If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats.

Bach has retained a dedicated fan base throughout the years. Their son Jonathan is a software engineer and journalist who wrote Above the Clouds about growing up without knowing his father Richard and then later meeting him as a college student. Bach married his third wife Sabryna Nelson-Alexopoulos in April 1999.

He is widely known as the author of the hugely popular 1970s best-sellers Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah among others. He has pursued flying as a hobby since the age of 17.