A trip to the local bookstore or online bookseller can be a daunting task. As soon as you walk into your bookstore, you see shelf upon shelf of the most popular books at the time. You may see authors like Dan Brown, James Patterson, Stephen King, and others. While all of these authors are popular for a reason and write a great story, what if you want to read something a little different? What if the usual fictional story full of murders, mystery, and the usual thrilling plot is just not for you? Well, there is an author named Daniel Quinn who may not be the most recognized author, but he deserves much more attention and readers for his unique ideas.
If you think of writers like Dan Brown or John Grisham, their books are straightforward and predictable. There are usually one or two murders, a mystery that unravels slowly as the chapters go by, characters that the reader despises, and characters that the reader tends to root for. Daniel Quinn’s writing looks nothing like this. His writing is completely unique and refreshing. It doesn’t just give you a story to read in your own free time, it gives you a thought-provoking story that will make you think about the world in different ways. His stories are told from a fictional point of view, but there is an underlying non-fiction in each of his books.
Quinn’s most notable books are Ishmael and its sequel My Ishmael. These books are told from the point of view of a young man naive to the workings and history of the world. He meets a gorilla named Ismael who teaches him to see the world in a new way. Basically, Ishmael teaches man through various talks and individual sessions that humans are not the light of the world and that evolution is an ongoing process. The human species may be the most advanced species on planet Earth, but we have evolved from primates and we will continue to evolve in this process towards something else. It’s an idea that most people don’t think about, but very interesting: one day, future advanced species may look back at their evolution charts and see that our humans today were just one step in a long way. list of evolving species. While humans are a great species and highly intelligent, one day there will be an even better human species.
As you can see by reading the last paragraph, Quinn’s writing is not for everyone. Daniel Quinn tends to side with Darwinism and departs from religious views like Christianity. Much of his writing parallels evolution and the idea that all organisms evolve from other organisms. In one of his other books, The Story of B, he directly pursues religion and dismantles many beliefs of modern religion. Quinn points out discontinuities and themes that don’t make sense and through a fictional story about a religious weirdo simply named “B”. This man has built a huge following thanks to his unique religious teachings and makes many of those around him think twice about their own religion and regard B’s religion as their own.
If you are looking for a unique reading that combines fiction, non-fiction and philosophical ideas that will blow your mind, read some of Daniel Quinn’s writings. If you are very religious, anti-Darwin, or just don’t like coming up with crazy new ideas, his writing is not for you. Either way, it wouldn’t hurt to open your mind to a unique writing style that will make you at least consider different points of view on humanity and the world. Daniel Quinn Ishmael’s books, My Ishmael, and The Story of B are rated 5 out of 5 and are definitely worth a read.