Illusions

Set among the hay fields and one-traffic-light towns of the American Midwest, Richard Bach's novel follows two barnstorming pilots who sell short rides in vintage biplanes from farmers' fields. Richard, a disillusioned writer and fellow pilot, meets Donald Shimoda, a former mechanic and self-described messiah who has quit the job because crowds wanted miracles as entertainment more than they wanted his message. Shimoda takes Richard on as a student, and quotations from his Messiah's Handbook, a book with no page numbers, run through the story. The novel proposes that what people call reality is an illusion they create for learning and enjoyment. Bach wrote it as his follow-up to Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and it was first published in 1977.

James Altucher, founder of StockPickr, said the novel imagines what a messiah living now would care about and lands where he does: on peace in the heart, everyday calm and trust in the universe rather than political noise. Podcast host Christopher Lochhead called Richard Bach an American treasure who hands out life lessons in an endearing way.