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

Robert M. Pirsig (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2005

A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions on how to live. The narrator's relationship with his son leads to a powerful self-reckoning; the craft of motorcycle maintenance leads to an austerely beautiful process for reconciling science, religion, and humanism. Resonant with the confusions of existence, this classic is a touching and transcendent book of life.

This new edition contains an interview with Pirsig and letters and documents detailing how this extraordinary book came to be.

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“It is filled with beauty. . .a finely made whole that seems to emanate from a very special grace.” (Baltimore Sun )

“The book is inspired, original. . . . The analogies with Moby-Dick are patent.” (The New Yorker )

“A miracle . . . sparkles like an electric dream.” (The Village Voice )

“An unforgettable trip.” (Time )

“Profoundly important...full of insights into our most perplexing contemporary dilemmas.” (New York Times )

About the Author

Robert M. Pirsig was born in 1928 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He studied chemistry and philosophy (B.A., 1950) and journalism (M.A., 1958) at the University of Minnesota, pursued graduate work in philosophy at the University of Chicago, and attended Benares Hindu University in India, where he studied Oriental philosophy. He is also the author of a sequel to this book, Lila.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; 1 edition (August 2, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060839872
• ISBN-13: 978-0060839871
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Philosophy with Wit, June 23, 2006

By 

Andrew Olmsted (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (Paperback)

It is no easy task to make a book interesting. Even when writing about events of great interest, a poor writer can make an event of great moment about as interesting as doing one's taxes. How much harder is it, then, to write a book about philosophy and make it not only interesting, but a page-turner? For that accomplishment alone, Robert Pirsig deserves great praise. <u>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance</u> is a marvelous read that I tore through in a matter of days, so interested was I in the story Pirsig was telling. The technique he uses to discuss philosophy, a 'Chautauqua' conducted in the confines of the first-person narrator's thoughts as he takes a motorcycle trip with his son, is beautifully done and makes the book a fascinating read.

I'll start with a complaint, if only because the problem occurs at the start of the book. This edition is a reprint and includes some additional commentary by the author at the front. Unfortunately, that commentary reveals several rather crucial plot details, so the reader loses some of the surprise he might otherwise feel as various secrets are revealed. I'd recommend the new reader avoid the foreword until after he's finished the work, as I think I would have enjoyed the work even more if I had had to puzzle out just what was happening in the background.

Having said that, the book is still a great read. Pirsig's writing style is clean and evocative, drawing the reader into the semi-fictional world Pirsig uses as the backdrop of his Chautauqua. By moving back and forth from the events of the story and the backstory, Pirsig establishes two compelling narratives, which is part of what makes the book so difficult to put down. A good story tells a single tale that makes you eager to learn what happens next. Pirsig offers two tales, and they're both told well enough to draw the reader in and make each page a pleasure.

Philosophical purists may well complain that, by embedding his discussions of philosophy in stories, Pirsig buries the point of the narrative. I can understand that complaint, but I think it's unfounded. How Pirsig tells the story helps to illustrate his philosophical points as well as any more conventional philosophy text could manage, particularly as the book is written in such a way that it's easy for the reader to place himself in the author's place.

<u>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance</u> is unlikely to give the reader a great deal of insight into either Zen or the art of motorcycle maintenance, unless the reader is already reasonably familiar with the subjects. What it does instead is far more entertaining, offering a new and different way of looking at the world and how we live our lives.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You should read this book if........., February 9, 2006

By 

Timothy Waters (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (Paperback)

1. You have an interest in philosophy but have been put off by the literature spawned by academia on the subject.
2. You are passionate about pursuing meaning/value/purpose/that which is good.
3. You are interested in high-level thinking about the world; theorizing that could hold everything in the world together, from art to science to religion to motorcycle repair.
4. You have problems with either science or art (i.e., "I'm not a science/art person"), and would like a bridge to understand or appreciate better the world of science or art.

I write this review primarily because I consider this the best book I have ever read, and it has made a profound and lasting change in the way I think about everything. That said, it's a fact that some people will like this book and some won't. Rather than speak to the relative merits of the thoughts Pirsig proposes (judged how exactly?), I write more to offer my thoughts on whether the book will speak to you.

There have been some rather hostile reviews of ZATAOMM from philosophic academia and from those who think it is over-hyped or just plain boring. As to the former, some have suggested that the book is so bad that it will forever ruin the mind of anyone interested in studying philosophy. Anecdotally, I read this book when I was 17 and proceeded to earn a philosophy degree with honors from an ivy league university. More generally, I question the motives and mindset of anyone who feels that mere words could forever ruin a person's intellect.

That said, it would be a waste of time to analyze this book from the analytical paradigm of American philosophical academia. If that's your perspective, more power to you, but don't read the book if you can't/don't want to suspend that mentality for a moment to consider an alternate mode of thinking. As to those who find it boring, that's another way of saying the ideas raised in the book don't speak to you. While I felt it was a pleasure to read, ZATAOMM isn't a masterpiece of literature; it lives and dies on its ideas.

Finally, over-hyping anything is dangerous, so while I obviously loved the book, I advise anyone reading it for the first time to read it with an open mind, with no expectations. Pick it up--you'll know in the first thirty pages if you'll like it.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warning about a review, September 23, 2005

By 

Nashville Psychologist - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (Paperback)

This is one of the great books of our time, but it is a fairly difficult read. If that doesn't concern you, there is no reason to continue reading the reviews. Just buy it.

WARNING: If you do continue reading the reviews, do not read the one entitled "Spaghetti thoughts put into words." He gives away a pretty significant part of the ending. You will enjoy it more if you don't know what's coming.