Seized by a passion for flight, he pushes himself, learning everything he can about flying, until finally his unwillingness to conform results in his expulsion. The book tells the story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a seagull who is bored with daily squabbles over food. In 2014 the book was reissued as Jonathan Livingston Seagull: The Complete Edition, which added a 17-page fourth part to the story.
In 19, the book topped the Publishers Weekly list of bestselling novels in the United States. Reader's Digest published a condensed version, and the book reached the top of the New York Times Best Seller list, where it remained for 38 weeks. It was first published in book form in 1970, and by the end of 1972 over a million copies were in print. Bach wrote it as a series of short stories that were published in Flying magazine in the late 1960s. Jonathan Livingston Seagull, written by Richard Bach and illustrated by Russell Munson, is a fable in novella form about a seagull who is trying to learn about life and flight, and a homily about self-perfection.
