Customer Reviews

Zen Art Motorcycle Maintenance

5 star:		(146)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(24)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

I first encountered this book in a university education class a few years after it was released. For some reason, "Zen" was on the required reading list for we aspiring teachers and we all wondered why until we read the book. This book introduced us to the worlds of philosophy, chatauquas, as well as the basic workings of a motorcycle. Pirsig takes us on simultaneous journeys--one across the United States with his son Chris, another as he pursues a higher education of the mind, and lastly one he takes with his son to discover each other for the very first time.
I found the chapter where he examines the idea of Quality with his students to be readily applicable to my own interest in being a teacher. Also, the travel journal parts of the story are
enjoyable in the same way as another traveler's writing--William Least-Heat Moon's "Blue Highways."
The book is also a warning about the dangers of pursuing a life of the mind at the expense of human relationships and living in the real world. The coming together of the father and son at the book's close tells us all how precious and important relationships with our loved ones must come before all else.
A great read twenty-seven years ago and still a classic one here in the twenty-first century.

Great book. Not what you're thinking it's about. Love it. If I were to draw a timeline of philosophy with two markers, one marker would be the works of Plato and Aristotle, which placed Truth at the top of the heap (a proposition which forms the basis of western scientific thinking); the other marker would be Pirsig's work, which places Good at the top and Truth second. Pirsig had an insight into the Quality Relationship. Just as an eye cannot see itself, the Quality Relationship is very difficult to see because it is the means by which seeing (in the intellectual sense) takes place. Even the purest scientific truth passes into the mind of its discoverer on a rail established by the Quality Relationship. The implication is that all truth is personal and subjective, even widely accepted scientific truths. That acceptance exists in the minds of many individuals, each of whom is motivated to receive the information and judge it against scientific criteria. The motivation rests on the Quality Relationship, and that is strictly a personal value judgement of whatever the mind choses to examine. Since individuals possess the Quality Relationship, this philosophy places individuals above science (modern society seems to need some of that view). Pirsig's second work, Lila, examines what it means for larger social entities such as governments to possess their own Quality Relationships. The book is also the exquisitely told personal story of Pirsig's efforts to recover this insight after losing the memory of it to shock treatment. A beautiful book in all respects

It's taken me more than twenty years to get around to reading this gem of a book. It was always something I'd plan to read but never got around to doing it. Pirsig offers us insights into why we exist and how we can share that existence with others. The story involves Pirsig doing a cross-country motorcycle trek through the western USA with his son, Chris. While this might come across as just another desperate attempt of a parent to bond with a child before he becomes a teen, the journey is much more. Acting as a philosopher-traveler, Pirsig uses a lot of life's little circumstances to draw his son's attention to the bigger purpose in life: knowing why you exist through making sense of and resolving problems. This quest is as much about feeling liberated to ask the questions as it is to be at peace in knowing that there are no simple answers but just a lot more questions. The mountains of Montana is a great setting for Pirsig to work some of the major issues of life. Take the opportunity to read his biography. Truly an interesting personality, who chose to work out his issues in a thought-provoking style. A background in philosophy is not a must. Great read!

I read a borrowed copy years ago and thought back on it many times it is a delight when your memory of the thoughts provoked by a good book are the same years later.

I am dismayed at many of the reviews posted...I really do not understand!
As a college student some twenty years ago and having stumbled across this book..it changed my life. Yes the writing is difficult, but the words are succinct..and every one word necessary for the presentation and the understand. Nothing ever important is easy to first understand. However these words deserve the effort and time and re-reading to absorb. It is imperative that you take upon yourself the duty of finishing the book...eventually. My first reading took me over six...well maybe four months to finish. It was a tough go... but amazing.
It is a book whose words never leave you...you are moved when you pick up the book again...as you know you are now somewhere else because this unique book has brought you somewhere more special and clear than before. Like a friendship...take the time...give a few hugs from time to time...and trust yourself and your friend (the book) that you will benefit from this time. I wish every one well in their endeavour...but please do finish the book. It will be wonderful time well spent.

I read about 70 pages and found it just too hard to get into. I enjoyed some parts and then got lost with the rest. Going to take a break from it and maybe try it again later.

This book is for the philosophically inclined, and somehow I never quite got into it. I found myself enjoying the events in the book (especially the traveling), rather than the abstractions and ponderings of the author. However, it's probably a classic for the latter items rather than the former. I can see why people like it so much, and it is very well written and timeless, but it's not my cup of tea. Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.

Ugh. This book can't decide what it wants to be. Every time you get interested in a topic (and this book does contain some interesting topics from the travel narrative to some of the ideas expressed) it switches over to another topic before resolving anything. This is incredibly frustrating from the point of view of entertainment. Does this book want to be a novel and flow like one, or a middle-brow discussion of contemporary worldviews, or a amateur philosophy thesis? It suceeds only in being a very long and slow 400+ pages of several seperate books thrown together with minimal integration.

An interesting exploration of many issues relating to life, ideas, logic and 'quality', set in the context of a long vacation trip on the back of a motorcycle.

I first read this book back in 1982. I re-read it recently. I was sad to read in the postscript that Chris had died in the interim period, murdered. It added a lot of meaning to the book.

This book opens:
And what is good, Phaedrus,
And what is not good--
Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?

If you are one of those that can keep your eyes open through this book then it will likely touch your mind and your life for years to come.

I first read this work as a high school student in an AP English class where we studied it, discussed it, disected it and taught it to one another. This book taught me how to think. And it taught me I can understand anything if it's written clearly enough and if I'm willing to put some thought into it.

Everything in this book interconnects...the characters involved, the setting, the philosophy--decoding the connections (such as wind and heights to phaedrus' appearance) is half the fun.

Reading it again after 15 years I find that some of my basic assumptions about the world and life stem from this book. I remember some of Pirsig's babies such as "stuckness" and "gumption" and they are thoughts I've loved to play with over the years. Other ideas--such as the split between eastern and western cultures and various philosophers--have perhaps subtily played with ME through the years. I enjoyed discovering this during my latest re-read.

It is so worth the effort to read about Pirsig's views on mechanization, the front windshield being compared to a TV screen, teaching english and so many other things. If you like to think (and why wouldn't you?) you will love this book.

That being said,I do feel that Pirsig's logic is flawed. And I enjoyed every step of figuring out why I believe the way I do. This book is a fascinating study into the personality of a proud intellectual grappling with subjectivity.

I say, read this book and think.