Pirsig, Robert M.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

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A true masterpiece
Good overall but slightly flawed
Don't worry too much about "quality," just enjoy the book
Timeless - one of my favorites
"Quality" and the Art of Self-Indulgence

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Robert M. Pirsig
Manufacturer: HarperTorch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals
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ASIN: 0060589469
Release Date: 2006-04-25

Amazon.com

Arguably one of the most profoundly important essays ever written on the nature and significance of "quality" and definitely a necessary anodyne to the consequences of a modern world pathologically obsessed with quantity. Although set as a story of a cross-country trip on a motorcycle by a father and son, it is more nearly a journey through 2,000 years of Western philosophy. For some people, this has been a truly life-changing book.

Book Description

One of the most important and influential books written in 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 breathtaking meditation on how to live better. Here is the book that transformed a generation: an unforgettable narration of a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest, undertaken by a father and his young son. A story of love and fear -- of growth, discovery, and acceptance -- that becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life's fundamental questions, this uniquely exhilarating modern classic is both touching and transcendent, resonant with the myriad confusions of existence . . . and the small, essential triumphs that propel us forward.</p>

Customer Reviews:

A true masterpiece.......2007-06-24

This is one of those books that can truly alter your mode of thinking. I have read it multiple times and every time I come back to it I end up feeling invigorated... a break from the cacophony of the daily routine.

Good overall but slightly flawed.......2007-06-23

I've been meaning to read Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for some time now. I finally got around to reading it (or in this case listening to it) and, in general, I liked it. However, I also have a few complaints.

First the good stuff. I enjoyed Pirsig's overall presentation and narrative style. His writing is animated and hyperdescriptive. This fact really brings the characters and their situations to life for the reader. I think this book is as timely as ever now, especially with the further explosion of technology since its original publication. As an engineer, his complaints about engineering and science without feeling and craftsmanship is spot on. His warnings about an ever present consumer, throwaway culture were prescient indeed.

The idea of using the motorcycle journey through the American west as a metaphor for his own journey through the landscape of philosphical thought was well chosen. It definitely has a modern Thoreau quality to it. Although there is plenty of purely abstract philosophical discussion in here, some of the thoughts presented are not just esoteric topics but also practical and timeless questions every man should ask himself at some point in his life. Who am I? What do I believe in? What is my role as a father, a teacher, and a student in the face of life's messiness and uncertainties? Should I tell my kid the harsh truth or should I give him a sugar-coated, Walt Disney version of life? Should one just unquestioningly accept the status quo and reap life's material rewards by "playing the game" or should one take the painful high road and rock the boat by seeking the truth for its own value? Pirsig clearly prefers the latter and so he bucks the authority of the hoity-toity academic establishment. For this his alter-ego character Phaedrus becomes the book's protagonist. However, as with everything, it comes at a cost. A big cost. I can personally relate to many of these ideas.

I like that Pirsig offers no easy answers to any of these questions either. He contemplates, contemplates some more, comes to a conclusion, doubles back, takes a mental turn, stops, contemplates some more all the while pondering each question with as much clarity as humanly possible.

My biggest complaint with the book was that it was a bit longwinded in places. Much of the abstract philosphical discussions on quality were excessive and unnecessary and could've been condensed a bit. It seemed like alot pointless mental tallywacking to me. Ironically, Pirsig seems to come to the very same conclusion by the end of it all. Perhaps it was just part of a whole cathartic journey for him that needed to be worked through, I don't know.

All in all I liked this book though and I would recommend it to anyone with a patient, thoughtful side. Results-oriented types might find it irritating though. As I said, it offers no easy answers but instead raises many questions. It also makes some interesting observations on modern life and the culture we live in. Recommended.

Don't worry too much about "quality," just enjoy the book.......2007-06-05

Robert Pirsig really thinks he has revolutionized the field of philosophy. He seems to believe that his "metaphysics of quality" amounts to something new, a "Copernican revolution" he calls it.

Thank God he didn't use this book to outline any of that. Whatever the merits of Pirsig's Metaphics of Quality, it should be clear at this point that it's not really as great as Pirsig thinks. If you have really studied philosophy in depth, and have read the authors Pirsig cites in this book (no, this book is not the only philosophy book you should ever read!), you're going to realize that Pirsig has some big holes in his education and some major faults in his philosophical thinking.

Again, fortunate for us that he doesn't waste this book on the MoQ. Instead, this book is a Thoreau-like rumination on modern society and its values. We value some stuff we shouldn't, and we place less value on some stuff that we should. Pirsig is excellent at putting cogent arguments together, and many of his points--about the "Church of Reason" and technophobia, among others--stand truer today than they did then. We Americans are reaching a point in history where we will either critically analyze our values and reject quite a few of them or self-destruct, and Pirsig's book was right on top of that realization even 35 years ago.

Is it really philosophy? I would have to go with no. At least, it isn't philosophy in the traditional sense as practiced by Plato and Descartes and Kant. It is more like social criticism, but it is excellent, poetic, beautifully written social criticism, and I really wish Pirsig would get off his MoQ high horse and write some more of it. We could use it right now.

Timeless - one of my favorites.......2007-05-30

What can be said about this book that hasn't already been said? I'll just say this: it singlehandedly rekindled my love of reading. A friend gave it to me to read on a long road trip, and I finished it in 3 days. Really made me reflect on a wide range of topics.

"Quality" and the Art of Self-Indulgence.......2007-04-27

Pirsig leads us on hundreds of pages in a self-indulgent quest for the definition of "quality," in an East meets West context. Note to author: Webster defines quality in many ways. Among them are 1.) Character (as in attribute) 2.) Comparative rank (for the relativists out there) 3.) Superior rank (as a contrast to #2). It's really that simple, Mr. Pirsig. Get over it.

Oh, and by the way, next time you criticize the "Church of Reason," be aware that your rhetoric is actually a reasoned argument against reason. This alone should be "reason" enough to avoid your convoluted ideology.

Average customer rating:

An important contribution to Quality
Lila's Child
Engaging and Illuminating
A Unique & Important Work

Lila's Child: An Inquiry into Quality
Robert M. Pirsig
Manufacturer: 1st Books Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

An important contribution to Quality.......2003-05-22

This book is an excellent compilation of on-line discussions which occurred in the late 1990's regarding the Metaphysics of Quality. The discussions themselves are a joy to read, but Pirsig's annotations and comments make this an absolute must for anyone deeply interested in the philosophical system of thought called the Metaphysics of Quality. The contributors bring up and discuss many of the problems and difficulties lesser philosophers than Pirsig, such as myself, have had with the MOQ. Pirsig's clarifications and notes go a long way toward solving many of these problems.

This book is no Pirsig "lovefest." Dissenters abound in the discussions, many of whom are quite intelligent and learned. Pirsig's well-reasoned responses to the best dissenters provide some of the book's greatest insights.

By integrating the age-old wisdom of the most enlightened Buddhist and mystic philosophers into a rational, scientific, metaphysical framework, the Metaphysics of Quality may be the greatest intellectual achievement of the 20th century. Lila's Child, the third in the trilogy started by Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Lila, is an important work to help integrate this achievement into our intellectual culture.

Lila's Child.......2003-05-13

Any book project that concerns itself with the challenging matters of philosophy is doomed if nearly all its contributors lack the proper background in philosophy or cannot translate thought to word with high fidelity. Such is the case with Lila's Child. Its writings were never intended to be published, and it shows. This is so plainly evident that Robert Pirsig himself makes a half-hearted attempt at damage control in his introduction, not exactly countering the notion that the book is awful, but to argue that it's more interesting that way.

Even if it were interesting, why someone would pay good money to read these postings as a book instead of for free over the internet...is hard to understand, unless the notes Pirsig adds makes them worth it. And quality annotations would be highly valued by anyone interested in the Metaphysics of Quality (MOQ) - Pirsig's muddled, re-packaged form of idealism that could dearly use some clarity. But Pirsig mostly misses this opportunity and manages only a scant clarification here and there, such as when he expresses his desire to reverse the impression left in Lila that all moral issues can be solved with his system, or when he categorically states that only people, and not animals, are social patterns of value under the MOQ.

A typical notation of Pirsig's consists of one or two clipped sentences that do little or nothing to further understanding, except perhaps in the overactive imagination of some readers, and on a couple of occasions he appears distressingly detached from his own ideas, such as when he makes a statement that is prefaced by the qualifier, 'If I understand the MOQ properly,...'.

The book does manage to capture some of the excitement of a crusading bunch who are under the illusion that Pirsig's ideas will change the world, although it becomes exasperatingly apparent that no two people can exactly agree to what those ideas are, or how they should be applied. One contributor, Doug Renselle, went on to invent Quantonics, an offshoot of the MOQ that is a worthy addition to the burgeoning field of psychoceramics.

Dan Glover does a serviceable job of rearranging the posts to make them more readable, and Struan Hellier makes some incisive comments, but beyond that the book is notable only for its confusions, illogic, and philosophical stabs in the dark.

Engaging and Illuminating.......2003-04-08

I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig as an assignment in high school about five years ago but didn't really see what all the fuss was about. About 3 months ago I came across Lila in a bookstore and bought it out of curiousity. I fell in love with it. Afterwards I bought a copy of Zen and read it again. This time I got much more out of it. I searched the Internet for more on Pirsig and found this wonderful book. I heartily recommend it to anyone interested in Quality.

A Unique & Important Work.......2003-03-13

Robert Pirsig stated in the 25th anniversary edition of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" that he would not write a third book. This was a disappointment for Pirsig's legions of fans, including myself. Pirsig is an utterly unique thinker.

He made us wait over fifteen years before releasing the sequel to ZMM, a book called LILA, published in 1991. It was a much more intellectual book than ZMM, and therefore not as popular, but many people found its ideas utterly fascinating. A website was formed by a small group of intelligent folks who wanted a place on the internet to discuss LILA and philosophy. That was over six years ago. The website is still around (thanks Horse!) and the discussions continue. It is the only website endorsed by Pirsig himself (he mentions it in the 25th anniversary edition of ZMM).

LILA'S CHILD contains the first year's worth of discussions from the website, painstakingly compiled and superbly edited by Dan Glover. It is a fascinating repository of debate and discourse, and indispensable to current and future fans of Pirsig. Although he didn't directly participate in the original discussions, the entire book is annotated by Pirsig, who offers his personal insights on the topics of discussion, and (at some points) critiques the views of individual participants. His annotations contain new insights and personal opinions not found in ZMM or LILA. Here we have pure Pirsig.

LILA'S CHILD is a fitting and satisfying conclusion to the trilogy which began with ZMM and continued on with LILA. As with those two books, LILA'S CHILD is a book that can be picked up and read over and over again and new gems of insights discovered each time. Pirsig fans will not be disappointed. Thank you, Dan Glover, for making it happen.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Average customer rating:
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert M. Pirsig
Manufacturer: Morrow Quill Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Pirsig, Robert | ( P ) | Authors, A-Z | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000JQ2K9O

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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Robert M. Pirsig
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Pirsig, Robert | ( P ) | Authors, A-Z | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000HEIH1S

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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Robert M. Pirsig
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Pirsig, Robert | ( P ) | Authors, A-Z | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000F3JY9U

Product Description

The true story of one man's quest for truth set within a father and son's cross country motorcycle trip. A bible of 70s culture that is profound and timeless.

Zen und die Kunst ein Motorrad zu warten. Ein Versuch über Werte

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Zen und die Kunst ein Motorrad zu warten. Ein Versuch über Werte
Robert M. Pirsig
Manufacturer: Fischer (Tb.), Frankfurt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 3596220203

Coffee with Plato (Coffee with...Series)

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Coffee with Plato (Coffee with...Series)
Donald R. Moor
Manufacturer: Duncan Baird
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Around 428 BC, Plato was born into one of Athens’s most aristocratic
families, and ultimately gathered around him some of the greatest minds of his age. Travel back to ancient Greece with Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Donald R. Moor and author Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) to meet this legendary thinker. In addition to expanding upon his famous allegory of the cave, Plato talks about learning through dialogue, the primacy of good and the price of wrong doing, democracy, freedom and censorship, women’s equality, love, and mathematics, and the search for truth.

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Traite Du Zen TE De L'Entretien DES...
Robert M. Pirsig
Manufacturer: Editions du Seuil
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2020333910

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Lila An Inquiry Into Morals
Robert M. Pirsig
Manufacturer: Corgi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values
Robert M. Pirsig
Manufacturer: Morrow & Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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