Jonathan Livingston Seagull: The New Complete Edition

By Richard Bach and Russell Munson

Now, for the first time ever, a new complete edition ebook original of a timeless classic that includes the never-before-published Part Four and Last Words by Richard Bach.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scribner
• Release date: Feb 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781476754697

Richard Bach

Richard Bach es escritor y aviador, expiloto de las Fuerzas Aéreas de Estados Unidos. El mensaje de libertad y autosuperación de Juan Salvador Gaviota, su obra más célebre, ha conquistado a varias generaciones de lectores y lleva vendidos más de treinta millones de ejemplares.

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Contents

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Last Words

About the Author

To the real Jonathan Seagull, who lives within us all

JonathanLivingstonSeagull.com

It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea.

A mile from shore a fishing boat chummed the water, and the word for Breakfast Flock flashed through the air, till a crowd of a thousand seagulls came to dodge and fight for bits of food. It was another busy day beginning.

But way off alone, out by himself beyond boat and shore, Jonathan Livingston Seagull was practicing. A hundred feet in the sky he lowered his webbed feet, lifted his beak, and strained to hold a painful hard twisting curve through his wings. The curve meant that he would fly slowly, and now he slowed until the wind was a whisper in his face, until the ocean stood still beneath him. He narrowed his eyes in fierce concentration, held his breath, forced one . . . single . . . more . . . inch . . . of . . . curve. . . . Then his feathers ruffled, he stalled and fell.

Seagulls, as you know, never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them disgrace and it is dishonor.

But Jonathan Livingston Seagull, unashamed, stretching his wings again in that trembling hard curve—slowing, slowing, and stalling once more—was no ordinary bird.

Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight—how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else, Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.

This kind of thinking, he found, is not the way to make one’s self popular with other birds. Even his parents were dismayed as Jonathan spent whole days alone, making hundreds of low-level glides, experimenting.

He didn’t know why, for instance, but when he flew at altitudes less than half his wingspan above the water, he could stay in the air longer, with less effort. His glides ended not with the usual feet-down splash into the sea, but with a long flat wake as he touched the surface with his feet tightly streamlined against his body. When he began sliding in to feet-up landings on the beach, then pacing the length of his slide in the sand, his parents were very much dismayed indeed.

Why, Jon, why? his mother asked. Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, Jon? Why can’t you leave low flying to the pelicans, the albatross? Why don’t you eat? Son, you’re bone and feathers!

I don’t mind being bone and feathers, mom. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can’t, that’s all. I just want to know.

See here, Jonathan, said his father, not unkindly. "Winter isn’t far away. Boats will be few, and the surface fish will

[claudette1_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

How much can I love a book?I utterly adored this one. No need to say anything else.

[barakketh · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book, enjoyed the pictures throughout and the story of striving for perfection. I read this one sitting on a 70's armchair in the sun and I would strongly recommend the experience. I think depending on the mood you are in you could find this cheesy or too happy go lucky but if you are feeling a little illuminated at the time I think this is a great one to maintain your mood.

[Maria Ramona · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have really enjoyed this book and I definitely recommend it.

[Edward Fulke · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I first read this book, many many moons ago, but something inside me, told me to read it again. I now know what and why.its a story relevant to what's happening in the world today, 2022. The struggle for freedom,, the need to live our lives in our own truth,as we want to,in pure love. I believe this is what the story is telling us, I thought so first time round, but now know it is. Well done Richard Bach, for having an insight in
to the future, fifty years ahead. Brilliant book. It should be put out there again, for everyone who hasn't heard about it, to read.

[Maria Chona-Guillen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Once I started reading this book, it was hard to put it down. I will definitely recommend it. So much learning here, but I have to be honest a furtive warm tear kissed my cheeks during my read. Thank you!

[Dennis Pinpin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I much prefer the "not complete" edition. There was elegance in its simplicity. This complete one is a bit of a stretch. Know when to stop.

[Danny takla · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Christian Call to Freedom of the soul and the critique of ritualistic dogmatization carries through the book in a pretty meaningful way. May we live our Myth

[Ariella McManus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm moved every time I reread this book. It is one that should be read throughout the ages by anyone and everyone.

[rainpebble_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jonathan Livingston Seagull; (4*)I really liked this little book. It is a fast and easy read with wonderful lessons to be learned about friendship, freedom and the value of things that really matter.In it you will follow Jonathan's travels around the world and see everything through his eyes. One would not think one could learn anything from this wee book about a fictitious little seagull but this reader did. This is a lovely tale. I feel I can recommend it to youth and adult alike.

[Rhett Wilkins · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

amazing just like all of us and all of the "prophets" before and hereafter. we are all Buddha or Jesus or Allah. we are all greatness and perfection. They weren't meant to be idolized or to find a pebble for. they were models to follow. be like them. believe that you are the greatness that lies within each and everyone of us. beautiful book. such a simple message that is so easily overlooked by the flock.

[kale.dyer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book, enjoyed the pictures throughout and the story of striving for perfection. I read this one sitting on a 70's armchair in the sun and I would strongly recommend the experience. I think depending on the mood you are in you could find this cheesy or too happy go lucky but if you are feeling a little illuminated at the time I think this is a great one to maintain your mood.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Read during my most impressionable years, in high school, along with many other Richard Bach books. I'm sure it will probably seem a bit naive to this old cynic now.

[lynleys-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

We had to read this for year eleven English. I hated it. That's not to say I would hate it now, if I read it of my own volition.

[eclecticdodo · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A short but well told allegory, with pictures. It is good. However, I find my enjoyment significantly undermined by disagreeing strongly with the philosophy and world-view behind it. Jonathan is an ordinary gull, outcast by his flock for his extraordinary interest in pushing the limits of flight rather than just focus on finding food. Life is presented as a spiritual journey towards enlightenment, which continues through many lives on different spiritual planes. Fair enough, this is a popular idea, what I did not like was the specific dig at Christianity:"Me? Jon, I'm just a plain seagull, and you're....""...the only Son of the Great Gull, I suppose?"then a few lines later"Don't let them spread silly rumours about me, or make me a god. O.K., Fletch?"

[debicates · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

You can't go home again.

And you can't be a 14 year old teen again.

This hurts my heart. After re-reading this with an old friend, I'm not even sure I would know how to speak to that 14 year old me.

What did I see in it? I wildly loved this book, reading it just before the movie came out. I went to see the movie straight away, a few times. I even talked the ticket man to give me the movie poster after it had finished playing at that theater. He said he was supposed to send it back with the film, but he gave it to me. I have it still.

Fifty years later, I haven't a clue how it impacted me so much. Who was that girl? What did she possibly think of this:

"Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip, " Jonathan would say, other times, "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 ..." But no matter how he said it, it sounded like pleasant fiction...

Exactly, "pleasant fiction" is what JLS seems like to me now. And, truthfully, not even all that pleasant. How did all that flight stuff appeal to me? Well, I was an Air Force brat then, so there's that.

If this were renown as science fiction or fantasy, I'd give it more leeway. Bach was sincerely trying to say something spiritual, but not all that profoundly or convincingly. I'm the wrong age, the wrong audience, the wrong mind. My grown-up spirituality is just peeling potatoes, the terrestrial kind.

"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes."
--Alan Watts

[jose · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Limits should be an invitation to step into the unknown without boundaries, anything else would be repeating was has been done. The story presents a blank canvas and it is up to the individual to paint without restraints. It was a very good read.

[muumuumousie · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was remarkably okay. Astoundingly good at being neutral. I'd give it between 2.5 and 3 stars. It was all right.

The plot was interesting. The titular seagull discovers the meaning of life and is filled with purpose. But humanity (err, I mean, seagullity) being what it is, his companions think he's too radical and shun him. He lives a deeply fulfilling life as an outcast and then gradually reaches ever higher levels of being and consciousness.

So that was interesting. But the relatively simple parable quickly gets bogged down by its own philosophy. Jonathan's purpose was to fly for its own sake, to master the art of flight, and to keep learning and honing his skill. I like that that ties into a certain pride in one's work, and I feel that any kind of artist or performer or musician could relate to this need, this burning desire, to do things well. As Arthur Conan Doyle wrote, "Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius."

So that's fine, so far as it goes. But it makes for a very weak central principle to uphold a whole philosophy. Unlike certain religions, for example, which call people to the high purpose of loving each other and God, the seagull meaning of life of just learning to do something really well fails to deliver any major emotional payoff. Sure, Jonathan takes his flying lessons to the ultimate sci-fi/fantasy heights: he learns to do anything he wants, period, by removing any limitation. This goes from the simple (flying fast) to the extreme (teleportation) to the ludicrous (time travel and interplanetary travel) to the spiritual (coming back from the dead, because death is apparently just another limit that anyone can ignore). But it's not very well-handled. First of all, once time travel and interplanetary travel have been established as possible, they are both ignored entirely. I suppose that having Jonathan go back in time to right the wrongs he laments would make the book too long and too complicated. So he regrets the ignorance and waste of his flock, but he also doesn't go back in time to change things.

Second, the ultimate goal of flight perfection is a bit of a let-down. He and a few other gulls have overcome death and can spend eternity in a much higher realm (explicitly not heaven). They fly better than they ever could have before. But that's it. There's no god here, no higher meaning here, no perfect love, no reunion with other dead relatives, nothing behind the main goal of flying well. They form friendships with a handful of other non-dead gulls, but they also go their own way when they want to learn new things, so instead of togetherness, there is just a collection of individuals whose paths occasionally cross. Also, this is a higher realm that most gulls never find. Jonathan's parents, for example, are never seen again.

Most jarringly, the ideas of love and kindness, when they are stated, feel tacked-on. One seagull feels called to love his flock, so he returns to this lower level of reality to teach them the flying he knows. He doesn't use his superpowers to help them find food (even though the birds are hungry and are worried about food). Rather, he uses his wisdom to help them learn to fly really well for its own sake. If the ultimate goal in life is to be good at stuff, then I guess it makes sense that loving others would have less to do with supplying their need and more to do with just teaching them to be good at stuff, too. (Maybe I'm cynical, but I have this vision in my head of a food pantry where people are trying to fight world hunger, and someone donates a bunch of pianos saying that life's purpose is music, and if those poor people would just learn to play well, they wouldn't mind being so hungry all the time.) That's probably not fair, but when gulls are trying to feed their children, the instructor offering to teach them a perfect slow roll for the heck of it just feels callous.

Finally, I couldn't shake the feeling while reading that this whole story is meant as an implicit critique of religion. Jonathan insists that he's an ordinary seagull, but the other gulls believe that the is the Son-of-the-Great-Gull. He comes back from the dead (sort of). He is a radical outcast who has his own band of followers and students (disciples?). He heals the sick/injured. He raises the dead. He is transfigured—a word that never appears in the story, but when light is shining from him and his feathers turn whiter than the whitest white, what am I supposed to call it? They believe he came from heaven, but of course, in this story, there is no heaven and no god.

I read a relatively recent publication of this story, which included a final chapter not originally published. That fourth part is an explicit allusion to religion, with gulls praying and discussing the afterlife and making pilgrimages and building religious monuments. It didn't feel like part of the same story at all. The seagulls going so far down such a dark and disturbing path—all while Jonathan et al are able to time travel and prevent these misunderstandings, but don't—seems like lazy storytelling. Jonathan had been both great and misunderstood, but he was always willing to be there to help any gull who wanted to attain higher understanding. Now, in part four, he's just cold and uncaring about all of it. There is an author's note at the end explaining why he had originally left off that final chapter and why he was putting it back in now. He envisions himself in this note as two different people, then-him and now-him. He asserts that this fourth chapter belongs to then-him, and that now-him is just publishing it. But, isn't then-him also the one who removed the chapter in the first place all those years ago? He did it for a reason.

It's not just the out-there ending or the butchering of the beloved characters from before. If I had read just the original version, with the first three parts, I still wouldn't give it higher than probably a 3.5. It just missed the mark, for me. Interesting, but not as substantial as I would have liked.

[longcluse · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

A very mannered Ram Dass style Christ allegory presented in the cringe-inducing language of white-guy-Eastern-spirituality. I assume mind-altering drugs lent this story a profundity in the minds of 70’s readers that isn’t there in the text alone.

[mahadevan.n.iyer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Richard Bach's "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" is a philosophical allegory, characterizing a seagull who became an outcast, because his perspective towards life was different than his flock. This quick read provides inspiration and gives precedence of individuality over social stigma. Its a tale of over coming peer-pressure, striving for perfection and finally giving it back to the society. The book reminded me of "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway. But it lacked the gravity and impact that "The Old Man and the Sea" provided.

"Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight, how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else, Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly. This kind of thinking, he found, is not the way to make one’s self popular with other birds.”

In this allegory, I like to see, Birds represent Humanity, Flying - Living, Eating - Existing. I would recommend this book to everyone. This book can be read within an hour.

[howermj-223487 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Forty years after my first encounter with Jonathan Livingston Seagull, I stumbled upon a well-worn first edition in my local thrift store. I remembered, somewhat fondly, how I had absolutely no clue what the book was about when I tackled it for high school English. Now, older and wiser, I decided to give it another go. What I discovered was a profound reflection of my own life story.

At its heart, Richard Bach's novella is not simply a story about a bird; it's a philosophical exploration of personal freedom, the relentless pursuit of excellence, and the quest for meaning. Like Jonathan Gull, I've often traveled my own path, driven by a cocksure belief that there's more to life than the conventional pursuits of my peers (girls, booze, football, etc.). If this resonates with you and your own stirrings of discontent, then this tale might just speak to you too.

My journey, much like Jonathan's, was shaped by an insatiable curiosity and a refusal to bow to the limitations imposed by others. Self-improvement—learning—was part of my fabric. I was propelled not by a need for recognition but by a desire to make a difference and achieve the (mostly non-material) things I wanted to achieve. In Jonathan's relentless (and often frustrating) efforts to master flight, this same desire was evident. His story reflects every person's potential to transcend their own (and externally imposed) limits through hard work and self-improvement.

I must admit, the spiritual aspects of Jonathan's journey—his ascent to higher realms—remain as elusive to me now as they did forty years ago. (I didn't understand it in Bach's other work of the 70s, Illusions, either.) The spiritual quest still escapes my full grasp, yet I sense its importance to those in search of meaning (and perhaps solace?) beyond the tangible. In this light, I can appreciate Jonathan's ascension as a metaphor for the journey toward enlightenment.

The most relatable aspect of Jonathan's saga is, perhaps, his resilience in the face of adversity. From challenges in my childhood to those in my career, I've faced my share of skeptics and barriers. Yet, I chose never to quit, even when tempted. My strength, much like Jonathan's, came through perseverance despite being ostracized by his flock. Passion. Dedication. These are the bedrocks of conviction, the forces that propel us forward despite obstacles.

Reflecting on the structure of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, it's now strikingly obvious how Bach divided the tale into three distinct parts, each echoing a distinct stage in life's journey—a nuance my teen self completely missed. The first part captures the zeal of youth, reflecting curiosity and defiance of conventions. The second examines introspection and learning, like the soul-searching I did in middle age. The final segment, where Jonathan becomes a teacher and mentor, reflects the later stages of life, where sharing wisdom and guiding others becomes a newfound purpose.

Duh. But not too obvious to someone still in the throes of adolescence.

However, now that I'm enlightened, I can see the book's enduring message:
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.This quote encapsulates the essence of Bach's work—the belief in the boundless potential of the individual to learn and grow. I've lived in many worlds throughout my life, each one distinct (and perhaps better?) than the last, enriched by lessons learned from both success and failure.

Whether you're in pursuit of personal freedom, dedicated to self-improvement, or a resilient soul navigating adversity, you can grow and succeed. Jonathan Gull's story reminds us that we can soar to heights previously unimagined, so long as we are willing to spread our wings.

[mykl8s · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A strangely touching story of a bird.

[MalenaBella · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"We choose our coming world through what we have learned from this one. Do not learn anything, and the next will be just like this one, with the same limitations and lead weights to overcome." (Translated from Spanish)

[Monika · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Short book, but intense, and filled with messages that reach you to the core. The fact that it is told from the perspective of a seagull seems very original to me, but it is true that it offers great advice that we should never give up, no matter how difficult what we want to achieve seems. Fighting for what we want, with help or without it, and focusing on our goal every moment of our daily lives, will surely lead to results in the end. (Translated from Spanish)

[Paumar1975 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to write this review or what to say in it. The only thing I was clear about is that I needed to write it... Finally, I started writing with the hope that the words would flow on their own, because I know I had to write about this book; I know, in some way, I had to express what has grown inside me...

Juan Salvador Gaviota is a book that leaves you with the only option of deciding whether to read it or not, but it is the book that decides whether you like it or not. It studies you and evaluates you, then decides whether it is for you or not. I read it today and felt one thing, but in three months I might read it again and feel something completely different, because Juan Salvador Gaviota decided to give me what I needed at that moment and will give me what I need at each moment.

Someone might say it is a book about personal growth, but I would say much more... I would say it shows us how vulnerable we are, but at the same time teaches us that we can be infinite... In my WhatsApp status, I have a phrase that says: "If you can dream it, you can do it, or not. Don’t get too carried away..." Juan Salvador Gaviota teaches us that our bodies have limits, clearly physical limits, that our minds also have limits, but self-imposed by this finite world in which we live, and finally, it gifts us the hope of an infinite and limitless soul, something we can start to perceive and live right now if we let ourselves be carried away...

I can fly at the speed of sound, travel through time, climb Everest in a single day, or survive a zombie apocalypse with a cat and a wetsuit... I touch infinity each time I read, and yet this book encourages me to do more, because my soul is infinite and I just have to remember it...

Do I recommend it?... ∞ (Translated from Spanish)

[Muhammad Omer · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

too much complicated for a beginner level reader to inspire with.

[JaviKidA · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When a writer can reflect human feelings and emotions, their society, their behavior, their decisions, and everything that life entails in some different methodology (in this case, seagulls), it seems to me very enjoyable and fascinating, because in the end we convey something with a more transcendent force. The message of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull is very beautiful, and I would like to explain it, summarize it, give you a clear point of view, but I would take away a privilege from you, and that is for you to discover it for yourself. I will only say one thing: how beautiful it is when you can reflect on the outside what you find on the inside... (Translated from Spanish)

[jcbotero · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read it when I was young and it brings back good memories. (Translated from Spanish)

[esquinca93 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A book written by Richard Bach, it is a short book or rather a fable in the form of a novel, that tells us the story of a seagull and its evolution within a flock until reaching personal liberation.

I find it a quick read, simple yet beautiful, that contains an underlying message of freedom and an internal search to find the best version of oneself. (Translated from Spanish)

[salvita180 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Every teenager should read.
Excellent!!! (Translated from Spanish)

[josecuello · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A book that teaches you that there are no limits to what you can achieve. It was a gift from a friend who taught me English for a test. Moreover, it was more than what I knew about life. It was a Juan Salvador. (Translated from Spanish)