Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventure

by Daniel Quinn

Book Overview

If a team of Martian anthropologists were to study our culture, their initial findings might read something like this: These people have the strange idea that the thing they call civilization is some... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0609805363
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Crown
• Length: 202 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.5" x 5.2"

Customer Reviews

Absolutely amazing

This book was awesome. That said I’d definitely read his series of the 3 Ishmael books first to really appreciate and enjoy this work. If you’re familiar with Daniel Quinn already this will be another interesting and thought provoking extension of his thoughts.

Going Beyond Civilization

"Beyond Civilization" follows in the footsteps and elaborates on the themes of Daniel Quinn's Ishmael Trilogy ("Ishmael," "The Story of B," and "My Ishmael"), which should be read before this companion volume is tackled. Unlike these three books, "Beyond Civilization" is non-fiction, a collection of short essays in which Quinn clarifies some of the ideas from the Ishmael Trilogy and responds to questions posed by readers and critics. A bibliography and thematic index for all four books are also extremely helpful resources for Quinn readers.The essays that make up this book deal with varied topics - from school shootings to what it means to "save the world." However, they are all connected in their criticisms of 'civilized' society and support for a "new tribalism." The concept of the New Tribal Revolution occupies a large part of "Beyond Civilization," and it is a complex topic to try to summarize. Basically, new tribalism calls for the immediate creation of a non-ethnic tribal society in which the ravages of civilization - both ecological and social - can be minimized. It should be emphasized that Quinn is NOT a primitivist or Luddite, as some claim. He calls not for the destruction of knowledge and technology, but rather urges people to use them in a different and (in his view) better fashion. New Tribalism is not a return to the past - it is an effort to go beyond civilization and 'save the world' from environmental disaster and social self-destruction.Many reviewers have criticized Quinn's somewhat vague instructions regarding what they should do to go beyond civilization. The lack of a clear program did not bother me too much - for one thing, it will help prevent dogmatism in any movement seeking to go beyond civilization. Readers, in my opinion, should not expect any new culture to spring fully-formed from Quinn's pen. Life and society beyond civilization will evolve into forms that work well; it will not be arbitrarily created."Beyond Civilization" is structured as a collection of straightforward essays written in the first person and addressed directly to the reader. All of the essays are less than one page long and they can be read all at once, or slowly and reflectively over a number of days. Was the book written in a condescending fashion, as some reviewers have complained? I personally don't think so - Quinn does his best to be engaging and argumentative, which may not go across well with some readers. Agree with Quinn or not, you will find "Beyond Civilization" captivating and perhaps even inspirational. You will return to it time and again, drawn by its analysis of civilization, tribalism, and humanity itself. Highly recommended.

Slapping Forehead With Palm of Hand

My oh my... Mr. Quinn has not ceased to amaze me since my first reading (practically by accident) of Ishmael nearly 7 years ago. His subsequent books, The Story of B, My Ishmael, and his auto-biographical Providence, have each left me standing blissfully naked in a tropical thunderstorm of inspiration... Inspiration... a tricky word... Most of us these days find inspiration in things that promise transcendence from the woes of the world. But Mr. Quinn offers another type of inspiration, one grounded in accepting and embracing our place in this magnificent biological network called life. Where others have inspired with messages ranging from, "Jesus saves," to "selfishness is a virtue," Mr. Quinn's most inspirational message is quite simple: The problems facing us today are not - as we have come to believe - the result of "human nature," but the nature of our cultural paradigms, our unspoken mythologies that we are innundated with daily from birth, and being that we created these paradigms, we can certainly create NEW ONES. Using concrete examples, comparative studies of other cultures, as well as contemporary examples of alternative paradigms, Mr. Quinn offers a message that unfolds in increasing clarity with each of his works, not the least of which is Beyond Civilization. I would imagine that Mr. Quinn, like his alter-ego, Ishmael, has been sitting back in his glass cage, wondering why his readers haven't come up with the messages of Beyond Civilization on their own. Nonetheless, he has offered this book, and - also as his alter ego would - not without its challenges. The book is easy to digest insofar as its verbage is concerned; however, it is just as challenging as his subsequent works when it comes to provoking the changing of minds necesary to curb our present path of cultural collapse. As always, he will challenge your views of the world, and subsequently, your individual place in it. However, in this work, there lay a clarity as to the diverse possibilities of our individual roles that readers of his previous works have long hungered for. So all I have to say is... Enjoy the ride, and make sure you aren't holding any blunt metal objects when you slap yourself on the forehead!

Incredibly Thought-provoking

BEYOND CIVILIZATION: HUMANITY'S NEXT GREAT ADVENTURE offers the people of our culture alternative ideas on how to make a living. It doesn't claim to be the only way, nor is it one way in itself. This book can get you thinking about how you might go about doing what you really love in life and gain security and what you really need at the same time. Every page is like a jewel of idea and thought. Quinn discusses why we can't take the "Mayan Solution" which was to walk away into the jungle since there is no longer a jungle for us and there are too many of us for that to be a viable solution, but he does show us that we can still "walk away". He likens the rat race that is our current way of life to dragging stones up a pyramid. And he insists that we do not have to continue to do this. He doesn't provide a way for us to sit around and get what we need, but helps us to rediscover the easiest and most workable way that humans have to make a living-- tribally. He notes that when left to choose-- humans gravitate towards the tribal life... not because it's "natural" or "right" but because it is the easiest way for human beings to make a living. He points out that wolves evolved as pack animals, birds evolved as flock animals, bees evolved as hiving animals, etc. and humans evolved as tribal animals. He refutes the critics claim that he is saying that we should go live in a cave with a spear and offers more realistic solutions. But we have to be inventive and do it ourselves. It's not magic-- which is what I think many people who have given this book poor reviews actually want. I recommend this book to anyone looking for, another way to live, another story to be in, or an extraordinary thought provoking experience!

BEYOND CIVILIZATION, first Great Book of the new millennium

"Beyond Civilization," the latest and, in many ways, most powerful work from writer/philosopher Daniel Quinn, is the first Great Book of the new millennium. In this latest and stunningly provocative work Mr. Quinn has brought into sharp focus the ideas, observations, and original thinking that have formed the conceptual and thematic basis of his body of work from the award-winning "Ishmael" through "The Story of B," "Providence," and "My Ishmael." This non-fiction presentation is profound in its format; each page presents a specific topic and discussion which can send the thoughtful reader into the most profound and inspiring rumination on some of the most important issues and considerations for our survival as a species.The writing is deceptively simple and direct in style, presenting thoughts as significant to political, social, environmental, and personal life in the 21st Century as the deceptively simple equation "E=mc2" was to 20th Century science. Ideas like, "There is no one right way for people to live," for example. Think about it!This is a book to read, reread, consider and think about over and over again. While seeming to overlook just how many unsolved problems have been created by, and how imperfect is, the way we're living now, some will criticize the book by saying it doesn't solve everything and isn't perfect. But "Beyond Civilization" isn't meant to be the complete answer, "only" the most complete asking of the real questions, along with some of the most profound suggestions for answers ever found in one book.If we're to survive as a species, and beyond that to achieve truly meaningful and happy lives as individuals, Daniel Quinn has given us what may be the most important book to be written for the next millennium. It's certainly a most profound, provocative, stimulating, and seminal work, while remaining eminently and enjoyably readable.