Richard David Bach (b. June 23, 1936, Oak Park, Illinois) is an American writer. He is widely known as the author of the best-selling novel, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and the 1973 movie based on the book along with "Illusions, The Adventures Of A Reluctant Messiah", plus others. He claims to be a direct descendant of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is noted for his love of flying and for his books related to air flight and flying in a metaphorical context. He has pursued flying as a hobby since the age of 17. is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Downtown (Oak Park Avenue) Ernest Hemingway Museum Oak Park, Illinois Lake Theater and shops along Lake Street. ... Jonathan Livingston Seagull (ISBN 0-380-01286-3), written by Richard Bach, is a fable in novella form about a seagull learning about life and flight, and a homily about self-perfection and self-sacrifice. ... In language, a metaphor is a rhetorical trope where a comparison is made between two seemingly unrelated subjects. ...

Life and work

Richard Bach attended Long Beach State College in 1955. He has authored numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1970), Illusions (1977), One (1989), and Out of My Mind (1999). Most of his books have been semi-autobiographical, using actual or fictionalized events from his life to illustrate his philosophy. California State University, Long Beach (also known as Long Beach State, Cal State Long Beach, CSULB, LBSU or The Beach!) is the largest campus of the California State University system and the second largest university in the state of California. ... Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). ... Jonathan Livingston Seagull (ISBN 0-380-01286-3), written by Richard Bach, is a fable in novella form about a seagull learning about life and flight, and a homily about self-perfection and self-sacrifice. ... Illusions is a 1989 book by Richard Bach that questions our views on reality. ... For music albums named Autobiography, see Greek eauton = self, bios = life and graphein = write) is a form of biography, the writing of a life story. ... For other uses, see Fiction (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ...

He served in the Air Force Reserve as a pilot, and afterwards worked a variety of jobs, including technical writer for Douglas Aircraft. He later became a barnstormer. Most of his books involve flight in some way, from the early stories which are straightforwardly about flying aircraft to his later works in which he used flight as a philosophical metaphor. This article or section should be merged with Air Force Reserve Command Overview The Air Force Reserve is an integral and essential part of the United States presence in air and space. ... For other uses, see Aviator (disambiguation). ... The Douglas Aircraft Company was founded by Donald Wills Douglas in July 1921. ... Barnstorming was a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s in which stunt pilots would perform tricks with airplanes, often in groups as a flying circus. ...

In 1970, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a story about a seagull who flew for the Love of flying rather than merely to catch food, was published by Macmillan Publishers after the manuscript was turned down by many other publishers. The book, which included unique photos of seagulls in flight, became a number one best-seller on both the fiction and non-fiction lists. The book contained fewer than 10,000 words, yet it broke all hardcover sales records since Gone with the Wind. It sold more than 1,000,000 copies in 1972 alone.^[1]The surprise success of the book was widely reported in the media in the early 1970s.^[2] Jonathan Livingston Seagull (ISBN 0-380-01286-3), written by Richard Bach, is a fable in novella form about a seagull learning about life and flight, and a homily about self-perfection and self-sacrifice. ... Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately-held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. ... A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on a list of top-sellers. ... For the film, see Gone with the Wind (film). ...

In 1973, the book was turned into a movie produced by Paramount Pictures Corporation. The movie included a soundtrack by Neil Diamond. The Paramount Pictures logo used from 1987 to 1995. ... Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter and sometime Actor. ...

A second book, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, published in 1977, tells the story of the author's encounter with a modern-day messiah who has decided to quit. Illusions is a 1989 book by Richard Bach that questions our views on reality. ...

Bach has retained a dedicated fan base throughout the years.^[3] During the 1990s, Bach appeared online at Compuserve, where he answered e-mails personally. Bach was interviewed in April, 2005 on Conscious Talk Radio, and this interview was replayed a few times in 2006. Click here to download it. CompuServe, (in full, CompuServe Information Services, or CIS), was the first major commercial online service in the United States. ...

Bach had six children with his first wife, Bette. They divorced in 1970, because Richard didn't believe in marriage. [Bette Bach Fineman - she remarried - is also a pilot, and the author of Patterns, about her life as a single mother.] His son, Jonathan, is a journalist, who wrote a book about growing up without knowing his father, Richard; and then later meeting him as a college student. (Richard gave his approval; although he noted that it included some personal history he'd "rather not see in print").^[4] His daughter, Bethany, was killed in an accident at the age of fifteen in 1985.

In 1977 Bach married actress Leslie Parrish whom he met during the making of the Jonathan Livingston Seagull movie.^[5] . She was a major element in two of his subsequent books — The Bridge Across Forever and One — which primarily focused on their relationship and Bach's concept of soulmates. They divorced in 1999.^[6] Bach was married to his third wife, Sabryna Nelson-Alexopoulos in April of 1999. For other uses, see Actor (disambiguation). ... Leslie Parrish (born March 18, 1935) is an American actress who starred under her birth name, Marjorie Helen Parrish, until she changed it in 1959. ...

A little-known fact is that Richard Bach, a fan of the original Star Trek televsion series, also wrote a script for the unproduced Star Trek Phase II televsion series that was to be produced in the mid-1970s. It was entitled "Practice in Walking" (Episode #4). According to Harold Livingston, producer of the Phase II project, his script was one of the most popular story ideas among the Star Trek Phase II crew. They felt that Richard Bach would add a certain amount of class to the series and pave the way for new directions.".^[7] The current Star Trek franchise logo Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment series and media franchise. ... Star Trek: Phase II (also known as Star Trek II) was planned to be the first live-action spin-off series of the original Star Trek. ...

Philosophy

Bach espouses a consistent philosophy in his books: Our true nature is not bound by space or time, we are expressions of the Is (see: Non-duality), we are not truly born nor truly die, and we enter this world of Seems and Appearances for fun, learning, to share experiences with those we care for, to explore - and most of all to learn how to love and love again.^{[citation needed]} A nondual philosophical or religious perspective or theory maintains that there is no fundamental distinction between mind and matter. ...

Books

• Bach, Richard, "Stranger to the Ground" (1963) Dell reprint (1990), ISBN 0-440-20658-8
• Bach, Richard, "Biplane" (1966) Dell Reprint (1990), ISBN 0-440-20657-X
• Bach, Richard, "Nothing by Chance" (1969) Dell Reprint 1990, ISBN 0-440-20656-1
• Bach, Richard "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" (1970) Macmillan, ISBN 0-380-01286-3
• Bach, Richard, "A Gift of Wings" (1974) Dell Reissue (1989), ISBN 0-440-20432-1
• Bach, Richard, "There's No Such Place As Far Away" (1976) Delta (1998), ISBN 0-385-31927-4
• Bach, Richard, "Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah" (1977, ISBN 0-385-28501-9
• Bach, Richard, "The Bridge Across Forever: A Love Story" (1984) Dell Reissue (1989), ISBN 0-440-10826-8
• Bach, Richard, "One" (1988) Dell Reissue 1989, ISBN 0-440-20562-X
• Bach, Richard, "Running from Safety" (1995) Delta, ISBN 0-385-31528-7
• Bach, Richard, "Out of My Mind" (2000) Delta, ISBN 0-385-33490-7
• Bach, Richard, "The Ferret Chronicles":
  • "Air Ferrets Aloft" (2002) Scribner, ISBN 0-7432-2753-0
  • "Rescue Ferrets at Sea" (2002) Scribner, ISBN 0-7432-2750-6
  • "Writer Ferrets: Chasing the Muse" (2002) Scribner, ISBN 0-7432-2754-9
  • "Rancher Ferrets on the Range" (2003) Scribner, ISBN 0-7432-2755-7
  • "The Last War: Detective Ferrets and the Case of the Golden Deed" (2003) Scribner, ISBN 0-7432-2756-5
  • "Curious Lives: Adventures from the Ferret Chronicles" (2005) Hampton Roads Publishing Company, ISBN 1-57174-457-6
• Bach, Richard, "Flying: The Aviation Trilogy" (2003) Scribner, ISBN 0-7432-4747-7
  • Collected edition containing "Stranger to the Ground", "Biplane" and "Nothing by Chance"
• Bach, Richard, "Messiah's Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul" (2004), ISBN 1-57174-421-5

Jonathan Livingston Seagull (ISBN 0-380-01286-3), written by Richard Bach, is a fable in novella form about a seagull learning about life and flight, and a homily about self-perfection and self-sacrifice. ... Illusions is a 1989 book by Richard Bach that questions our views on reality. ...

References

Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 72nd day of the year (73rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) is the agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon, which has wide-ranging regulatory and consumer-protection authority in Oregon. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 139th day of the year (140th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 74th day of the year (75th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Richard Bach

• GeoCities.com/heartland: Richard Bach's Quotes
• Richard Bach interview at Amazon.com
• T. Virgil Parker interviews Richard Bach in the College Crier
• A Richard Bach Fan Site
• Bibliography
• A photo of Bach
• More recent photographs of Richard Bach