Ishmael

Moonwatcher's Friends of Ishmael page includes an Index to Ishmael.

Table of Contents for Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn, the Bantam trade paperback edition, June 1995

One -- 1
1 -- 3 (the ad)
2 -- 6 (meeting Ishmael)
3 -- 11 (Ishmael begins to tell his story)
4 -- 16 (he continues)
5 -- 22 (the end of his story)
6 -- 24 (talking to Ishmael)
7 -- 26 (the narrator's story about Hans and Kurt)
8 -- 28

Two -- 31
1 -- 33 (on being held captive by a story)
2 -- 36 (more about Mother Culture)
3 -- 38 (defining "Takers" and "Leavers")
4 -- 39 (reassembling a worldview)
5 -- 41 (some definitions)
6 -- 42 (reassembling human history)
7 -- 42 (starting with our culture's mythology)

Three -- 47
1 -- 49 (starting with our creation story)
2 -- 51 (our creation story)
3 -- 54 (the story of the jellyfish)
4 -- 56 (what makes our story a myth)
5 -- 59 (examining the myth)
6 -- 60 (the premise of the myth)
7 -- 62 (more implications of the myth ...)
8 -- 63 (... and more ...)

Four -- 65
1 -- 67 (more of our culture's mythology)
2 -- 69 (its implications about our destiny)
3 -- 70 (the premise is revealed)
4 -- 72 (human destiny in our mythology)
5 -- 74 (how this story works)

Five -- 77
1 -- 79 (the ultimate human destiny in our mythology)
2 -- 81 (human nature in our mythology, and its tragic flaw)
3 -- 83 (the origins of the "flaw" in our mythology)
4 -- 85 (the importance of prophets and the knowledge of how to live)
5 -- 88 (the flaw in human nature and the lack of knowledge of how to live)
6 -- 89 (the wretchedness of our story, and another story to be in)
7 -- 90 (crossing a border)

Six -- 93
1 -- 95 (the notion of laws about how to live)
2 -- 98 (how natural laws work)
3 -- 101 (formulating a biological law)
4 -- 102 (the law's applicability to civilizations)
5 -- 103 ("The gods have played three dirty tricks on the Takers" -- including this law)
6 -- 105 (how natural laws apply, and how the Takers have ignored this one: the story of the airman in the makeshift plane)

Seven -- 111
1 -- 113 (the story of the A's, the B's, and the C's, and how to figure out their law)
2 -- 117 (the community of life, and how to figure out its law)
3 -- 119 (more on how to figure it out)
4 -- 121 (the narrator's depression)

Eight -- 123
1 -- 125 (explaining the branches of the law of life, and how it is disregarded by the Takers)
2 -- 129 (how the law makes things work, and not work)
3 -- 130 (disregarding the law)
4 -- 133 (the results)
5 -- 133 (agriculture and the law)
6 -- 135 (the laws of population and food supply)
7 -- 140 (Indians, and the advantages of diversity)
8 -- 142 (how natural laws work, and how to apply them)
9 -- 145 (expressions of the law)
10 -- 146 (how different stories show different results; defending the term "Mother Culture")

Nine -- 149
1 -- 151 (the current state of the agricultural revolution)
2 -- 154 (introducing a certain story -- the story of Eden)
3 -- 155 (the knowledge that enables one to rule the world)
4 -- 156 (the story of how the gods of Eden acquired this knowledge)
5 -- 160 (the story continues ...)
6 -- 161 (... as the gods consider Adam's destiny, and forbid him to taste this knowledge)
7 -- 165 (the Takers' viewpoint on this story)
8 -- 166 (the implications of the Takers' perceived knowledge and right to rule the world)
9 -- 169 (how the Leaver Semites met the Takers)
10 -- 173 (the origin of the story of Cain and Abel)
11 -- 175 (how this story was perserved by the Takers)
12 -- 176 (how the Leaver Semites must have perceived the Takers)
13 -- 177 (the difference in viewpoints)
14 -- 178 (analyzing the story mythologically)
15 -- 179 (the symbolism of Eve)
16 -- 181 (the limited viewpoint of the story)
17 -- 182 (why the story appeals to Takers)

Ten -- 185
1 -- 187 (the missing gorilla)
2 -- 190 (the narrator's search)
3 -- 190 (the search continues)
4 -- 193 (the menagerie)
5 -- 197 (the dialogue resumes)
6 -- 198 (culture: cultural memory and cultural amnesia)
7 -- 203 (passing on what works for technology, but not for people)
8 -- 204 (knowledge of ways to live)
9 -- 207 (segue)

Eleven -- 209
1 -- 211 (why the Leaver story is worth knowing)
2 -- 214 (what the story is about)
3 -- 215 (Mother Culture's loathing of the Leavers' ways of life)
4 -- 218 (deeper insight into this loathing)
5 -- 227 (taking the power into our hands)
6 -- 228 (what it means to live in the hands of the gods; new definitions of "Takers" and "Leavers")

Twelve -- 231
1 -- 233 (more plot)
2 -- 235 (segue)
3 -- 235 (living in the hands of the gods, and evolution)
4 -- 239 (the premise of the Leaver story)
5 -- 240 (summary)
6 -- 241 (the narrator's vision of human destiny)
7 -- 244 (what civilization could be)
8 -- 247 (the possibility of social change)
9 -- 248 (what one person can do)
10 -- 251 (the industry within the prison of Taker civilization)
11 -- 252 (the arbitrariness of wealth and power within a prison)
12 -- 253 (the end of the teaching)

Thirteen -- 255
1 -- 257 (the narrator's insane plan)
2 -- 259 (the end of the plan)
3 -- 261 (the narrator moves on)
4 -- 262 (Ishmael's two koans)

Author's Note