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Summary: Guests thank us for giving us opportunity to discover it...
Review: I never read this book. I bought it (first edition) a long time ago. Each time I lend it to our american guests in our Bed & Breakfast, they thank us warmfully for this. But no one could explicitely tell me why he was so impressed by this book. If you don't have time to come and borrow us this book in France, buy it from Amazon now!
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Summary: Beautiful, beautiful book
Review: As an avid 16 year old reader (yes there are some), I must say that I love this book. I tried to write a big review but nothing I can write now would do this book justice. This book is just amazing, it's changed how I look at things, how I appreciate them. I hope that one day I can take a class in college on this book. I know that I can't fully comprehend and appreciate everything in this book, but it still leaves me with a sense of awe. It's a profound kind of feeling on the scale of when I first say the grand canyon, or the vietnam memorial, or the first sunset I saw out west; this book is awesome. If you are open-minded and patient, please do yourself a favor and find a way to read this book.
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Summary: If you can get beyond the motorcycle references...
Review: The most common problem that I've heard about this book is that the first few (?) pages are about motorcycle repairs, so readers give up there. Wait!Reading this book opened my life up more than any other experience. Pirsig's deconstruction of Western philosophy helped my spirit out of a closed mind that a years of study and churches and alternative experiences had not. (not that it holds the charm for everyone) It might help to have just a little knowledge of Greek philosophers first. You could check an encyclopedia listing for Plato and Socrates? It is helpful to know that those two have been very influential in Western history via the school system. I mean knowing something of their stature in Western thought may increase enjoyment of this book Pirsig presents relentless undeniable logic that you can learn to trust your own judgement, and follow your own dreams, and everything should be for the best. I also want to thank Robert Pirsig for overcoming x,000 years of persecution of quality.
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Summary: Over 2000 Years of Wisdom in 373 Pages
Review: In my (1/e)*100 years on this planet, during which I devoured at least ten times as many books, I have read only two more than once - "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is one of them. In this monumental 1974 work, Robert Pirsig has achieved what few others have managed before him and, to the best of my knowledge, nobody else has accomplished since: a perfect unification of philosophy, adventure and mystery. His "Chautauqua," or traveling tale, takes the reader on a profound tour of ancient Greek philosophy, the steppes of Montana, and even a little bit of Zen Buddhism, with endless surprises and much original if not truly inspired thought along the way. Through his self-portrayal by means of the unforgettable and eerily enigmatic character Phaedrus, Mr. Pirsig shares his far-reaching search for the meaning of life, and himself. His fundamental concern is with the following seemingly simple but in effect infinitely complex question: "How can one distinguish "good" from "bad?" The question is posed and addressed in many different forms throughout the book, and in the process the concepts of truth, value and quality are dissected, reassembled, and again dissected and reassembled many times. Mr. Pirsig has an uncanny sense of timing, and he never allows the heavier passages to labor on too long. This is avoided by craftily interspersing his philosophical discourse amongst very down-to-earth and charming observations made during a motorcycle trip that takes the narrator and his seemingly troubled son Chris from the American Prairies to the Pacific, and forms the prevalent background for the entire "Chautauqua." "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is a totally unique creation. Not being one to lend himself easily to corny clichés, I nevertheless believe that this is one book that definitely could dramatically change your life, whether or not you believe in Zen or have ever sat on a motorcycle. If you love somebody, buy them this book
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Summary: It continues to be A Classic!
Review: Below, is a review I wrote about a year ago. I re read the book over Christmas break this year, and am still astounded at how much it has to say to me as an educator and to my students each year. We will be working the book in class this June if anyone would like to stop by! Last Year: I don't know if it was the timing of reading it, or the content of the book, but ZEN is a book that rang with me when I first read it over a decade ago, and still does every time I pick it up and read it to my AP Calculus classes. I had to read it 3 times. The first time was for the story of him and his son, the second as a philosophy primer and the third as a metaphysics. It was the first time that I ever read a book and really believed that the author just wanted me to think about what he was writing and not AGREE with what he was writing. I was allowed to think for myself, encouraged to think for myself as I read. It is the single most important book I have ever read in regards to my career as a teacher, and the messages about how we think and the way we perceive and learn are, I feel, so important that my classes need to see them and not just hear me talk about it. Its a tough read.....but so well worth it.
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Summary: This Pirsig Book Should Be On Everyone's Reading List
Review: This enlightening book is as valuable today as when it was first published. I was not surprised that literature and philosophy professors at my alma mater, The University of Michigan, required their students to read Pirsig's best book in the 1970's when it was published. I am not in the least surprised that the book remains in print today, and is earning new admirers. Readers must bring to this classic the patience and attentiveness that it deserves and they will be richly rewarded.
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Summary: At least a curiosity, at best a life-changing experience
Review: I had to read this book for school. So I (of course) thought it would be horrible. It wasn't, and this is a title that every half-conscious human being should read at some point. Granted, you do have to work to "get" it, don't listen to everyone who says it's a dull book. They're all busy rushing over to buy Stephen King and John Grisham books
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Summary: Phaedrus is your mommy
Review: If you're like me you like hearing from some good old fashioned nut balls, and boy is Robby a nut! The story is fun and the commentaries on philosophy and zen will blow your mind. But let it be blown! Let your mind splatter against the wall, scrape em off, stick em back in the ol head and start reading backwards! Don't listen to the drapchodes who gave this book low ratings if you don't love it I will personally send you ten thousand dollars....actually no wait that's a bad idea. But I will send you a greek translation of the book, I hope that helps. PS do not expect this translation to arive anytime soon
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Summary: Yawn
Review: I don't know if it's the philosophical subject matter, the slow pace of the prose or the motorcycle theme, but I kept actually falling asleep while reading this book! It must be rewarding to finish it, but I am afraid I will never get there because it's just not worth my time.
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Summary: What Philosophy is All About
Review: Suppose that I were to try to describe this book to someone who was a philosophy professor, an expert in some German philosophers, a critic of Nietzsche who considered Nietzsche's psychology as prominently as his philosophy in matters of religion; there was no way that I could say anything better than in the words of this book itself. I had been reading a lot of philosophy the way my father had before he became a minister, like it is taught in college. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was the perfect focus for the complaint that any philosophy can only be a way of trying to graduate carbon copies of someone. The real person comes through at the end, where I like to start things rolling with the sentence, "It's so hot . . ."
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