Amazon.com Review: In his now classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig brings us a literary chautauqua, a novel that is meant to both entertain and edify. It scores high on both counts.
Phaedrus, our narrator, takes a present-tense cross-country motorcycle trip with his son during which the maintenance of the motorcycle becomes an illustration of how we can unify the cold, rational realm of technology with the warm, imaginative realm of artistry. As in Zen, the trick is to become one with the activity, to engage in it fully, to see and appreciate all details--be it hiking in the woods, penning an essay, or tightening the chain on a motorcycle.
In his autobiographical first novel, Pirsig wrestles both with the ghost of his past and with the most important philosophical questions of the 20th century--why has technology alienated us from our world? what are the limits of rational analysis? if we can't define the good, how can we live it? Unfortunately, while exploring the defects of our philosophical heritage from Socrates and the Sophists to Hume and Kant, Pirsig inexplicably stops at the middle of the 19th century. With the exception of Poincaré, he ignores the more recent philosophers who have tackled his most urgent questions, thinkers such as Peirce, Nietzsche (to whom Phaedrus bears a passing resemblance), Heidegger, Whitehead, Dewey, Sartre, Wittgenstein, and Kuhn. In the end, the narrator's claims to originality turn out to be overstated, his reasoning questionable, and his understanding of the history of Western thought sketchy. His solution to a synthesis of the rational and creative by elevating Quality to a metaphysical level simply repeats the mistakes of the premodern philosophers. But in contrast to most other philosophers, Pirsig writes a compelling story. And he is a true innovator in his attempt to popularize a reconciliation of Eastern mindfulness and nonrationalism with Western subject/object dualism. The magic of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance turns out to lie not in the answers it gives, but in the questions it raises and the way it raises them. Like a cross between The Razor's Edge and Sophie's World, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance takes us into "the high country of the mind" and opens our eyes to vistas of possibility. --Brian Bruya
Product Description:
"The real cycle you're working on is a cycle called 'yourself.'"
One of the most important and influential books of the past half-century, Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a powerful, moving, and penetrating examination of how we live and a meditation on how to live better. The narrative of a father on a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest with his young son, it becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life's fundamental questions. A true modern classic, it remains at once touching and transcendent, resonant with the myriad confusions of existence and the small, essential triumphs that propel us forward.
Highly profound ^ I have owned and read this book numerous times in my lifetime so I already knew what I was getting. I was replacing this book as my last copy had wandered away with a borrower, but I could not stand the thought of it not being in my library. This book was a life change for me; one of the most profound moments in my life and I recommend it to anyone.
good but.. ^ probably the most over-hyped book of all time....i like practical books..check out Live Like A Fruit Fly - also on amazon
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ^ The book is good, however, I would not recommend ever buying any products from the company I purchased this book from- (greatbookdeals)... This is by far the worst place I have ever made a purchase from and I am saying this in a nice way. Greatbookdeals have to have the worst communications and shipping on planet earth.. Please save yourself a headache and buy from anyone else. Greatbookdeals get well I don't have enough thumbs on my hands to give them a thumbs down.Would not recommend greatbookdeals to anyone.............!!!!!!
Zen and the Art of ZZZZZZZZZ . . . ^ What tripe. This is probably the best selling philosophy book ever, but I'm still trying to figure out what Pirsig's "philosophy" is. It's got something to do with "Quality." That's all I could glean from it. The importance of Quality in our lives is illustrated by this book, which has none. It's said that 147 publishers passed on this before it became a best seller, which should inspire confidence that the waste of enough time will ultimately result in something, kind of like the billion monkeys who type the Bible at random.
Pirsig admits this book has NOTHING to do with Zen and NOTHING MUCH to do with motorcycles. If Pirsig really did know anything about Zen he would have burned this book once he'd typed the dedication page.
I read this book in 1974 and 1980. and 1994, and 2009---Okay, so I only read it cover-to-cover once, in '74, when I didn't know any better and I thought it was deep. Kids.
This was the first "Zen and the Art of" book, and its inexplicable popularity is reflected in the fact that seven billion subsequent books hijacked the title. About 6,999,999,998 of those subsequent books are better, and should trace their lineage to Eugen Herrigel's ZEN IN THE ART OF ARCHERY which is a great book, and which inspired Pirsig's title. Truth be told, the title is the most memorable thing about this book.
What's wrong with ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE? Well, it's a long, long boring read. It's also self-indulgent, ego-ridden, rambling, and completely dry. Pirsig's story revolves around a motorcycle trip taken with his son. During the trip he ignores the boy utterly (except to emotionally abuse him), and spends 99% of his time in flatulent speculations on the nature of existence. He's pathologically critical of others and addicted to self-praise and superficial examination of his own problems. Yadda, yadda.
I can remember only one moment of any lyric beauty, when Pirsig describes the scent of honeysuckle. The problem with Pirsig's approach is that he's an objectivist first and a subjectivist second. In ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE he's trying to write objectively about what are subjective experiences. Trying to make it dance, he ends up with something that clanks when it walks heavy-footed across your frontal lobe.
Why then, was this coma-inducing pile of typing so successful? Firstly, it represented the high-water mark of, and epitomized, the "Me Decade" that gave birth to it. Secondly, it was just dull enough and filled with enough funny names and five dollar words to have readers believing it was really good and they were really dense for not getting it. It remains a biggie because it lives off its reputation as a "classic."
What this all boils down to is that Pirsig made millions convincing people that they were stupid and that he was smart.
A Journey Into Excellence ^ I first read this masterpiece of fiction when I was fifteen, I remember clearly it was 1980 and I spent days in my room trying to understand the big words and attempting to figure out all the characters Pirsig would reference, Kant, Hume, Poincare, and the ancient Greeks. Since we were well before a simple Wikipedia search, it would be years before I would hear most of their names again. What I do remember very clearly is that when I emerged from my room I knew I was going to college to become a Mechanical Engineer. I had long since forgotten why I came to that conclusion until I relived my young experience on page 176 just a few days ago. It was my third reading of this great book.
My second reading came in 1992, I was 28. In those days I was brash, arrogant, and full of gumption, as Pirsig would call it. I knew a lot more about philosophy and theology and engineering then I did my first time through. I also owned a motorcycle and had completed an active duty tour in the military. I was working as a systems engineer for the DoD and was in school working on my second Master's degree. The book still made sense... a lot of sense. At that point I knew it had nothing to do with Zen and even less to do with motorcycle maintenance, but Pirsig has always told us that up front.
Fast forward sixteen years...a family, a company, a new career, a fresh read. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is still every bit the masterpiece it was back in 1974. But then what is it about - if it's not about Zen or art of motorcycle maintenance? Certainly much has been written over the past four decades attempting to define exactly what Pirsig was trying to tell us. No need for that. Read the book, Pirsig will tell you. No matter what you may hear, no matter what you may think, this book defines for us that which can never be expressed through words and rational thought alone. It must be experienced. Experience is the life changer, not thoughts or deeds. Experience this book and understand why.
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