Rating: 
Summary: Give copies to your friends!
Review: I regularly give copies to people that I really care about. They have never failed to become absorbed in the quest, both the character's and their own life's. Unfortunately, it will place you at odds with the rest of the world, especially the corporate world, where a good spreadsheet or "running the numbers" is all that it takes to make a go/no go decision... or to call a management failure a success. You may, therefore, find that the main character's descent into insanity, is not unlike the feeling you will get when you see the blank stares from friends and acquaintances when you try to explain what quality is and what it is not. Reading this book undoubtedly changed my life. It remains yet to be seen, however, if the patient dies.
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Summary: Most important metaphysical treatise of the last 50 years.
Review: An epic humanist catechism framed within a brilliant descriptive narrative. Pirsig talks about the most common and fundamental aspects of human experience and understanding that, it just so happens, no one else is talking about. Why is it that nobody can say what Quality is, but everyone can pretty much agree as to what has it or lacks it; in other words, is it subjective or objective?
Pirsig takes his dialectic-of-the-ages to an even more focused and broadly applied level in the sequel, "Lila", which I could not help but notice, did not make the final Amazon.com 2.5-million-title cut. Catching this man's 40-ton metaphysical cleaver of rational thought upside the head will equip you with a drug-like feeling of total intellectual invulnerability that YOU want. Did I mention that I like the book?
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Summary: One of the most important books of our age.
Review: If I were to draw a timeline of philosophy with two markers, one marker would be the works of Plato and Aristotle, which placed Truth at the top of the heap (a proposition which forms the basis of western scientific thinking); the other marker would be Pirsig's work, which places Good at the top and Truth second. Pirsig had an insight into the Quality Relationship. Just as an eye cannot see itself, the Quality Relationship is very difficult to see because it is the means by which seeing (in the intellectual sense) takes place. Even the purest scientific truth passes into the mind of its discoverer on a rail established by the Quality Relationship. The implication is that all truth is personal and subjective, even widely accepted scientific truths. That acceptance exists in the minds of many individuals, each of whom is motivated to receive the information and judge it against scientific criteria. The motivation rests on the Quality Relationship, and that is strictly a personal value judgement of whatever the mind choses to examine. Since individuals possess the Quality Relationship, this philosophy places individuals above science (modern society seems to need some of that view). Pirsig's second work, Lila, examines what it means for larger social entities such as governments to possess their own Quality Relationships. The book is also the exquisitely told personal story of Pirsig's efforts to recover this insight after losing the memory of it to shock treatment. A beautiful book in all respects
Rating: 
Summary: Inner Analysis of the Highest Order
Review: A thought provoking book which causes you to think about yourself and life. Best to be read in thirty page intervals for maximum comprehension and understanding. Some may have trouble understanding Pirsig's thoughts, writing and ideas. Once you get into the inner thoughts of Pirsig, you begin to understand his views of society. A lot of work went into this work. Well written and thought out. The most intelligently written book I have ever read. Constant analysis and thinking required. Not for everyone. A book one can go back to again and again. A book unlike any other
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Summary: A masterpiece of depth and insight
Review: This is the most enlightening book I have ever read. The motorcycle trip is the perfect analogy for our modern society. Throughout the book, Pirsig tears down conventional Western thinking and shows us not only only the problems of society in the past and present, but also shows us the solutions. It does not say "The world is a mess, what should we do?", and leave it at that like so many books, but provides us with many answers to problems with government, education, and our daily lives. Everyone should read this book
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Summary: Will leave a large impact crater on your psyche. Stunning.
Review: This book falls outside any established genre. It is simply unique and utterly compelling. It will quietly dig deep into your mind before blowing it apart (more completely than with the best of mind-expanding drugs) with simple truths about life. Truths which we all instinctively *know* to be true.
A man travels by motorbike with his son Chris, across the American landscape, searching; for a link to a past he can barely remember; for a link to a son he doesn't really know. In a body that once belonged to someone else.
Embrace this book. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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Summary: Another Vote for this Modern Classic
Review: The text begins simply. Pirsig's casual style
conveys each action and thought in real time,
enabling the reader to forget that s/he is reading a book. When you get carried away
in his discussion, you are as surprised as
the narrator when his cycing partners catch
up to him, breaking his concentration, reminding
him that they have missed a turn. This writing style is amazing. Later the discusions become
more involved, requiring a much deeper consideration by the reader. I was able to embrace Pirsig's direction much better on the
second read.
One of the best books I've ever read
Rating:
Summary: It is Zen at its original
Review: A serious and beautiful effort on providing insights into the concept of "quality". I enjoyed it thoroughly.
I feel that the attitude of Mr. Pirsig and his alter-ego protagonist Phaedrus have many things in common with a Zen practitioner. The motorcycle, by the way, is his modern-day lotus flower.
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Summary: Every page is a spiritual experience.
Review: Pirsig teaches with a quiet, unassuming example. He searches for peace in a way that gives it to him every step of his journey. The most significant book I have ever read, and one of the few 'great books' that lives up to its legendary reputation
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Summary: This book wakes you out of your intellectual slumber.
Review: Pirsig has uncovered the masks which have shielded the concept of "Quality" from all of our eyes. He demonstrates a purity of thought which just may have uncovered the root of life. I cannot say I fully understand his book(I have only read it twice), but Pirsig has hit upon a concept of life that has robbed me of my security and my serenity but at the same time has brought me a deeper understanding of my life and myself. Your perception of the world WILL change after you read this book. This has to be the cheapest therapy around
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