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

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Summary: A very high quality book
Review: This was a very excellent book. Pirsig shed a lot of light on some the issues in life which I have been looking for, but have had trouble grasping. It gave me a perspective of learing that I never knew existed, and it tore down a few walls for me. Quality book.

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Summary: A Supplementary text for my AP Calculus Class
Review: I don't know if it was the timing of reading it, or the content of the book, but ZEN is a book that rang with me when I first read it over a decade ago, and still does every time I pick it up and read it to my AP Calculus classes. I had to read it 3 times. The first time was for the story of him and his son, the second as a philosophy primer and the third as a metaphysics. It was the first time that I ever read a book and really believed that the author just wanted me to think about what he was writing and not AGREE with what he was writing. I was allowed to think for myself, encouraged to think for myself as I read. It is the single most important book I have ever read in regards to my career as a teacher, and the messages about how we think and the way we perceive and learn are, I feel, so important that my classes need to see them and not just hear me talk about it. Its a tough read.....but so well worth it.

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Summary: READ THIS
Review: the endless text of the book and the division of the reviewers' opinions should illustrate to you that this book is waaaaay too complex to listen to reviewers about it. Just read it. (Yes, I realize the irony.)

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Summary: Caveat
Review: ZAMM is a quirky book that has some interesting things to say, but it is certainly no masterwork, and those who believe it is are sadly misguided people for whom one can only feel a certain amount of pity. Those who are the objects of that pity do not care for it, of course, but a man can't help how he feels. Perhaps having been written by a mentally unstable author, ZAMM has attracted more than its fair share of mentally unstable believers -- or perhaps they are the usual crowd of lost souls who will follow anything that moves, anything that can be taken for a plausible Messiah. I have nothing particular against the mentally unstable, you understand, I just don't want to receive philosophical instruction from them. Especially when it comes in this form, and I quote: "But there it was, the whole history of science, a clear story of continuously new and changing explanations of old facts. The time spans of permanence seemed completely random he could see no order in them. Some scientific truths seemed to last for centuries, others for less than a year. Scientific truth was not dogma, good for eternity, but a temporal quantitative entity that could be studied like anything else. " This is just specious nonsense through and through. The sort of thing that sounds wonderful when put across with a glib dead-pan delivery, but which has absolutely no truth about it. It is, in short, the kind of confused construction that comes from the mind of a man suffering a mental breakdown, and the sort of "illumination" that attracts similarly confused people. But at least ZAMM is not a deliberate and cynical confidence trick as so many publishing projects of this kind turn out to be. I believe that its author is sincere about what he comes up with, but sincerity does not equate with wisdom, nor even to expertise. As for the readership ... the sheep that follows other sheep must remain lost; people choosing to regard ZAMM as profound have not got to first base yet, which is the realization that there are no gurus who have the answers, that when it comes to real understanding one has to work through the problems oneself. Unfortunately even the signposts that Mr. Pirsig provides are misleading. A close examination of the text reveals little more substance than that which might be expected to impress a certain sort of young person reading psychology or philosophy at undergraduate level; it certainly didn't impress me as meriting the kind of praise that some have heaped upon it. What a person ought to know, at least if he or she wishes to understand the book world, is this: a great many best-selling books present false intellectual credentials, which are endorsed by publishers and critics, either cynically or unknowingly, so that what is whipped up is a small tornado of publicity which beyond a critical point can feed off itself. Large sums of money and stocks of kudos are generated in this process, and what arises is a situation like that which appears in the tale of the Emperor's New Clothes. No one with a valuable reputation dare tell the truth -- which is that the intellectual credentials are false -- for fear that he or she will be taken for a fool,or worse. Times change though, and yesterday's silly fashions are seen for what they are. There was a time, for example, when to have said, "The books of Salman Rushdie are appalling drivel" would have irreparably damaged the reputation of any self-respecting literatus, whereas now it is damaging @not to agree with that assertion. And beware concluding in this case that the survival of ZAMM in print for so long proves its essential truths. It's just that it enduringly appeals to a certain kind of confused middle-brow "searcher after something", which of course is no endorsement of its quality at all. Why else is ZAMM not a great masterwork? Because (the unfortunate and much-discussed title aside) it promises rather more than it delivers; it does not provide much more than a few shallow excursions into the topics it purports to illuminate in a new way; it lacks rigor, and because of that reason alone it would be worse than useless. I would go so far as to say that its success is actually embarrassing to anyone interested in intellectual quality, because it shows how easy it is to blind with science, or at least pseudo-science. One last thing. Publishers are playing with fire when they print, "This book will change the way you think." on the cover of any book, because there are always legions prepared to believe a statement like that, and that is probably because there are legions who want to change the way they think, finding (one assumes) that they regard the way they presently go about it as unsatisfactory. If you doubt this, ask yourself if you could ever bring yourself to believe every word, no matter how improbable, written in a book that contains the specious guarantee: "Everything written in this book is true." Of course not, you may say. What a cheap and transparent trick that would be. Except that if you think about it for just a little while you will see that this has been the @actual story of western culture for at least the last two thousand years. My advice to you, ironic though it may sound, is this: never make men into gods, and whenever you start feeling lulled by the beguiling words of a guru, stand up and immediately start thinking for yourself, tough though it is. S. J. L.

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Summary: Mixed Feelings About This One...
Review: Mr. Pirsig has written a very thought-provoking book and I am glad his stand on quality and values (or the lack thereof in this society) was put into print. As I continued to read, however (and I did read the whole thing, by the way), his character became more and more scary. I don't think I would like to meet him because the picture in my mind was of Reverend Jim (from the old tv series "Taxi") but only more bizarre and without a sense of humor. The book became increasingly ponderous and incoherent, sort of like the main character. I would recommend reading it, however, because it does contain some good ideas plus you will know what people are talking about when they refer to this book.

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Summary: quite possibly the most profound american novel ever written
Review: the most important book i have ever read. take it slowly, be patient. You'll be genuinely touched and probably confused [at first], but ultimately enlightened.

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Summary: A Critique of Values
Review: This is a very good book for anyone who's sick and tired of scientists and positivists shoving their philosophy down everyone else's throats. Pirsig shows that rationality and scientific knowlege are not infallible, and that their world view is based upon many preconceptions about the world we live in juat as any other system of philosophy is. He takes about one hundred pages to begin getting to the point, but oince hed does, the book kept my attention. His argument of a tripartite metaphysics with quality as the first cause is very interesting, but ultimately unconvincing. Nevertheless, the process of the argument itself is somewhat enlightening. It's not as earth shattering as I was lead to beleive, but I was surprised by it; it's worth your time.

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Summary: A truly mind exploring journey.
Review: Phaedrus woke me up so much I now have a sixth sense.It has an intelligent , coherent and an ultimately unique outlook on life. Amazing.

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Summary: Ride of a life-time
Review: This is book that comes just once in a lifetime but it spans the life journey -- and puts it in a perspective. What is good and what is bad? -- once you begin pondering over these issues you may never come to a full conclusion. But this book centres your thinking like no other book has done for me. It's made me think beyond what I would have on my own, and that's surely something. It's also stayed with me, ominously at times, providing an unique strength at other times. A book that I've read more than once, a book that I can open again and again and read from any part. It's a part of me now that I know is a part of me. It's probably the best -- most valuable? -- book I've read. I hope you're lucky enough to read it too and share these feelings.

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Summary: greek philosophy and motor maintenance
Review: There is little, to no Zen in this book. It is the story of a man, who at one time was in a mental hospital, traveling across country with his son on a motorcycle remembering the time that led to his break down. He was, before the break down, a anti-social misfit that passes time questioning everything not for answers but to prove everyone wrong. Then more that half way through the book he decides to ask what is quality? Not a soul stretching question, once he becomes fixed on finding the answer he destroys any quality his family once had. This is not an important book. It is only the story of a selfish man that puts himself above all else in his life. I can see where most of the baby boomers, that believed the "Do for you" "Put your needs first" type of psycho babble, probably thought this book was important. The book discusses more greek philososphy than Zen Budism.