Book Review - ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’, a fable by Richard Bach

‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’, a fable written by Richard Bach, happens to be one of my all-time favorites. It's the story of freedom, perseverance, courage, altruism, love, dreams, and giving back to society. It is about finding your true nature. It serves as an inspiration to anyone who wants to succeed beyond the limitations imposed by the social norms.

A seagull bird wants to learn flying for the sake of flying, takes flight in the sky, tries to break his own boundaries and limits, goes through various ups and downs, gets outcast from the flock for violating the accepted norms of the group, finds a teacher who directs him towards perfection, in that process understands his own self, understands the true meaning of love and compassion, goes back to the flock that had out-casted him, shares his understanding with love and compassion. This remarkable book talks about the true love and friendship that goes beyond the boundaries of time and space. 

This is a story for people who follow their hearts and make their own rules, people who get special pleasure out of doing something well, people who know there's more to this living than meets the eye: they’ll be right there with Jonathan, flying higher and faster than ever they dreamed.

Some of the great quotes from the book include:

“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding."

"The only true law is that which leads to freedom. There is no other.”

 “We choose our next world through what we learn in this one. Learn nothing, and the next world is the same as this one, with all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome.”

 “Do you have any idea how many lives we must have gone through before we even got the first idea that there is more to life than eating, or fighting, or power in the Flock? A thousand lives, ten thousand?”

“Your whole body is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too…”

“Why is it,” Jonathan puzzled, “that the hardest thing in the world is to convince a bird that he is free, and that he can prove it for himself if he’d spend a little time practicing? Why should that be so hard?”

Author	Richard Back
Category	Literature / Classic Fiction
Rating	An inspiring read, a must have for everyone