Rating: 
Summary: A rock-solid philosophical work
Review: For those who have asked the same questions as the author, this book will be a journey. For those that haven't it will be a study at best and a waste of time at worst. I have asked the questions, and I can assure you that his answers, when offered, are not worthless or evasive. This is not a novel, and it in not intended for those who wish to be 'entertained' by the reading. This is about a search for truth, and only those who truly desire truth themselves will profit by it. True, it's not about Zen (at least on the surface) or motorcycles (except in passing), but the chosen title does as good a job as any. There just isn't any appropriately encompassing phrase that would represent this work. A basic knowledge of the history of philosophy and the basic logical thought process is definitely helpful.
Rating: 
Summary: Talk about long-winded..........
Review: Man was this a waste of time. I had to read this book for class. What was my teacher thinking! Torture... that is what he was thinking.Talk about clarity....how bout none at all! This book was entirely too long , and it almost caused me to fail my class. Due to the fact that it was soooo boring i couldnt get past the first few pages!!! For those of you who like off and on books I recomend this to you .. Good Luck!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Like A Golf Ball Through A Garden Hose
Review: The only reason I gave it one star was that they didn't offer a zero-option. When I first read _ZaMM_ I was crushed that such a good title had been wasted. It contains neither Zen nor motorcycle maintenance. The title was designed to sell in surburbia. And for some unknown, "emporer's new clothes" sort of reason, it does.The book drones on with successive street corner rants better contained in a tome entitled _Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut, Sometimes I Don't_. I know Quality (one rant which dragged on for what seemed like nearly a thousand pages) when I read it... and this ain't it. At the time I read it, I *had* Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance going with my motorcycle. "<Profanity>," I thought, "I can write a better book on the subject than that." (And there are many folks who think I did.)
Rating:
Summary: Great philosophical text for the 20th century.
Review: This is modern philosophy at it's best. Pirsig skillfully explores the realms of Western thought and where it has originated from. It is a very intellectual text and story.
Rating:
Summary: What was that all about???
Review: I read this for my book club - and if it weren't for this I would have given up after struggling through the first 100 pages. Some people seem to really like this book. I just didn't get it. The meaning of "quality"? Enough already!! I feel like I just read a book about the meaning of "the". I'm the dummy though, for not following my instincts and putting it down after the first 100 pages. Hey - for those of you that really liked this book - I know of a bridge here in Brooklyn for sale....
Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: This is truly a life changing book. What more needs to be said. Everyone should read it. If you don't understand it put it on the shelf and wait until the time is right, then you will be ready. I first started reading the book a few years ago, but only made it halfway through. I picked it up again about 6 months ago and finished it. When the time is right, it will happen.
Rating:
Summary: Not for everyone.
Review: Mr. Pirsig has given us a work on more than one level which, because of its complexity, warrants several reads. However, you may find yourself in the middle of a rather difficult to understand allegory and long to put the book down and give up. If so, please do and move on to something more suited to your tastes and abilities.If not, if you are able to understand and relate to the story, you will not find a better contemporary exploration of Quality, rhetoric, and the finer points of keeping your scoot on the road. Wrapped in a comfortable yet sometimes biting narrative about a boy and his father on a back road cross-country motorcycle trip is a darker, more haunting story of a father's past. More important is the manner in which both stories meet and mingle to give birth to and nurture Pirsig's discussion of his concept of Quality, specifically rhetorical Quality. The book moves at an undulating pace to a long-awaited and systematically revealed climax that left ! me wanting to return to page one and start the trip all over again. This book is not for everyone, but if it is for you, it will be for several sittings to come.
Rating:
Summary: Did some higher power write this book?!!
Review: This book has touched me in way that no other literary work could. As I paged through it for the second and third times, I could only marvel at the expertise Persig displays. It projects possibilities and answers to some of the worlds greatest questions. I cannot applaud loud enough.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST
Review: IF YOU CAN UNDERSTAND/RELATE TO THIS BOOK, THEN THERE IS NOT A RATING HIGH ENOUGH YOU CAN GIVE!!
Rating:
Summary: If you read it once, you will read it again.
Review: I make it a point to read ZATAOMM every few years, and I also periodically pull my well-worn and page-marked copy off of the bookshelf to reflect on favorite passages. I gain some new insight into the story, and my own life, every time I flip through the pages. This is one of those novels that keeps ending up in my backpack (along with Walden and Blue Highways) when I go on weekend camping and road trips. The philosophical dialogue could be a little intimidating for some readers (especially near the conclusion), but a little slow reading and reflection works wonders. Reviewing the basic philosophies of Kant, Plato, and Decartes would not hurt, but is not really necessary for the first time through. The title has probably turned off many potential readers in fear of buying a book that spiritually explores maintaining a motorcycle. That isn't what the book is about, or is it? Actually, Pirsig uses the motorcycle as an ongoing analogy to the human thought process! . So, no previous knowledge of motorcycles is necessary. In fact, you might learn a thing or two about motorcycles, and yourself.
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