Most Popular Books by Richard Bach

In the cloud-washed airspace between the cornfields of Illinois and blue infinity, a man puts his faith in the propeller of his biplane. For disillusioned writer and itinerant barnstormer Richard Bach, belief is as real as a full tank of gas and sparks firing in the cylinders . . . until he meets Donald Shimoda—former mechanic and self-described messiah who can make wrenches fly and Richard''s imagination soar. . . . In Illusions, the unforgettable follow-up to his phenomenal bestseller Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach takes to the air to discover the ageless truths that give our souls wings: that people don''t need airplanes to soar . . . that even the darkest clouds have meaning once we lift ourselves above them . . . and that messiahs can be found in the unlikeliest places—like hay fields, one-traffic-light midwestern towns, and most of all, deep within ourselves.

I gave my life to become the person I am right now. Was it worth it? Would we change if we knew what waits beyond space and time? “With One, the ninth novel from the ever spiritual and imaginative author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, [Richard] Bach continues his quest for a deeper understanding of human nature. . . . Although the elements of a great science fiction novel are present, the plot is secondary to the novel''s theme of humanity''s ability to control destiny”—The Boston Herald “If you have ever tried to judge a book by its cover . . . One lives up to this question [in the headline] . . . and more . . . Bach gives the reader much to ponder, so much so in some chapters that the thoughtful may be tempted to read no more than a page at a sitting. Not because it''s cumbersome reading, but because the ideas are worth savoring.”—USA Today “One is a provocative book . . . it gives beautiful, hope-filled answers.”—Indianapolis News “Uplifting . . . Each of the inspirational set pieces preaches the same message: of the power of each individual to choose the ways of peace, brotherhood and love, to live with a reverence for nature and at harmony with the universe. Back again displays an inventive imagination and inspirational zeal.”—Publishers Weekly “One presents a number of provocative speculations: What would it be like to meet yourself when you were older or younger? How would your life turn out if you had made different choices, split up with your spouse, been born in a different time and place? . . . With love and hope as their guides and ‘what matters most’ as their destination, the Bachs touch down in different times and places, where they commune with some of their alternative selves.”—The New York Times Book Review “This is a strange and though-provoking fantasy from the man who gave us Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Illusions, one that is imaginative, playful, and, in places, startling in concept.”—The Anniston Star “Instead of soaring and diving through space, passengers on this flight must be prepared to cruise slowly, making several stops to look at their motivation and lifestyles as the Bachs look at their own.”—Detroit Free Press

If you''ve ever felt alone in a world of strangers, missing someone you''ve never met, you''ll find a message from your love in "The Bridge Across Forever,"

In Nothing by Chance, Richard Bach shares the adventure of one magical summer he spent as an old-fashioned barnstormer flying an antique biplane. The journey is another soaring adventure of wonder and insight from the author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Biplane is the story of Richard Bach’s solo flight into the American skies—a flight that became a personal quest to discover everything that lies beyond the ordinary. Includes an introduction by Ray Bradbury.

Por el autor de Juan Salvador Gaviota. Historia para descubrir lo más hondo de nosotros mismos. En el espacio aéreo sin nubes que se extiende entre loscampos de maíz de Illinois y el azul infinito, un hombre deposita su fe en la hélice de su biplano. Para ese piloto, la fe es tan real como un depósito lleno de gasolina# hasta que se encuentra con Donal Shimoda, un antiguo mecánico que se define como un mesías y es capaz de lograr que las penas desaparezcan y que la imaginación remonte el vuelo. En Ilusiones descubrimos las verdades atemporales que dan alas a nuestras almas: que la gente no necesita máquinas voladoras para levantar el vuelo, que incluso las nubes más oscuras tienen un sentido cuando nos situamos por encima de ellas y que los mesías pueden encontrarse en lugares tan insospechados como un campo de heno, un pueblo perdido en medio de la llanura o, sobre todo, en lo más hondo de nosotros mismos.

An unusual seagull becomes an outcast from his flock because of his search for a higher purpose in life and his quest for more freedom.

A half-mile up, suspended by nylon wings and the promise of good lift, life hanges on a pledge. Richard Bach made that pledge, fifty years before, to return to the frightened child he used to be and teach him everything he had learned from living. His promise went unfulfilled until one day, hovering between earth and sky, Richard encounters Dickie Bach, age nine--irrepressible challenger of every notion Richard embraces.... In this exhilarating adventure, Richard and Dickie probe the timeless questions both need answered if either is to be whole: Why does growing spiritually mean never growing up? Can we peacefully coexist with the consequences of our choices? Why is it that only by running from safety can we make our wildest dreams take flight?

From the bestselling author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, comes an inspiring collection of short stories of being a pilot. With perfect insight, Richard Bach captures the true esssence of flying and the magic of being in the air. Philosophical and adventurous, each story will grab you and make you want to soar. Once again Richard Bach has written a masterpiece to help you touch that part of your home that is the sky. A gift for pilots, aviation afficionados, and anyone that loves to fly, this book captures the magic of life in all its limitless horizons.

With stunning full-color illustrations throughout, this powerful story chronicles Richard Bach''s exhilarating spiritual journey as he travels through storms, over mountains, and across vast distances to attend the birthday party of Rae Hansen, a five-year-old girl. Though more than 1,000 miles separated them, Rae is sure that Richard will appear. 32 pp. 60,000 print. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

With such classics as Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions, and The Bridge Across Forever, Richard Bach has earned a permanent place in the hearts of readers around the world. His visionary works have forged a new perspective on the traditional divisions of mind, matter, and spirit and awakened countless readers to the joy and wonder within ourselves, our world, and what may lie beyond it. In his new novel, Out of My Mind, Bach takes off on an adventure across the boundaries of ordinary time and into the vast realm of creativity and imagination. The journey begins as Bach puzzles over design modifications for his airplane, a Piper Cub. Perfect designs -- simple and practical -- seem to come to him from nowhere. But when a design appears one day, along with a fleeting glimpse of an intriguing woman, he sets out to discover the source of his visions. His search leads to a startling destination: a parallel universe, where a British airplane manufacturer, Saunders-Vixen Aircraft Company Ltd., solves problems for perplexed aviators. There Bach meets Derek Hawthorne, his guide through Saunders-Vixen and the new world just unfolding. And there he meets a young aircraft designer named Laura Bristol. Out of Mind is an invitation to discover for ourselves a universe of astonishing possibilities.

Richard Bach’s first book, Stranger to the Ground is above all else an insight into the character of a man whose great compulsion is to measure himself against storm and night and fear. On the surface it is the tale of a memorable mission of a young fighter pilot utilizing his skills in a lonely duel with death. Yet between the lines emerges the portrait of the airman as a breed, probing outward, but even more significantly, inward.

A collection of five novels, featuring ferret protagonists, present a series of adventures that double as tales about courage, sacrifice, heroism, creativity, and finding what matters most in life. Original.

This is the author''s account of his near death and recovery from injuries received in the crash of his seaplane, Puff, in 2012.

Here for the first time in a single volume are three of Richard Bach''s most compelling works about flight. From his edgy days as a USAF Alert pilot above Europe in an armed F84-F Thunderstreak during the Cold War to a meander across America in a 1929 biplane, Bach explores the extreme edges of the air, his airplane, and himself in glorious writing about how it feels to climb into a machine, leave the earth, and fly. Only a handful of writers have translated their experiences in the cockpit into books that have mesmerized generations.

This philosophical novel “mines the same territory as The Secret” but is “far richer, raising provocative questions” (Publishers Weekly). Flight instructor Jamie Forbes guides a woman to landing her plane safely after her husband loses consciousness, then flies on to his own destination unimpressed by his act . . . flight instructors guide students every day. Only after she tells reporters that a stranger appeared in an airplane alongside hers and hypnotized her into landing, and after he meets his own guiding stranger does he solve the bigger mystery: how each of us creates, step by step, what seems to be the solid world around us. The best mysteries are the ones whose answers lie in front of us, in plain sight. The best solutions are those moments when all of a sudden we realize what we’ve known all along.

A few years ago, someone asked me by way of their T-shirt, Got Freedom? Heres, a bit delayed and by way of two small seaplanes and a continent ten thousand horizons wide, my answerRichard Bach. In the tradition of John Steinbecks Travels with Charley, and Richard Bachs own bestseller, Illusions, TRAVELS WITH PUFF recounts Bachs journey from Florida to Washington state in his small seaplane. With humor, wisdom and insight that could only come from one of the worlds most beloved authors and an accomplished pilot, TRAVELS WITH PUFF also challenges our ideas of fate and our futures, and asks us how can we prepare for the emergencies in our own lives? Can we ever really be safe? And, is being safe always what we want?

Because he spends so much time perfecting his flying form instead of concentrating on getting food, a seagull is ostracized by the rest of the flock.

In Richard Bach''s best-selling book Illusions, the mysterious hero Donald Shimoda seems to carry the keys to the universe with him as he barnstorms the Midwest in a Travel Air biplane. Shimoda''s secret is a small book, bound in what appears to be suede, called the Messiah''s Handbook. This slim volume, which the hero frequently quotes, is said to contain "whatever you need to know." All Shimoda has to do is hold a question in his mind, close his eyes, open the book at random, open his eyes-- and the answer is there. Here, at last, is the "lost book" from Illusions--the Messiah''s Handbook. Within these pages, you will find the answers to all your most important questions as well as answers to questions that you may have never thought to ask--until now.

This second Ferret Chronicle is the story of Bethany Ferret, a kit from humble beginnings who joined the Ferret Rescue Service and rose to command the swift rescue-boat, "Resolute."

In Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, Richard Bach met Donald Shimoda, a fellow pilot with the keys to the universe who barnstormed the Midwest in a Travel Air biplane. Part of Shimoda’s secret was a small book, bound in what looked like suede: Messiah’s Handbook, Reminders for the Advanced Soul. “Open it,” he said, “and whatever you need to know is there.” Lost for decades and rediscovered, here it is in print at last—reminders for those who have outgrown cynicism and doubt.

Bach returns to the highly successful terrain that put "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" on top of "The New York Times" bestseller list for almost two years. Like "Jonathan, The Ferret Chronicles" blend adventure, philosophy, fantasy, and spirituality, introducing readers to a parallel universe filled with courageous, questing animals pursuing typically human challenges and dreams. Illustrations.

Let''s pretend that I was killed on that day, when I wasn''t. The day when my guardian angel managed to throw my F-86F half a second from becoming a fireball in the desert, up into a clear sky, way above what would have been the impact point. If she hadn''t done this, if she hadn''t spared my life time after time in the 80-some years that we''ve been together, I wouldn''t have written this book that brings those strange times together, and suggests why we choose any lifetime in the first place. For 78 of those years, I had no idea that she existed, hadn''t heard about guardian angels and what their job might be. Hadn''t heard that our angel stays with us from the minute we''re born till the time that our mission is done, and we come home to the place we call heaven. Today I''ve just about finished a lifetime, and at last I can understand what it is that we do as mortals, and why we choose these over all the other possibilities. Thank you, dear guardian angel, and please consider that with your consent and signature, our contract will extend to yet another lifetime.

The story of Stormy Ferret traces her turbulent mission from Seattle to Salinas flying her FDC-4 SkyFreighter through the roughest flight in the history of airway Victor 23, during which she survives through the intervention of ferret angels.

This is the first global history of the secret diplomatic and police campaign that was waged against anarchist terrorism from 1878 to the 1920s. Anarchist terrorism was at that time the dominant form of terrorism and for many continued to be synonymous with terrorism as late as the 1930s. Ranging from Europe and the Americas to the Middle East and Asia, Richard Bach Jensen explores how anarchist terrorism emerged as a global phenomenon during the first great era of economic and social globalization at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries and reveals why some nations were so much more successful in combating this new threat than others. He shows how the challenge of dealing with this new form of terrorism led to the fundamental modernization of policing in many countries and also discusses its impact on criminology and international law.

Flight is the metaphor that brings meaning to this allegory about a unique bird named Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Ultimately the fable emphasizes the importance of seeking a higher purpose in life, even if one''s flock, tribe, or neighborhood finds such ambition threatening. By not compromising his higher vision, Jonathan earns the ultimate reward of transcendence. Dreamy seagull photographs provide ideal illustrations for this spirituality classic. Hay quien obedece sus propias reglas porque se sabe en lo cierto; quien experimenta un especial placer en hacer algo bien; quien adivina algo ma s que lo que sus ojos ven; quien prefiere volar a comprar y comer. Todos ellos hara n amistad duradera con Juan Salvador Gaviota. E sta es una extraordinaria fa bula cuyo mensaje intemporal y universal ha calado hondo en varias generaciones de lectores.

" Mes frères ! s''écria Jonathan. Mille années durant, nous avons joué des ailes et du bec pour ramasser des têtes de poisson, mais désormais nous avons une raison de vivre : apprendre, découvrir, être libres !" Jonathan Livingston n''est pas un goéland comme les autres. Ses parents, les autres membres de son clan, ne voient pas plus loin que le bout de leurs ailes. S''ils volent, c''est uniquement pour se nourrir. Jonathan, lui, vole pour son seul plaisir. Et en volant toujours plus haut, toujours plus vite, il sait qu''il découvrira un sens plus noble à la vie. Effrayés par son audace, ses semblables le rejettent. Mais Jonathan va se faire de nouveaux amis...