Running from Safety: An Adventure of the Spirit

An extended dialogue between Bach and his inner child comprises the latest book from the author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. While hang-gliding one afternoon, Bach is reminded of a promise he made to himself when he was a child: to write a book containing the sum of all he has learned and deliver it to his nine-year-old self, Dickie. But Bach finds that Dickie is angry and hurt at having been locked away for the last 50 years. Slowly a dialogue emerges, as Bach tries to pass on his years of experience and in return relives some buried memories, particularly the events surrounding the death of his brother Bobby. What results is a kind of Richard Bach primer, summing up the author's thoughts on time, love, death and God and laying out a belief system not unlike George Bernard Shaw's idea of the Life Force. Participating in this shared voyage of discovery is Bach's wife, who contributes her own insights and acts as a kind of reality check on her husband. Though the concept here may strike some as Philosophy Lite, the book-thanks in large part to Bach's sincerity-deftly skirts sentimentality and becomes, ultimately, a real and affecting creation. (Sept.)