When Bantam Books first published "Ishmael," a cult was born. Winner of the Turner Tomorrow Award -- a prize for fiction that offered solutions to global problems -- it was an utterly unique story that earned raves from readers and critics alike. By the time the mass market paperback edition of this novel was published last year, word was spreading like wildfire. Now this irresistible novel of a spiritual adventure is available in trade paperback for the first time ever. The narrator of this extraordinary tale is a man in search of truth. He answers an ad in a local newspaper from a teacher looking for serious pupils only to find himself alone in an abandonded office with a full-grown gorilla who is nibbling delicately on a slender branch. "you are the teacher?" he asks, incredulously. "I am the teacher, " the gorilla replies. Ishmael is a creature of immense wisdom and he has a story to tell.... As readers everywhere seek out books that offer answers to their burning questions about spirituality, the popularity of this remarkable novel continues to grow at an astounding pace.

"As suspenseful, inventive and socially urgent as any fiction or nonfiction book you are likely to read this or any other year." -- "The Austin Chronicle."

"Wonderfully eamest and engaging. Think of Robert Pirsig in "Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle" Maintenance or B.F. Skinner in "Walden Two."" -- "Los Angeles Times Book Review."

Daniel Quinn lives in Austin, Texas.