I’m reminded of one of my favorite books - ‘Illusions’ - hanging out in the blogosphere

Posted on July 12, 2007 in Personal thoughts by DM

book cover of richard bachs illusions I was reading a discussion over on Liz Strauss’s Successful & Outstanding Bloggers site (because, you know, I aspire to be one!) about a dangerous new form of comment spam, when one of Liz’s remarks in the comments caught my attention. Turns out, she is a fan (a HUGE fan) of the book Illusions, by Richard Bach.

When I was 14, I happened to be watching a late night talk show (I think it was “The Tom Snyder Show” - yes, I was that weird) on a little black-and-white television set in my room and saw this interview with Richard Bach. I knew Bach had written Jonathan Livingston Seagull - my older sister had loved that book, but I’d read it and didn’t “get it.” (Hey, I was a kid then!) Now his new book was coming out, and the premise caught my attention because of my rather strange sense of humor: “The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah.”

Armed with the belief that this sounded like a rather funny book, I marked its debut on my calendar and on the appointed day purchased a sparkling new copy at the mall.

While the book wasn’t funny in the same way that “Garfield: His First Book” made me laugh until I literally couldn’t breathe, Illusions was simple and beautiful in its own way. And this was the difference between my sister and I: she didn’t appreciate the nuanced little story in the opening pages about the river creature being tumbled and smashed against the rocks… or the preachy little lessons from The Messiah’s Handbook that would reveal themselves to Richard just at the precise moment he needed to learn them (”Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they’re yours.”)… or the way that Don Shimoda was able to make clouds disappear just by concentrating on them. But I did.

For me, this book is one of my all-time favorites. It’s been my constant companion since it first came out in 1977, no matter where I’ve lived. It moved with me throughout my college years. It survived the Flood of 1993 (no small feat given where we live). It gave me fodder for practicing my lettering when I was learning calligraphy. I still have my well-worn original copy, with my name written in that kind of broad, curly, young-teen cursive of the mid-70’s.

And yet, I’ve never - until Liz Strauss quoted it just now - met anyone else who’s ever read it, let alone loved it as much as I do.

How about you? Are you a fan of Illusions and of Don Shimoda, the reluctant messiah? What book has been your lifelong companion? What original book from childhood do you still have?

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