culture, compared genesis myths, and contextualized “taker” and “leaver” cultures… if it wasn’t interspersed with sentences that were like “we should ship contraceptives to poor countries instead of food!” (almost a verbatim quote)

It’s an ugly, ugly thing to advocate for social darwinist methods of population control in the name of environmentalism. Fear of ecological overshoot simply isn’t an excuse to pick and choose who you think deserves to live.

This is an anthropological novel, with the main character frequently mentioning the importance of anthropologists in society. That this book is an exercise in “anthropological thought” actually seems about right, given the problematic roots of the field of anthropology.

two-ish chapters of this book ruined the rest of it for me.

emmaj127's review against another edition

2.5

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: N/A

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A

carsonkrone's review against another edition

3.5

hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

kbusickk18's review against another edition

4.0

My brain doesn’t work anymore. I can’t….what?

I seriously can’t fathom everything this book tackled, it was a slow read with SO much information/ ideas thrown at you constantly. It’s an insane call of action and a slap to the head for human kind. It’s also a very hard pill to swallow.

This is a series I will be continuing. You need to be in the right headspace to read this and have an open mind as well as time to process all it will entail. It’s seriously a one of a kind book. I couldn’t give it a 5 star- not because it wasn’t incredible- but because it’s very painful actually. Which maybe unjust of me towards the author but I need other readers to know that this book means something and should not be picked up Willy-Nilly without intention and an agreement to open their minds.