Rating: 
Summary: You can tell whether this book holds any meaning for you...
Review: by reading the first few pages. If you continue, this book will hold something of value to you.
Maybe it's the state of mind you are in. When the book first came out, I was 21, invincible, "right" about my attitudes on every subject, questioned authority and everyone else in the world and the book didn't mean much to me then. Now, I'm near 50, have faced a near fatal health crisis, have a five year old son and am "smarter" or maybe "wiser" and do question myself, my happiness or maybe my own meaning in Life.
That IS important now. I am enjoying and learning from this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Best book ever!
Review: This was great! I really related to the events!
Rating:
Summary: Required Reading For The Human Race....
Review: Read this if you are a searcher. Read this if you've ever had a tinge of metaphysical questioning. Read this if reality and waking existence amazes you when reflected upon. Read this if you've ever been weary of "it all" and wondered what the point was. Read this if eccentrics bother you. Read this if intellectuals bother you. Read this if you've yearned for a truly spiritual experience in vain.I discovered this book 8 years ago and have been sure to read it at least once annually. How this work has struck me can only be put cryptically at best. If ever this book has been recommended to you in passing and you have never found the time. I urge you as I would urge you for no other book I have found so far.....FIND THE TIME AND KNOW THAT IT WILL CHANGE YOU
Rating: 
Summary: I waited 20 years to read it...
Review: I should have waited 20 more. First of all, this book was not what I expected, so in that light I could only be disappointed. I had seen others reading it, walked past it in bookstores, etc and finally decided I'd like to learn a bit more about the Zen of motorcycle maintenance. Hey, where's the zen? Also, Pirsig's quest for Quality was of no interest to me and I didn't understand why it interested him or how understanding it was of any benefit to anyone. I'm an intelligent man, but I was not interested in thinking this hard. Per my own experience, I'd give it one star, but I picked it for the wrong reasons to start and others who are interested in Quality likely found it facinating. So I'll give it two.
Rating:
Summary: Depth, Not Danielle Steele
Review: It seems as though many of the people who have recently reviewed this book missed much of what makes this book great - fascinating philosophic discussion and an interesting story. To really appreciate the depth of this book one should have at least the faintest of notions about the general movements in Ancient and Modern philosophy. While doubtless many will find such discussions boring, which is a sorry state of affairs to begin with, what makes this book excel is that it's not a traditional philosophic treatise - it has a storyline component as well. As a book of considerable depth and well-written fiction, it stands as one of the best books I've ever read. Certainly it's not a book to breeze through, instead, it should be read slowly with contemplation. If you're looking for a quick, shallow read please go elsewhere. If you're looking for an intellectually stimulating read that discussions issues from Hume's skepticism, Aristotle and Plato, and Eastern monism, then you've come to the right place.
Rating:
Summary: A harrowing look at self
Review: I finally read 'Zen', one of those books that nags at you for years before you've even read it. Every copy I've ever run across is dog-eared, warped from water and tinged brown from time and the smoke from fire places and camp fires. Here is my take: Pirsig's entire "inquiry into values" (a subject which he seems to take too far, and no wonder he goes a bit nutty trying to subdivide and take the subject to its logical end, when there is no logical end, because it is largely subjective in my opinion)was less important to me than his stark look at his own weaknesses and eventual madness, which he recovers from by being, at least in part, a different person. That he does this gradually, teasing us with glimpses through the looking glass to the thoughts and doings of 'Phaedrus', is gripping. I empathized with Pirsig's railings against the system, although his intellecutal arrogance perhaps stopped me short of complete sympathy. But I really admired him for facing himself this way - it is harrowing and kind of beautiful - and his realization in the end, when for a crucial moment he gets out of his head and sees what has been before him the whole time - really gave me the shivers. This human oddyssey, of a man too intelligent for his own good, is what I think makes 'Zen' an extraordinary, special book that stands on its own and will for many decades to come.
Rating:
Summary: A Literary Acid Trip
Review: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (which may be the best title of all time) is a bizarre and insightful journey into ... well, psychology, motorcycle maintenance, and pretty much everything in between. This unique book is impossible to classify. Its long-winded tangents into Zen philosophy range from inane navel contemplation to mystical mountaintop profundity. The book begins with a first-person narrative of an unnamed man taking a motorcycle trip from Minnesota to the Northwest with his young son, Chris, and another married couple. The author's description of biking absolutely nails its allure, frustrations, and rewards. His book is required reading for all serious bikers (those who can read, that is). As the journey progresses, the narrator expounds upon the art of motorcycle maintenance and why some shy away from it, dividing riders into two groups: romantic and classic thinkers. Then he spends 100 pages splitting the romantic/classic atom. Surprisingly, the result is not some pot-smoker's rambling, but a sophisticated and well-informed essay on the human condition. The book continues with alternating passages of narrator lucidity--as he describes their mundane travels through America's backwaters--and more deep dives into topics most of us have never invested two seconds pondering: the definition of technology, quality, duality, and Aristotelian reasoning. But Pirsig slowly introduces a third component to the story: a shadowy character named Phaedrus. A mystery develops for the reader. Is Phaedrus a real person? Or a figment of the narrator's imagination? His alter ego? Is the deep-thinking narrator schizophrenic? Or descending into madness? Zen and the Art is at times maddening with its hour-long dissections of trivial matters, but will also have you seeing many things in a whole new light. Apparently, almost nothing in life is as it seems. In the end, it's a "quality" book (you'll have to read the book to understand this). I might have enjoyed it more as a younger, more idealistic person, but it's well worth the time investment at any age. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.
Rating:
Summary: QUALITY
Review: Robert Pirsig searched for the eye of God and he found it.
Anyone can achieve this as long as you do it for real. You
cannot buy enlightenment. You cannot find it in a school book
or with a high-lighter pen. Some people want everything
handed to them and these people will always miss it. If you
have ever lost anyone in your life, this book is an important
read.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost has something to say...
Review: I read this years ago when I was in college, and spent a good amount of effort with a highlighter, rereading and cross-referencing, trying to figure out the Big Message that this book kept threatening to deliver. Well, there isn't one. It's (useless nonsense) philosophy as fiction, and not much satisfying on either count. If you want a measure of enlightenment from motorcycle maintenance, buy a motorcycle that doesn't run and fix it up like new.
Rating: 
Summary: An epic meditation of mostly hippie gibberish
Review: In the preface of the edition of This Side of Paradise that I recently read, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was listed as a similarly great work. I had never heard of ZATAOMM but enjoyed This Side of Paradise, so I decided to pick up the book. The only link between the two books is that both are appealing to people who are examining why they are experiencing what Pirsig calls "lateral drifts" in their lives. ZATAOMM seems to be geared towards hippies wishing to reintegrate in society and life and retain their ideals. The hippie generation was before mine, so the love is limited. Pirsig's desire in this book is to reconfigure the link between esthetics and science in the modern world through a heart-on-his-sleeve personal account. "Zen" is esthetics and "motorcycle maintenance" is science. This book is also intended to spur readers into looking at everday phenomena in a creative new way. The ultimate outcome would be a continuity of meaning in one's life. My main griefs with the book are that it is rambling and unfocused. The direction of many chapters tends to be as meandering as the routes the author takes between cities on the motorcycle trip. Also, the philosophical and religious topics that are frequently mentioned will not be grasped by the reader who has not had prior exposure and will be unprovocative to the reader who has a decent grasp. I really didn't get anything out of this book other than some great anecdotes and one liners. In one of those anecdotes, for instance, Pirsig says that the failure of the hippie movement is rooted in degeneracy. This book's Phaedrus is no Phaedo. The author, however, is an in- tune guy who is, I'm sure, an interesting and original fellow.
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