Rating: 
Summary: Reach into your self
Review: This is an amazing read. Pirsig knows how to dig into your head and pull out questions about you. If this book reflects his own thoughts and behavior, he should be commended for exposing the 'black box' within each of us that rarely gets attention. Occasionally, he rambles on a bit long about Phaedrus, and the story drags a little, but overall, very nice piece of work. This book reaquainted me with my desire to read philosophy. I have since read 'Socrates Cafe', which is also a great read along the same lines.
Rating: 
Summary: Brutally bad
Review: Are you intelligent? If you answered "yes," then this book is for you. Because you're not, and maybe it will help you. If you said anything other than "yes," avoid this book. The reader's guide to this book says that it has something for everybody. This is true. But something for everybody stinks when you think about it as an individual. Who cares what's there for others? What matters is what is there for one individual, and it isn't much. Less than one would get from a ten minute conversation with an intelligent person. For me, there was a section ranting about universities which I quite enjoyed. But that was about ten pages. Wasting hours of time on hundreds of useless pages is absurd. Reading the Tao, a motorcycle handbook, and a seriously flawed psychology textbook will provide far more insight and knowledge in far less time than this book possibly can.
Rating:
Summary: Illogical
Review: Another reviewer said that people who don't like this book would be people who want a lot of action in their novels. Booo! Low blow. I enjoy reading philosophy, but this book was awful. The author is just plain illogical. He draws ridiculous conclusions. If you are going on a journey of the mind, you should not have a guide who is incapable of thinking straight. If you love this book, then you will be very comfortable with illogical statements and I recommend you read a book on logical thinking.
Rating:
Summary: Awful!
Review: Maybe I was expecting too much. What would it focus more on: Zen or motorcycles? I'm interested in both topics, yet this book came nowhere near to satisfying me on either of them.Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance was a huge disappointment for me. I totally concur with the sentiments in the review by the guy from Seattle. I finished this book feeling depressed and disheartened, and all the way through it I wondered why there was hardly any love shown to the author's son. If you want to find out about Zen, buy a copy of Zen made Easy by Timothy Freke. If you're new to bikes, buy magazines or visit your local two-wheeler store and get advice from the experts. I could have gone for a hike, played a round of golf, painted the house or, better still, gone for a ride on a motorcycle - pastimes far more worthy of my time than reading this depressing, prolix book.
Rating:
Summary: Autobiography of an NT
Review: I saw a man pursuing the horizon;
Round and round they sped.
I was disturbed at this;
I accosted the man.
"It is futile," I said,
"You can never -" "You lie," he cried,
And ran on. --Stephen Crane
Rating:
Summary: The worst book I have ever read. Dull as dishwater.
Review: This is by far the worst book I ever read...and I made myself read it from cover-to-cover in the forelorn belief that it would redeem itself near the end; it did not. Please do not buy this book -- if you feel tempted, get it from the library first to see if you like it. This book is famous for one reason and one reason only, in my humble opinion,.... it has a very unusual, catchy, interesting name. That's it. That's all it has. It is not really about Zen, or motorcycle maintenance (although both feature fleetingly). The new sub-title "an inquiry into values" is laughable marketing too. It is mainly the self-indulgent ramblings of a very dull, self absorbed person - probably on the edge of a nervous breakdown. The only thing I took away from this book was that I felt rather concerned for the author's son (on the assumption that this book is partially or fully auto-biographical). ...
Rating:
Summary: The nature of principles
Review: One might think the title of the book is contradictory or at best misleading for this book is not for technician repairing or riding motorcycle at all. But once closing final page, you should conclude that the title makes sense. The author¡¯s question is ¡®what is the reason or principle in relation to the life?¡¯ the law of nature or principles of the world, those are the one the science seeks to find. But those are abstract and empty in its nature. Zen is the method to transcend that abstractness to concreteness of life itself. Principles are abstracted from the rich context of concrete life. But once abstracted, we forget where it comes from. Zen asks us to find principle in the life by ourselves.
The author show the point of Zen in the form of novel. Motorcycle is the product of engineering and science. So it¡¯s the result of principle-seeking activities. But motorcycle could not be rid with just knowing scientific principles. Moreover, it doesn¡¯t need those knowledge at all. Just like riding motorcycle, living through everyday life doesn¡¯t need knowing abstract principles. Principles needed in life is concrete one put in practice. Zen is the method to find principle in practice.
Rating: 
Summary: A must read, classic
Review: This book is a must read. It definitely was ahead of its time when it was published, and based on the conscientiousness of those around me, it still feels ahead of its time...which is why I deem this a classic...it's the type of book you could read over and over again, and continue to feel new neuron connections forming in your brain every time...things seem to get prettier and prettier... This book I hold on to for my daughter and her future siblings...
Rating:
Summary: Worth Rereading Many Times
Review: I first read ZAMM as a sociology class assignment in 1979. I hated it! I wondered why a sociology professor would want us to read this book. I bought the book second-hand, paying $.95 for it. What a DEAL! I still have it, full of my notes from my first reading. In 1987, an interest in Zen caused me to pull the book off the shelf and reread it. I discovered something the second time around...this is a GREAT BOOK. The relationship between the narrator and his son Chris evolves into something wonderful. The author's search for his former identity (pre electro-convulsive shock treatment) is a mystery tale unfolding. And the quest for the meaning of Quality hits home for me in my search for that inner peace that comes from "caring." You've got to care. Quality is about caring. You can see it at the supermarket when a checker really "cares." Most of the time, however, you see the uncaring. Ask the checker how he/she is doing, the answer you get is likely, "I'll be doing great when I get off." There's no heart...there's no caring. And so, Quality of service suffers. ZAMM gives timeless tips on how to get the "caring" back into the things you do. My life has been greatly changed by following some of the tips. It became evident in a statement that came to mind a few months ago... "Work is a state of mind we engage in when we feel we have no other choice." We always have a choice. It's only work if you don't enjoy what you're doing. The choice is clear...either change what you're doing, or change how you feel about what you're doing. Peace of mind comes with caring about what you're doing. All "work", every job, in some way or fashion, makes the world a better place. Find meaning in that. Find out how what you do makes the world a better place, and dwell on that contribution, rather than the short-term goal of getting off work. By the way, I'm on my 12th rereading of ZAMM. And every time I read it, I gain some new little insight. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Something Amiss in the Western Tradition
Review: As Steiner says in his review, "Zen and the Art Maintanence" takes on some the most important questions out there: 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? Although it is very rare these days, a good philosophy book should hit these hundred-dollar questions, and Pirsig does. I simply wonder how well he answered them. Although in respect I sense something missing from Pirsig's narrative, it would be difficult for me to give this book a negative review, because I gained so much from my first reading of it. And as with all other books that have affected my thought and character on some deep level, it is hard for me to dissavow their importance for very personal, perhaps subconsious and intuitive reasons. Certainly, the book played a formative roll in my intellectual development, but I am not so egotistical as to believe that this book should be required reading for everyone. I guess it just depends on who you are and what you are looking for. The book provides no coherent philosophy or specific guidence (if you don't believe me, read it), nor could I say that it enhanced my understanding of philosophy in general. As far as generes go, the book is a de facto autobiography -- and an interesting one at that. More than anything else, I think it opened me to the idea that something is amiss in the Western tradition. That is, it made me wonder if whether the entire logic of Western philosphical, scientific and social development is fundamentally flawed -- and from wonder, as both Aristotle and Plato say, all philosophy is born. Although it is not stated outright, I think Pirsig actually believes that Western Logic is what drove him to insanity in the early years and ultimately landed him in a hospital, on the receiving end of some rather intense electric shock therapy sessions. Ugh. Whether this is the case or not, the book got me thinking about my intellectual inheritance, and that alone makes it worth it's weight in gold. But it didn't answer the big questions. Are we alienated from the natural world? Is our traditional analytical tool defunct? In the end, Pirsig only gives us a fuzzy impression -- which isn't exactly Western of him, I must admit, but isn't exactly satisfying either. Perhaps David Suzuki and Holly Dressel's book, "From Naked Ape to Superspecies," was more to the point along these lines. Or maybe Kalle Lasn's new book, "Culture Jam," diagnosed the fundamental malaise and disconnection of Western life more vividly. Certainly, "Living Downstream" (a science book) woke me up to how the progress of Western chemical science has left us with a cancer bloom, allergies, asthma, and a host of other problems. For prescriptions and positive examples of the emergence of a new paradigm, read Lappe's book "Hope's Edge," or the newest from Suzuki and Dressel, "Good News." These books will show you how a new tradition (which is in fact nothing other than non-Western ways of thinking and acting in the world) is emerging: traditional farming practices, holistic philosophy, and much more. Whether you start with Pirsig, or anyone else, I suppose the only thing to remember is that it is not all about dollars and "sense" -- that is, it is not about money, wealth, power, conquest, nor the dissective linear-logic we inherited or take for granted (although we might need that too in getting out of this quadmire). It's about finding quality in your life, remaining open to new and flexible ways of approaching a problem, thinking in terms of relationships instead of wholes and parts, and -- most importantly -- finding the love. Humanity has a long way to go. You could do worse things than read Pirsig's book on this long journey to mental and social emancipation. But, then again, if you're in a rush and want to cut to the chase, perhaps you would do better reading some of the books I mentioned above. Choosing books... Could there be anything more difficult? Such a personal science.
|
