Richard Bach

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This article is about the author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. For the pseudonym of Stephen King, see Richard Bachman.

Richard David Bach (b. June 23,1936, Oak Park, Illinois) is an American writer. He is widely known as the author of the 1972 best-selling novel, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and the movie based on the book. 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.

1 Life and work
2 Philosophy
3 Divorce
4 Books
5 Notes and References
6 External links

[edit] 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.

He served in the Air Force Reserve as a pilot, and afterwards worked a variety of jobs. 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.

In 1972, Jonathan Livingston Seagull was published by Macmillan Publishers after the manuscript was turned down by several 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.<ref>20th-Century American Bestsellers, Accessed September 09, 2006</ref>The surprise success of the book was widely reported in the media in the early 1970s.<ref>Walters, Raymond, Jr., New York Times Book Review, July 23, 1972, 43</ref>

In 1973, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a story about a seagull who flew for the sake of flying rather than merely to catch food, was turned into a movie produced by Paramount Pictures Corporation. The movie included a soundtrack by Neil Diamond.

Bach's book, Illusions, published in 1977, is now in the movie-production phase (2006). It is being directed by French filmmaker Yann Samuell. For more information, visit http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421271/.

Bach has retained a dedicated fan base throughout the years.<ref>The Christian Science Monitor (archive August 10, 2000) Accessed September 09, 2006</ref> During the 1990s, Bach appeared online at Compuserve, where he answered e-mails personally. The website has since disappeared.

Bach had six children with his first wife, Bette. They divorced in 1970. 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").<ref>Bach, Jonathan, "Above the Clouds: A Reunion of Father and Son," (1993) ISBN 0-688-11760-0</ref>

His second wife was actress Leslie Parrish, whom he met during the shooting of the movie Jonathan Livingston Seagull in 1973. They married in 1981 and his book, The Bridge Across Forever, is based on their courtship. They divorced and he has since remarried. He currently resides on the San Juan Islands in Washington State.

[edit] 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]}

[edit] Divorce

Of his divorce, Richard Bach wrote:

"Leslie and I are no longer married. Soul mates, to me, don't define themselves by legal marriage. There's a learning connection that exists between those two souls. Leslie and I had that for the longest time, and then a couple of years ago, she had this startling realization. She said, 'Richard, we have different goals!' I was yearning for my little adventures and looking forward to writing more books. Leslie has worked all her life long, and she wanted peace, she wanted to slow the pace, not complicate it, not speed it up. Not money, not family, no other men or other women, separated us. We wanted different futures. She was right for her. I was right for me. Finally it came time for us to make a choice. We could save the marriage and smother each other: 'You can't be who you want to be.' Or we could separate and save the love and respect that we had for each other. We decided the marriage was the less important. And now we're living separate lives.

"I believe that Leslie and I were led to find each other, led through the years we lived together, and led to part. There's so much to learn! When a marriage comes to an end, we're free to call it a failure. We're also free to call it a graduation. We didn't say, 'I guess we weren't led to each other, I guess we're not soul mates after all.' Our graduation was part of the experience we chose before we were born, to learn how to let each other go." <ref>Richard Bach: A Fan Site Accessed Sept. 11, 2006</ref>

[edit] 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
Bach, Richard, "Messiah's Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul" (2004), ISBN 1-57174-421-5