Rating: 
Summary: A must read
Review: This is truly a life changing book. What more needs to be said. Everyone should read it. If you don't understand it put it on the shelf and wait until the time is right, then you will be ready. I first started reading the book a few years ago, but only made it halfway through. I picked it up again about 6 months ago and finished it. When the time is right, it will happen.
Rating:
Summary: Not for everyone.
Review: Mr. Pirsig has given us a work on more than one level which, because of its complexity, warrants several reads. However, you may find yourself in the middle of a rather difficult to understand allegory and long to put the book down and give up. If so, please do and move on to something more suited to your tastes and abilities.If not, if you are able to understand and relate to the story, you will not find a better contemporary exploration of Quality, rhetoric, and the finer points of keeping your scoot on the road.Wrapped in a comfortable yet sometimes biting narrative about a boy and his father on a back road cross-country motorcycle trip is a darker, more haunting story of a father's past. More important is the manner in which both stories meet and mingle to give birth to and nurture Pirsig's discussion of his concept of Quality, specifically rhetorical Quality. The book moves at an undulating pace to a long-awaited and systematically revealed climax that left ! me wanting to return to page one and start the trip all over again. This book is not for everyone, but if it is for you, it will be for several sittings to come.
Rating:
Summary: Did some higher power write this book?!!
Review: This book has touched me in way that no other literary work could. As I paged through it for the second and third times, I could only marvel at the expertise Persig displays. It projects possibilities and answers to some of the worlds greatest questions. I cannot applaud loud enough.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST
Review: IF YOU CAN UNDERSTAND/RELATE TO THIS BOOK, THEN THERE IS NOT A RATING HIGH ENOUGH YOU CAN GIVE!!
Rating:
Summary: If you read it once, you will read it again.
Review: I make it a point to read ZATAOMM every few years, and I also periodically pull my well-worn and page-marked copy off of the bookshelf to reflect on favorite passages. I gain some new insight into the story, and my own life, every time I flip through the pages. This is one of those novels that keeps ending up in my backpack (along with Walden and Blue Highways) when I go on weekend camping and road trips. The philosophical dialogue could be a little intimidating for some readers (especially near the conclusion), but a little slow reading and reflection works wonders. Reviewing the basic philosophies of Kant, Plato, and Decartes would not hurt, but is not really necessary for the first time through. The title has probably turned off many potential readers in fear of buying a book that spiritually explores maintaining a motorcycle. That isn't what the book is about, or is it? Actually, Pirsig uses the motorcycle as an ongoing analogy to the human thought process! . So, no previous knowledge of motorcycles is necessary. In fact, you might learn a thing or two about motorcycles, and yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Will change the way you look at the world and yourself.
Review: Many years ago my brother, who is an avid "biker" showed me an old beat up copy of this book. Since I had never seen my brother reading a book, much less have one in his possesion, I became a liitle curious, yet I finally concluded that if he was interested in this book then it must only be a collection of "biker" stories and a "how-to" fix it type of book. The whereabouts of that old copy are unknown, but the title of this strange book had stayed somewhere in the back of my mind. One day while surfing the net I type the title in my search engine and was amazed to find a small following for this book. As I read the web page I became more and more intrigued. I decided to order a copy to see what in the world it was all about. Well, after reading the book I found it was not the "biker" book I expected it to be, rather a strange oddesy of a man and his son travelling across the country. I must admit that I was uterly lost at many po! ints throughout this novel, however, I don't think I will look at life the same way any more. This book has changed me and I will try to read it every year or so to see if I can make any sense of it. I would recommend this book, but be prepared to be confused.
Rating:
Summary: Good, Intense. I will read it again.
Review: RP has done a very good job. He is the types who think a lot, just because they can. He has gone into the depths of some issues and torn them apart until he figured out the cause. Your experiences might have lead you to think about those issues. In that case, you will not be completely impressed but will still feel good. But, if you have not spent too much time contemplating, this book will be an eye-opener. It carries you into the heart of the matter. He is very sharp and intelligent. He is a pleasure to read. His eye for detail is refreshing. At times, while reading the book, I felt he was sharing my experiences. He is good. No doubts here.
Rating: 
Summary: I don't get it.
Review: I've read many books but this one I didn't get. I've heard so many times that this book is a classic, yet when I read it--I just asked myself why? I must be missing something. It took me two weeks to complete the book and I couldn't wait to put it down. I can never put down a book once I begin it--even a bad book--so I was forced to read the whole thing. And when I finished I was so relived--no more burdens; no more pain. I was finnally done. There was so much detail of scenery; So many pages with words without substance. I got lost in the pages and couldn't wait to get out.
Rating:
Summary: searching for quality in the landfill of throw-away society
Review: Clearly my favorite book, both as an avid reader and a motorcyclist. Pirsig accidently stumbles onto the issue that has become our biggest problem in modern, capitalistic society. The lack of quality in our actions, in our decisions, and in our lives. We no longer live and work for ourselves or to help our fellow man, but live and work only to succeed. A must read for anyone who suspects (or realizes) that the way we live in modern society has little to do with actual life.
Rating:
Summary: Pirsig's philosophy becomes more relevant over time.
Review: I read this book as a psychology undergrad at age 20 and thought it was about mental illness. I read it again as a software analyst at age 30 and found that it's about quality, and that it contains relevant, useful, and powerful tools for solving quality problems in the real world. The alienation with technology that Pirsig addresses is a bigger problem than ever. "Dummies" books are best sellers, and "web sites that suck" is a popular web site. The digital revolution is fraught with real-world quality problems, and Pirsig's metaphysics gives insight to their root causes. His metaphysics is of sound philosophical construct, and that's why it still works decades later. The book is not about Zen, art, or motorcycles, so please don't mind the title. The protagonist is a rhetorician. The title is a rhetorical tool. Pirsig defines a "classic-romantic split" that explains why we have so many technology products that are more frustrating than useful. He argues that quality can't be found in objects (products) or subjects (critics), which explains why evaluating quality is difficult. I'm reading it again this summer at age 37, and it's helping me rebuild my world view in response to the changing times, which is the primary useful value of philosophy. Next, I'm going to re-read the sequel, "Lila" which, despite its less interesting plot, has an even better explication of the "metaphysics of quality" than ZAMM.
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