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

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but not impressive
Review: I found the premise of this book interesting. But did not obtain the sense of satisfaction many other readers have. Frankly, I'm puzzled by the devotional, almost fanatical following this book has. I would categorize it as one of the first 'New Age' psychobabble texts which have filled bookshelfs of the past several years.

Rating:
Summary: Well worth it if you put in the effort
Review: I'm only 14 years old, yet I still made it through the whole book, not that I would recomend it to other 14 year olds. I actually thought the book was kind of slow and boring at times, but I had faith in Pirsig (I had previously read "Lila" which I liked even better) and at the end, I was glad I'd read it. The whole quality thing boggles the mind and leaves your mind full of questions, which is what I like out of a book, as long as they are not questions on what the book was trying to say. If you're thinking about reading this, I would recomend reading it slowly and with lots of patience, because it is worth it.

Rating:
Summary: difficult, challenging, stunning, heavy, powerful
Review: I think that ideally this book should be read on a long, important and challenging journey. It is stunning, in the sense that certain parts of it cause such a sudden reorganisation of ideas and beliefs that you cannot keep reading but have to go off wandering for a while while the brain digests all the repurcussions. It will make your journey deeper, and the combination of the two will change your life.

Rating:
Summary: "actually, Water is not perfect"
Review: this book tries so blatantly to be metaphorical that it really ends up being quite shallow. The ironic thing is that if one has this opinion, dissenters simply say "you merely don't understand it". This angers me. I have spent much time studying Zen, and can find no correlations between this book and actual Zen tenents. If you disagree, please email me with your comments

Rating:
Summary: Intellectuals love it, the rest of us just struggle.
Review: Every 'professional' review of this book that I have read has been incredibly favorable. Just see the synopses given here. But for myself, I found this book very hard to read, very pretentious ("I opened up the throttle and Pheadrus said 'What is truth?'") and really, really boring. I find that books in which the author revels in his intellectual superiority to me leave me cold. Of course, there are lots of people who profess to liking this book because it it seems to coat them with a veneer of intellectuality. My mother calls that 'putting on airs'. And of course as we all know, a veneer is only on the surface.

Rating:
Summary: Too good to be true
Review: For once, believe the hype. This is one of those extremely rare books that start off slowly, seemingly going nowhere but into its own center, then builds gradually into a huge canvas of everything humans have ever wondered about ( I know that sounds tacky and too much like gratuitous compliments - read it and you'll see what I'm trying to say ), and shatters your mind with its final devastating pages. For once, a book about which one shouldn't be embarassed to use words like monumental, or life changing. To imagine that, in this day and age, as tacky and driven by sheer greed and consummerism as they are, someone actually could actually go insane because of Aristotle is proof that maybe not all is lost. What is still boggling this very European mind of mine is this - how on EARTH did this book ever get to be so popular in America, of all places? But then again, maybe I'm biased...

Rating:
Summary: Where's the zen?
Review: First, the book is well written. It is well written trash, but nevertheless the prose is magnificent. Yet my years of studying zen reveal no such correlation between this individual who has learned to not try is the best way to not succeed (ref. the story of climbing the mountain with his son). Unfortunately, he is trying to pass this message on to others. If the story was written with less talent one could see the flaws inherent in this philosophy. It is as if one desired Marilyn Monroe's lifestyle because she brought such penache to the screen. In the end the only real loser is one who quits, and that seems to be lost on Pirsig.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent - read and reflect on our culture and society!!!
Review: I constantly find myself picking up this book at least once a year. The book forces you to pay attention and to think; to reflect on the direction of our society and our culture, and to question if it is a good direction. Pirsig does an excellent job in not preaching, but telling a wonderful story, and uses the story as a tool to introduce and expand upon his philosophy and the zen philosophy. The book challenges us all to reflect and to work at understanding our lives and our culture in a time where everything is forcefed to us through television and 15 second sensationalized news stories. Read Pirsig and awaken your mind.

Rating:
Summary: 25 Years old yet Eternal in Message
Review: When you finally get through this book, possibly needing to read it several times to fully comprehend what is being said, you will be left in a daze.

Rating:
Summary: Pirsig is a master, this book is profound!
Review: On one level this is an adventure story, on another, its a metaphysical journey, on yet another its a primer on life...Pirsig is able to intertwine his journey with philosphy, adventure, and discovery. I had to read this book twice to fuly understand it. After the first 100 pages i could not put this book down!