Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach

I have read Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach many times and each time this book manages to make me look at my career and life from a different perspective…
‘Great things come in small packages’ holds so true for this book, which is just a little more than 100 pages, many of which are up-close pictures of seagulls courtesy photographer Russell Munson.
Even though it is overly simplistic, it stays in your mind for always. A very heart-warming story about Jonathan Livingston, a sea gull…but unlike other sea gulls of his flock that just want to glide along, he wants to soar high like the eagles and attain speeds that sea gulls have never even thought about. He wants to perform acrobatics…he wants to attain perfection in his flying techniques…
He thinks that flying is for more than just getting some scraps for eating…
As others search for food, he keeps practicing and for this eventually he is labeled an outcast…
But he persists, till he finds more like him many years later. He then returns to his flock and slowly and patiently works on them till his ideas are accepted by others from his flock who then become his students…
It is a book that one can easily apply to our culture where change is dreaded and feared. Then someone with the vision comes along…the resistance, the criticism he faces. The difficulty as he tries to keep faith in his beliefs, how many a times he would have just wanted to give up…all these emotions are so well handled in this book.
This book is about discovering your individuality. It is for those people who want more out of their lives…
And as I read this book this time I couldn’t help thinking about A, who I met recently…he fits the bill of a JLS