Jonathan livingston seagull ebook

Ten times he tried, and all ten times, as he passed through seventy miles per hour, he burst into a churning mass of feathers, out of control, crashing down into the water. The key, he thought at last, dripping wet, must be to hold the wings still at high speeds—to flap up to fifty and then hold the wings still. From two thousand feet he tried again, rolling into his dive, beak straight down, wings full out and stable from the moment he passed fifty miles per hour. It took tremendous strength, but it worked.

In ten seconds he had blurred through ninety miles per hour. Jonathan had set a world speed record for seagulls! But victory was short-lived. The instant he began his pullout, the instant he changed the angle of his wings, he snapped into that same terrible uncontrolled disaster, and at ninety miles per hour it hit him like dynamite. Jonathan Seagull exploded in midair and smashed down into a brick-hard sea. When he came to, it was well after dark, and he floated in moonlight on the surface of the ocean.

His wings were ragged bars of lead, but the weight of failure was even heavier on his back. He wished, feebly, that the weight could be just enough to drag him gently down to the bottom, and end it all. As he sank low in the water, a strange hollow voice sounded within him. I am a seagull. I am limited by my nature. My father was right.

I must forget this foolishness. I must fly home to the Flock and be content as I am, as a poor limited seagull. The voice faded, and Jonathan agreed. The place for a seagull at night is on shore, and from this moment forth, he vowed, he would be a normal gull. It would make everyone happier. He pushed wearily away from the dark water and flew toward the land, grateful for what he had learned about work-saving low-altitude flying.

But no, he thought. I am done with the way I was, I am done with everything I learned. I am a seagull like every other seagull, and I will fly like one. So he climbed painfully to a hundred feet and flapped his wings harder, pressing for shore. He felt better for his decision to be just another one of the flock.

There would be no ties now to the force that had driven him to learn, there would be no more challenge and no more failure. And it was pretty, just to stop thinking, and fly through the dark, toward the lights above the beach. The hollow voice cracked in alarm. Seagulls never fly in the dark! Jonathan was not alert to listen.

The moon and the lights twinkling on the water, throwing out little beacon-trails through the night, and all so peaceful and still. Get down! There in the night, a hundred feet in the air, Jonathan Livingston Seagull—blinked.

His pain, his resolutions, vanished. Short wings. All I need is a tiny little wing, all I need is to fold most of my wings and fly on just the tips alone! Short wings! He climbed two thousand feet above the black sea, and without a moment for thought of failure and death, he brought his forewings tightly in to his body, left only the narrow swept daggers of his wingtips extended into the wind, and fell into a vertical dive.

The wind was a monster roar at his head. Seventy miles per hour, ninety, a hundred and twenty and faster still. He closed his eyes to slits against the wind and rejoiced. A hundred forty miles per hour! And under control! If I dive from five thousand feet instead of two thousand, I wonder how fast.

His vows of a moment before were forgotten, swept away in that great swift wind. Yet he felt guiltless, breaking the promises he had made himself. Such promises are only for the gulls that accept the ordinary. One who has touched excellence in his learning has no need of that kind of promise. By sunup, Jonathan Gull was practicing again. From five thousand feet the fishing boats were specks in the flat blue water, Breakfast Flock was a faint cloud of dust motes, circling.

He was alive, trembling ever so slightly with delight, proud that his fear was under control. Then without ceremony he hugged in his forewings, extended his short, angled wingtips, and plunged directly toward the sea. By the time he passed four thousand feet he had reached terminal velocity, the wind was a solid beating wall of sound against which he could move no faster.

He was flying now straight down, at two hundred fourteen miles per hour. But the speed was power, and the speed was joy, and the speed was pure beauty. He began his pullout at a thousand feet, wingtips thudding and blurring in that gigantic wind, the boat and the crowd of gulls tilting and growing meteor-fast, directly in his path. Collision would be instant death. And so he shut his eyes. It happened that morning, then, just after sunrise, that Jonathan Livingston Seagull fired directly through the center of Breakfast Flock, ticking off two hundred twelve miles per hour, eyes closed, in a great roaring shriek of wind and feathers.

The Gull of Fortune smiled upon him this once, and no one was killed. By the time he had pulled his beak straight up into the sky he was still scorching along at a hundred and sixty miles per hour. When he had slowed to twenty and stretched his wings again at last, the boat was a crumb on the sea, four thousand feet below. His thought was triumph. Terminal velocity! A seagull at two hundred fourteen miles per hour!

It was a breakthrough, the greatest single moment in the history of the Flock, and in that moment a new age opened for Jonathan Gull. Flying out to his lonely practice area, folding his wings for a dive from eight thousand feet, he set himself at once to discover how to turn. A single wingtip feather, he found, moved a fraction of an inch, gives a smooth sweeping curve at tremendous speed.

Before he learned this, however, he found that moving more than one feather at that speed will spin you like a rifle ball. He spared no time that day for talk with other gulls, but flew on past sunset. He discovered the loop, the slow roll, the point roll, the inverted spin, the gull bunt, the pinwheel. He was dizzy and terribly tired. Yet in delight he flew a loop to landing, with a snap roll just before touchdown.

How much more there is now to living! We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly! The years ahead hummed and glowed with promise. The gulls were flocked into the Council Gathering when he landed, and apparently had been so flocked for some time. Part One of the book finds young Jonathan Livingston frustrated with the meaningless materialism, conformity, and limitation of the seagull life.

He is seized with a passion for flight of all kinds, and his soul soars as he experiments with exhilarating challenges of daring aerial feats. Eventually, his lack of conformity to the limited seagull life leads him into conflict with his flock, and they turn their backs on him, casting him out of their society and exiling him. Not deterred by this, Jonathan continues his efforts to reach higher and higher flight goals, finding he is often successful but eventually he can fly no higher.

He is then met by two radiant, loving seagulls who explain to him that he has learned much, and that they are there now to teach him more.

Jonathan transcends into a society where all the gulls enjoy flying. He is only capable of this after practicing hard alone for a long time and the first learning process of linking the highly experienced teacher and the diligent student is raised into almost sacred levels.

They, regardless of the all immense difference, are sharing something of great importance that can bind them together: "You've got to understand that a seagull is an unlimited idea of freedom, an image of the Great Gull.

Jonathan returns to the Breakfast Flock to share his newly discovered ideals and the recent tremendous experience, ready for the difficult fight against the current rules of that society. The ability to forgive seems to be a mandatory "passing condition. The idea that the stronger can reach more by leaving the weaker friends behind seems totally rejected.

Hence, love, deserved respect, and forgiveness all seem to be equally important to the freedom from the pressure to obey the rules just because they are commonly accepted. In Richard Bach took up a non-published fourth part of the book which he had written contemporaneously with the original. He edited and polished it and then sent the result to a publisher. Bach reported that it was a near-death experience which had occurred in relation to a nearly fatal plane crash in August , that had inspired him to finish the fourth part of his novella.

It also contains allusions to and insights regarding the same near-death experience. View all 18 comments. Feb 24, Federico DN rated it really liked it Shelves: favorites. An immeasurable love for flight, and a passion that knows, literally, no bounds. In this story we lean the story of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", an odd little sea bird.

Unlike most of his kind, Jonathan Livingston does not seek food or shelter; Jonathan loves flying, Jonathan lives flying. And as most novices do, he starts with what every beginner is bound to do, fail. And fail spectacularly! But practice makes the master, and Jonathan Livingston is on a life quest to reach the impossible, and An immeasurable love for flight, and a passion that knows, literally, no bounds. But practice makes the master, and Jonathan Livingston is on a life quest to reach the impossible, and something unimaginably greater than just master.

An inspiring little novella about bettering yourself, following your passion, and pursuing your dreams, without limits. A truly remarkable read. Highly recommendable. A diferencia de otros de su especie, Juan Salvador no busca comida o refugio; Juan ama volar, Juan vive volar. Y fallar espectacularmente! Una lectura realmente destacable. Muy recomendable. View all 25 comments. You know, sometimes you should just leave fond childhood memories alone. But I have a hard time resisting any kind of challenge, at least if it relates to reading, so when Karly criticized my 3-star rating of this book see the thread to this review for her very funny and halfhearted trolling efforts , I felt compelled to go dig out my old copy of Jonathan Livingston Seagull - and it did take some digging - to see if I could justify my rating.

Unfortunately, I couldn't. This flimsy and fluffy litt You know, sometimes you should just leave fond childhood memories alone. This flimsy and fluffy little book was a massive bestseller in and It's a VERY unsubtle parable about a seagull who decides that the mundane life of squawking and fighting for food is not for him.

He wants to learn how to really fly. The other seagulls are not impressed with his stunts and aerial acrobatics. But Jonathan Seagull is brave enough to defy the Flock and continue his search for perfection. It's all very inspiring and affirming and I can see why a lot of people still love it. There's actually a JLS website where people share their "seagull stories" of how they learned to overcome their doubts and fears and truly live, and they all tell each other how great they are.

Fly free, beautiful white birds! And that's all fine, as long as you're not hurting innocent people, or neglecting those who need you, in your search to Find Yourself.

But this book, as a piece of literature, has problems on so many levels: The heavy-handed symbolism. The simplistic worldview spend all your time learning how to fly perfectly and all other problems will magically take care of themselves!

And the book tries to be all things to all people. Overcoming obstacles and achieving through your own determination and effort? Got it. Christian symbolism? New Age mysticism?

Don't get me started. So I'm going to re-read this book assuming I can find the dusty old copy that is hiding somewhere in my basement and either agree with her or defend my position. It is on! View all comments. Aug 21, Benjamin rated it did not like it. Don't read this. Go look at a seagull and think about life on your own if you must. What you come up with will be better than this. View all 5 comments. Feb 20, Fabian rated it did not like it.

Basically, its a huge ripoff of the Judeo-Christian messiah story, with little birds that never fully become characters, grounded ha ha or are even particularly memorable.

Is this bad? I just cannot fathom the language of this; the super-precise scientific descriptions of speed, and worse, why are the birds so Anglo-Saxonly named?

It is baffling as to why it even got published in the first place. Clue number one that this was gonna suck: it's subtitle, "A Story.

Like a sketch. The photographer probably took longer taking the pictures of the grainy sky than this writer did concocting such wannabe New Agey mierda. Reminds me so much of "The Celestine Prophecy" in it's lameness level, I could just scream.

This reads like some reject for some lesser-read college Literary Anthology But shitier. View all 30 comments. Mar 08, Janet rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: people who are inspired by Abraham Lincoln. Shelves: spirituality , life.

For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. Ultimately this is a fable about the importance of seeking a higher purpose in life, even if yo "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.

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. I read this book when I was a teenager, it set the stage for a life of searching for a higher purpose and today, almost 40 years later, my life is heaven on earth. In Abraham Lincoln's words Scott Peck's words Scott Peck View all 6 comments. I longed for a friend, I longed for a sense of the world being more than what was drowning me.

Bach's writing is simplistic, yes. But there is for me an enduring wisdom to it. Mar 03, Adina rated it liked it. As I had no intention to buy this in case it proved to be dreadful I decided to finally get a library subscription. That might not work out as intended but a girl can hope.

I am not a fan of inspirational fables. Call me cynical but I do not believe a nice little motivational story can change your life. It can provide an extra nudge to change if you a 2. It can provide an extra nudge to change if you are already on that path. Also, most of them are also ridiculously stupid, The Monk who Sold his Ferrari comes to my mind right away to prove this idea.

Having said that, I thought Jonathan Livingston Seagull to be cute and some of the ideas even touched me. Jonathan Livingston is not your usual seagull who flies only for feeding purposes. No, he loves to fly and constantly challenges himself to improve his control, speed and form.

Unfortunately, his flock disagrees with his revolutionary approach to flying and he is excommunicated. He soon finds other seagulls that share the same passion and strive for greatness. He follows them to another world, some sort of paradise, where Seagulls can be their true self. After a while, Jonathan returns to the flock in order to teach others to fly as he does and follow their dreams. The story encourages people to find what they love, follow and cultivate their talent and decide for themselves in life.

The book also teaches us to be tolerant, seek the good in other people and love them for those qualities. The author obviously loves flying he was a pilot and you can see that in every page.

His description of flying was the best part of the story for me. View all 13 comments. Sep 02, Ruth rated it did not like it Shelves: total-crap. Puerile platitudes posing as wisdom. View all 11 comments. Feb 19, Nataliya rated it liked it Shelves: my-childhood-bookshelves , reads , for-my-future-hypothetical-daughter.

There is that special magic in the books you loved as a kid. The wide-eyed innocence and all that stuff does give even the least subtle stories that unforgettable magical sheen. I was probably around eleven or so, still in the warm fuzzies of childhood, still far away from snarky and exasperated teenage know-it-all cynicism when I came across this slender little book in the depths of out school library.

It was in English - the language that I was just learning at that time, and looked more access There is that special magic in the books you loved as a kid. I inhaled this story over the course of a single afternoon, even with never-ending dictionary searches. Yes, my little impressionable heart agreed, yes - I WILL pursue my dreams and will never settle, and I will keep persevering until I reach new heights.

A thousand lives, Jon, ten thousand! And then another hundred lives until we began to learn that there is such a thing as perfection, and another hundred again to get the idea that our purpose for living is to find that perfection and show it forth. The same rule holds for us now, of course: we choose our next world through what we learn in this one. Learn nothing, and the next world is the same as this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome. Obviously, I reread it.

As Terry Pratchett aptly wrote: "If you put a large switch in a cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying, 'End-of-the-World Switch. And I was annoyed and disappointed, sure. But then I remembered what it felt like to be eleven and inspired by Seagull Jon and my inner grumpy cynicism let go a little, and some of that warmth crept back into my shriveled Grinchy heart.

View all 19 comments. May 16, Cecily rated it it was ok Shelves: overrated. It's self-consciously "beautiful" and spiritual, but doesn't really have much depth. I enjoyed it in my late teens, when I had delusions of profundity, but I don't think it has much to impart to adults. View all 33 comments. Sep 20, Jeff rated it did not like it.

When I was a lad, I had to endure my hippie science teacher's self-narrated slide show of the entire book. It beat listening to a lecture about photosynthesis, but not by much.

View all 17 comments. Jan 02, Nat K rated it liked it Shelves: illustrated-or-photographic , books , animal-magic , inspirational-emotional-wellness. What makes you happy. What fires your passion. Brings a smile to your face. Gives you a feeling of contentment. Sure, life comes with responsibility in a myriad of forms.

Needs to be met. Bills to be paid. To get worn down by the daily grind. Jonathan Livingston Seagull never gave up. He had a dream.

He was determined. He wanted to fly for the simple joy of doing so. To soar as high as he could. He failed often. He went against the flock. But he kept going. It was hard, but it was worth it. We can learn to fly. Their line and form. Their ability to soar. Their freedom. The style of writing and the way the message is put together is a tiny bit dated.

A bit hippy trippy. It was written in after all, and definitely reflects the mood of the time. But it still retains its inspirational theme. The message still rings true. To be your own person or seagull! And to support and encourage others to be the best version of themselves.

To believe. To see what others can see. The photos are a perfect match for the text, and make this a wonderfully calming book to read and ponder over.

View all 21 comments. May 28, Mohsin Maqbool rated it it was amazing Shelves: books-read-in , favorites. However, I did not read the book until To be honest with you, I did not think much of it at the time and gave it away to a friend. Learning more about birds with the passage of time, I wanted to read the book again.

I regretted giving it away. Luckily another friend of mine had a copy. I finished the book in a few hours. I liked it much better this time and even wrote a review for my friend to read. Yesterday I re-read the book on pdf so that I could review it for goodreads. And I must admit that this time I actually found the book to be amazing. Maybe with age I have become more mature as I was able to grasp many things which I could not when I first read it during the '80s or even a decade back.

The book is extremely inspirational. Besides, it has a story to tell — an interesting one — that keeps you glued right to the very end. Mr Bach used to be a fighter pilot and a writer for magazines like Avian which is why talking about the flight of seagulls comes naturally to him. Jonathan Livingston Seagull was more interested in flying than eating fish or bread crumbs for survival. He wants to fly as high as possible and at speeds deemed impossible.

He kept challenging himself to break each previous record. The Elder of the Flock does not like Richard breaking rules and regulations.

He wants him to stick to normal flying. For the next few days he tried to behave like the other gulls; he really tried, screeching and fighting with the flock around the piers and fishing boats, diving on scraps of fish and bread. I could be spending all this time learning to fly. He is considered an Outcast and kicked out of the Flock. Having said that, it is creative writing at its best.

Alliteration too is used in several places. He learned that a streamlined high-speed dive could bring him to find the rare and tasty fish that schooled ten feet below the surface of the ocean: he no longer needed fishing boats and stale bread for survival.

He learned to sleep in the air, setting a course at night across the offshore wind, covering a hundred miles from sunset to sunrise. With the same inner control, he flew through heavy sea fogs and climbed above them into dazzling clear skies He learned to ride the high winds far inland, to dine there on delicate insects.

The book teaches us to be kind and loving and tolerant through Jonathan who during a later stage of his life becomes an instructor for seagulls who want to become achievers by being at their innovative best where flying is concerned.

You have to practise and see the real gull, the good in every one of them, and to help them see it in themselves. The book deals with a bit of fantasy too. But if I describe it, it would be akin to spoiling the fun for you. The inspirational fable contains eight black and white photographs of seagulls in flight which have been magnificently captured by Russell Munson. I highly recommend the book to everybody who likes reading good and meaningful literature and also to those who love our fine-feathered friends.

Director Hall Bartlett adapted the novella into a film in Whereas the book was a bestseller, the film was poorly received by critics and was a box-office failure. Neil Diamond wrote and recorded an album for the film's soundtrack which was a critical and commercial success, earning Diamond a Grammy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

View all 8 comments. There is certainly some fear in starting to become the person you were born to be. For those readers developing the practice of listening to a voice other th "We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. For those readers developing the practice of listening to a voice other than those that clamour around them, Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a welcome companion.

The book is narrated in a metaphorical way. As you start reading it, you will connect with Jonathan Seagull. It is a young Seagull bored with the mundane life.