Practice makes perfect. Jonathan Livingston Seagull lives out this mantra every day. Rather than conforming to the eat-sleep-repeat mantra of his fellow peers, he strives for perfection each day.

Jonathan is trapped in a monotonous existence with no real meaning to his life. It’s a problem that we humans all encounter at one point or another. But Jonathan isn’t a person; he’s a seagull and he loves to fly. He loves it so much that he spends his days practicing nosedives, low-flying, and spins among other aerial tricks. All for the sake of perfection.

Bach’s novel is like a stick of dynamite, small and unassuming but has you reveling in its wake. Jonathan learns what it means to limit yourself and the beauty of releasing yourself from those constraints. The wisest stories are the simplest to read and the most complex to understand.  Jonathan Livingston Seagull is no exception.