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Summary: Eyes open
Review: Dear All,As is always helpful I have read the book a couple of times now. I have also read the highly mixed reviews varying from coffee-shop boredom and a philosophy teachers irritation to some people who have genuinely loved this book. I must say that I can sympathise in part with both views. Indeed, if you have already formed some views on philosophy (and you may not be aware that you have) then be prepared, for you may be in for a few irritating moments. However, as is demonstrated by so many who have read and reviewed this book it has been a source of immense enjoyment and for many it seems to have changed their lives for the better. I am not going to bore anyone with the rigours of whether his philosophy is consistent or not but I will say that I am glad that he offers some healthy scepticism to many of todays accepted views. If you want philosophy, do read the book but remember that many of the views are contentious. In other words read with your eyes open and make your own minds up. As some of the less than happy readers have pointed out, there are many good books on philosophy so don't forget about those. As for whether you will be bored or not I think that it is quite clear from the reviews, varying from 5 star to 1 star, that you will just have to read it to find out. I hope you do not find the experience to be a waste.
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Summary: zen and the art of motorcycle maintence
Review: The gumption traps caught me. An honest book. A true book. A mysterious book only because it is not so much fiction as it is Pirsig's life. Caring and paying attention while life goes awry... or vice versa. The only book I have ever read two times and felt perhaps a third reading would be in order. Not your average normal sort of book. Wise. Honest. True.
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Summary: Quality...
Review: Book with great undertones for anybody searching the real meaning of quality, in our lives, our children's lives and our work.
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Summary: Good book, but neither fiction nor philosophy...
Review: I read this book for my English class in high school, and I have to admit, the book was surprisingly engrossing for all its technical difficulties. It was indeed an interesting read. However, as a novel, the book contained too much philosophical lecturing to feel like a novel, but too little real philosophy to feel be enlightening. Some of his adventures (however metaphysical) were interesting, though. The author does present an interesting objection to our common senses. Still, almost all the arguments in this book were from sources that I already knew, and there was no real new insight being revealed. I guess the most accurate way to describe my response would be to just classify as an ocassionally thought-provoking book.
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Summary: Not about Zen, Motorcycle Maintenance or Values
Review: I had to read this book for my Advanced Creative Writing Class all the way back in 1992. To attend this class you had to have an 800 score on the English section of your SATs, so obviously I and my classmates were more than capable of appreciating this book. We ALL hated it! Even the one student who was into Zen and had actually went to Tibet to study it couldn't stand it. She said it was not about Zen at all. Personally, I found it long, boring, and the author to be haughty and self-absorbed. I was interested to know what his relationship with his wife and two kids were like, and how being put into a mental hospital affected him, but he never addressed these issues. He just spends pages upon pages 'philosophizing'. I regret having to spend the five dollars to buy it, though I didn't have too much of a choice at the time. If anyone does have a choice though, don't buy it, and if you hate long dull books, don't read it.
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Summary: The Beautiful Truth About Motorcycles And Everything
Review: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance contains two works -- one, a philisophical inquery into the nature of being, including references to Zen and the Tao; the other, a story of a man and his son treking across country on a motorcycle, revealing our narrator's past, and eventually resolving certain conflicts within himself. The more traditional "story" is independant enough from the intelectual "chataqua" (as the author terms it) that either is worthy of individual enjoyment, but they are so artfully connected that the combined effect is greater than many times the sum of its parts. This book deserves the term "classic" because it was crafted with a certain Quality, that empowers it to enrapture readers, effect lives, alter thought patterns, and -- as all great art should -- reveal a certain truth, and the beauty within that truth. All the praise that I could bestow upon this book would not make up for the benefit I have recieved from it. I love Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
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Summary: Very engrossing story that only falls apart at the end
Review: Don't let the title of this review fool you, I really did like the book. I quite enjoyed looking through the many layers (some obvious, others subtle) and I'm quite sure that I'll catch more when I read this book again. One does not need to know anything at all about Greek, Eastern or Modern philosophy to read this book, although the more one already knows, the more one will get out of it. Personally, I felt that the meditations on the role of Quality in reality started off very well. This was a very good attempt at merging the Eastern and Western (or "classical vs romantic" as they are also stated in the book) modes of thinking into a single coherent thought. Unfortunately, I felt that it fell slightly short of its goal. Pirsig's world view would seem to add an unlimited amount of inherent facts to every object that exists. Quality doesn't seem to me to have a single value for all things. For example, a screwdriver would be seen to have very good Screw-Turning Quality, but would have very low Beer-Can-Opening Quality. For every possible method, there would be a different Quality rating. Instead of Pirsig's single combination between one subject and one object, you have all sorts of relations between an object and every possible subject. Although I felt the reasoning didn't quite hold up, I found the train of thought to be an utterly fascinating one. I very much like the idea of Quality being the relation of a mind with an object. If nothing else, the book opens up a lot of room for meditation on the subject. It's an interesting seed that leads the mind into all sort of passages of reason. Even if you don't agree with his conclusions, it's a great place to start letting your brain flow. The conventional story of the motorcyclist and his son, told in between the meditating, is rather enjoyable as well. Pirsig's description of the open road is quite appealing and I found myself wanting to take a few months off and ride out into the sunset! The passages describing the feel of the road and the differences between seeing something from inside a car versus seeing it from a motorcycle are quite good and although I've never been near a motorbike in my life, I began to understand the desire for the wide open spaces that he has. The bottom line is that this is a very good book for anyone interested in philosophy, motorcycles or just well-written stories.
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Summary: A must for anyone
Review: The significance of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is incredible. Pirsig takes his readers on two very important trips; one through the states to Bozeman, Montanna and a profoundly significant philosophical journey. Pirsig confronts his former self, Phaedrus, as well as some of lifes most perplexing questions. He does so using the dialectic and rhetoric as tools for discussion. The author's former self, Phaedrus, is consumed by the Aristotelian point of view and all that it stands for. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is read today, and remembered by scholars who read it when it was first published, and they continue to be amazed; as will I in twenty years.
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Summary: This book is not what the title suggests
Review: When I read this book the first time I had several misconceptions about it. My first was that it is a motorcycle travel recount. It isn't. Yes, it has some elements of description how the author rides with his son and two friends through the states. But this serves only to give a frame, a context. My second was that I thought it is a philosophical piece. No, it isn't. Sure, the author deals with philosophical questions. And it is really entertaining and quite learning to experience the original notions of some concepts as intended by their inventors Plato, Socrates, and some others. Then there is this crazy idea of overcoming a perceived dichotomy between aesthetics and technics by the author. Which is interesting, but the proposed solution is quaint at best. And my personal opinion about that one is that everyone should find for himself the solution for this "problem". No, what makes this book so interesting is that the author describes a transformation of himself. With words and phrases quite common to the western world. One could almost say that he conquers himself. It is believable and sometimes shocking what he reveals. It has nothing to do with Zen whatsoever. I read a bit about Zen, and to be quite frank, the idea of Zen sounds ridiculous to me. Again the title might confuse the buyer of the book. Luckily the book was recommended to me by a former teacher and when I finally got the chance to read it, I did. I read the german translation, which is quite good, albeit has some flaws. And I read this edition, which is better, because the author explains some things which might have gone unnoticed otherwise. And I'm thankful for that.
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Summary: Moby Dick and Time?
Review: My immediate reaction after reading this book was one of ambiguity: Moby Dick and Time? Reality, the white whale, or rather, the ghost of rationality, manifests itself as the insuperable and the innocent so cleverly in this book and yet, through the archeology of memory, time too is added into the formula. Is the "inquiry" skimpy or economic? A second reading made me see that the unnecessary development of certain theories through both the narrative and the analysis were bogging the true ideas down so much that synthesis is literally impossible in such a short space. And so, philosophically, the book contributes little. But then, taking the narrative events and the rather intriguing semiotic treatment of memory, an artistic lustre becomes apparent. It is unfortunate that Prisig chose to write a "chautauqua" instead of a novel.
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