Rating: 
Summary: AN OFT-ASSAILED BUT TRULY BRILLIANT BOOK
Review: I write only to defend a gifted author's brilliant work of philosophy. I stopped by this page to check the reviews, and was horrified to find so much negative feeling. My argument, obnoxious as it might sound, is that all the gripes others have with this book are rooted in their fundamental misunderstandings of the text.
This book is a work of popular philosophy, which explores previously uncharted territory somewhere between Mysticism and dialectical engaging of truth. It deals with an overview of Western though in this area, and proposes its own unique theses. I have changed the way I live my life based upon the sage advice of this novel.
As far as I can see it, one of the main criticisms of the novel is that it starts off well, with a compelling problem, and what seems to be an innovative solution to it, but pans out to be an intellectual cop-out. This is not the case. The Amazon.com review declares, "His solution to a synthesis of the rational and creative by elevating Quality to a metaphysical level simply repeats the mistakes of the premodern philosophers." Which premodern philosophers would those be? I believe that Mr. Bruya means "pre-socratic" not "pre-modern," but even this criticism is invalid. Pirsig acknowledges that he owes an intellectual debt to the Sophists of ancient Greece, but his ideas far surpass theirs. Rationality, as it exists today, did not exist at the time of the Sophists, therefore he must necessarily expand beyond the scope of their understanding of philosophy to maintain his relevance to the modern day, which he certainly does, through many specific modern examples.
Mr. Bruya continues to argue that, "the narrator's claims to originality turn out to be overstated, his reasoning questionable, and his understanding of the history of Western thought sketchy." Sure, Mr. Pirsig had intellectual precursors, such as the Sophists, the 20th century pragmatists (William James, etc...), and others, but I challenge anyone reading this to come up with someone who has prefigured Quality. Secondly, his "reasoning" is "questionable": give me one example of faulty logic in the book! Pirsig, though he rejects the supremacy of dialectic, is still a master-dialectician, and his logical entrenchments are flawless. Finally, his understanding of Western though is most certainly top-drawer. Yes, it is incomplete, because the majority of Western though does not speak to his point, but that which he does cover is correct. I challenge anyone to come up with an incorrect point he makes about that which he does cover. As a student of philosophy, Mr. Pirsig's command is entirely correct, in my understanding of things.
I also challenge whatever Mr. "Rampageous Cuss" has to say, as I feel that his command of the book, and the ideas therein, is incomplete and juvenile. He states, "It's neither well structured nor well written, and its philosophical insights are more deeply felt than deeply thought." The writing is extremely fine, and if Mr. Cuss was not engaged by it, it speaks to his short attention span, not the author's skill. He does not use flowery, empty rhetoric, his writing is immediate and to-the-point, reminiscent of other American greats, such as Thoreau, or Stephen Crane. The structure of the book is extremely complex, and Mr. Cuss' comment on it simply belies his faulty understanding of it. There are, in fact, three separate characters in the book: Phaedrus, the narrator of the novel, and then Robert Pirsig the writer himself. That the narrator seems to contradict his own philosophy is not a flaw in the writing, it is a carefully structured didactic narrative, in which the contradictions are meant to point out the ultimate philosophy of the book. The narrator of the book is not meant to be a morally immaculate character. He is merely a character meant to express a point.
Mr. Cuss then says, "Unhappily he decides he was a misunderstood genius, names his pre-breakdown self 'Phaedrus' and rambles into a tendentious complaint about academia as he relates his earlier life." Robert Pirsig was a misunderstood genius. What part of this book could be classified as "rambling" is beyond me. Mr. Pirsig seems sincere and intelligent in every stage of his discourse, and, like all of the other negative reviewers, Mr. Cuss has failed to cite any specific examples of this "rambling" making himself effectively immune to criticism. His complains about academia are well-supported with specific evidence of his empirical experience in academia. His arguments are all logical and correct.
Finally Mr. Cuss makes the grandly fallacious assertion that, "as the narrator he is pompous and self obsessed, struggling with a massive inferiority complex. He is given to sweeping pronunciamentos and overblown metaphors." The narrator of the book is meant as a teaching tool, in the same way Plato used the Sophists in his dialogues as advocates of bad ideas to reenforce his overall good ideas. The narrator is meant to seem pretentious and self-contradictory. His terrible relationship with Chris is proof of this. He finishes his speeches on caring about human rapport, and then treats his son horribly. He is a character, meant to illuminate the message of the novel, nothing more. I would also argue that not only are there no "overblown" metaphors, but that the language is largely non-metaphorical. Pirsig rejects metaphors as a means of understanding, as Plato used them (the Horse and Chariot analogy of the soul comes to mind). If Mr. Cuss is referring to the vague descriptions of Quality, as "overblown metaphors," he needs to understand that Quality cannot be subordinated to language, and there is only the realm of analogue to clarify it.
Overall, this is the second best book I have ever read, and I assure you all that if you read and take the time to understand this book, you too will love it. It is a sublime journey to the high country of the mind, and you will not be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Unique
Review: Many readers have reviewed this book with a fair degree of criticism for its ramblings and supposedly pretentious tone. Although the overall reception is generally positive, a few things about this book need to be pointed out. Pirsig seems to have written this "Chautaqua" in a diary-like, unedited stream of consciousness style. Parts of it are rough around the edges, rough on the mind. This book will probably be different from anything else you've ever read. Not necessarily for the ideas Pirsig formulates, but for his presentation and his purpose. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance appears to me to have been written largely for Pirsig's own sake and for his own appreciation. Writing for personal clarification. Of course he states more than once that he also hopes to bring about change across our society. In order to appreciate the book, you have to accept it for what it is - and nothing else. It is not an easy-reading novel, with straight-forward narrative and a moral at the end. It is not a carefully reasoned philosophical treatise. Pirsig seems to fit his years of musings on life and perception and nearly every "big" question everyone has pondered at one time or another, as well as a fair number of specific real-life questions (such as the operation of our education system, and, significantly, (especially for the time this was written) the repulsion of large segments of society to new technology), into an accepted cultural form. I believe he creates the plot he does for several reasons. A plot makes the philosophical ideas easier to swallow piece-meal, the label of "novel" makes it easier to disseminate this work around society, and, frankly, Pirsig's ideas and his dramatic narrative work in perfect harmony. If we as the readers don't relate to and don't actually become Phaedrus and his son from the get-go, the book's point is dimmed in our eyes. The lifting of the fog in the final pages is not just an appropriate literary trick, matching the climactic scene. It is for us. And for Pirsig. Preconceptions of art and reasoning can't just be dropped as we are exposed to new things. But they can be suspended and questioned at appropiate times. Pirsig's ideas may not mesh completely coherently. He may not have the originality of Plato. And maybe his history of Western thought is sketchy. But I doubt he cares. This book is often messy reading and sometimes incredibly lucid and reasoned reading. The ideas of Tao and Quality and "grooving it" are completely appropriate and, to my taste, deliciously presented, if not entirely new articulated concepts for many readers. We should remember the subtitle on this is "An Inquiry into Values." I think this is more a book portraying one man's mode of perceiving and living than anything. It is challenging and relevant today as I'm sure it was 30 years ago. It INQUIRES into our value system, and that explains its unconventional, conversational format. I have wondered if the title was simply tacked on to attract a Zen-crazed segment of America in the 1970s. But then I guess it doesn't matter. Pirsig doesn't call it Zen BUDDHISM and the, etc. So it is an appropriate title. And if you were attracted to reading this because of smug and shallow appreciation of Zen, then I hope Pirsig's style is accessible enough to deck you and then set you right. And I'm betting that was his hope as well. If we dislike this book because it doesn't correspond to a conventional expectation of a novel or really any other type of work, then is it Pirsig's fault or our own for becoming attached to the expectation in the first place? This is challenging and Quality reading.
Rating:
Summary: Quality comes from people who care
Review: I recommend this book highly. It is an excellent book, although I would agree with other reviewers that it is not an easy read. A man's quest for the definition of quality was of most interest. I found the underlying story of a difficult relationship between a man and his son interesting, but the author definitely teaches the reader a lot more about quality than parenting. With regards to quality, while I did not feel that Pirsig was totally successful in defining quality, he was right on target when he defined it's source. The core message and fundamental heart of the book was Pirsig's commentary relative to quality coming from people who care. Peace of mind according to the author is not superficial to technical work (and this could be extended to all types of work), it is really all that matters. It is produced by good work and destroyed by bad work. Specifications, measuring instruments, etc. are all tools to help satisfy the peace of mind of those doing the work. Knowing that the people who did the job care about what they are doing gives one the peace of mind that quality work has been accomplished and that a quality product has been made.
Rating:
Summary: strange reactions from readers...
Review: I was rather taken aback when I read the reviews for this one. I was unaware that it was a love-it-or-hate-it book, not when I first read it anyway. Looking back though, I think that very possibly my mind-set at the time brought a lot to bare on my opinion and interpretation of this, Pirsig's most well known work.
I vividly remember being on a car journey a few years ago whilst in the throes of a quite unpleasant mental breakdown. I was coincidentally reading the section of the book that dealt with cars. Mr. Pirsig speaks of the framing effect that a car window can have on the view of the outside world rushing by. He compares the effect to a television screen, intimating that, the society in which we live, so driven by T.V., tends to reduce everything to a spectator activity. Even the majesty of the outside world is reduced to the level of a nature program, hence his more breezy choice of transport. It was just one of those great moments that one can find through reading, when you look up from the page you're on and say, "hmmm." I don't claim that it's an original thought, in fact it's almost hackneyed in this day and age, but it's not the actual conceits in the early part of this book that matter, rather the way in which they are presented. I felt from the car speech and others, not that new ideas were being expounded, just that they were being delivered in a very intriguing way; a sparce, concise way. I like to call this kind of style 'blue'. It's a word I first felt compelled to use when reading Kerouac's "On The Road". It refers to that brooding, tip-of-the-iceberg intelligence that these writers can convey through the most spartan of sentences. Pirsig, I suspected, had more than just 'pop' Zen to deal with...
As I read on, my suspicions were confirmed as Pirsig begins to reveal an entirely different side to his personality. Not even a side, far more another person, a person he names Phaedrus. The name comes from Plato's "Republic". Socrates, whilst conducting one of his conversational seminars, is confronted by a young man who, because of his particularly intense and confrontational nature, is given the name of Phaedrus-The wolf.
This for me was the clincher; not, after all, a pop science/philosophy book, but instead, an intense kind of thriller born of the most complex fear there is, the fear of one's self. That's not to say that the ideas of quality, Zen and motorcycle maintenance aren't tackled with wonderful aplomb, it's just that the real educational aspect of the book comes not from Pirsig's discourses on rotisseries and the like, but through the interweaving of two minds travelling different paths around the same idea. Not to give away the spectacular climax, one mind has a future, the other is history. Me-oh-my, the things we can learn from history.
I loved the book, but as I've mentioned, I may well have had a more than usually good idea of where the author was coming from at the time that I first read it. I doubt this explains my affection for it entirely though, and regardless of your mental state, you should give this one a whirl.
Rating: 
Summary: Straddling the middle of the road...
Review: A lot of people have noted that this book inspires love-it-or-hate-it reactions. I'm not sure whether I'm an exception to the rule or somehow just in both camps at once. There were some parts of this book which I found fascinating and wonderful. There were other parts which I found interminable and uninspiring. Am I sorry I read the book? No, I think that in sum it was a worthwhile experience. Would I rush to read it again? No, I wouldn't, and I would offer only a qualified recommendation to anyone who asked if they should read this book. I would tell them that if they were willing to be patient and were willing to allot a significant chunk of time to the book then they would almost certainly get something out of it and they would have enhanced, in some small way, their general cultural literacy.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't read beyond the title
Review: What a great title. And even an intriguing concept...explaining zen via the motorcycle. Unfortunately, the book turns out to be a long winded narcissistic lecture by a person you wouldn't want to be stuck in a car with, never mind a motorcycle. Don't waste your time. Take a mindful walk instead.
Rating:
Summary: Overrated!!! But still a good book
Review: A very overrated book by college proffesors and other pseudo intellectuals, but nevertheless it makes a good fiction book.
Rating:
Summary: A great book!
Review: With 18,000 reviews already posted, I can be brief. This is one of my all-time top five favorite books, perhaps the only book I have read three times. It is one of those books that stopped me in my tracks for its profundity. It works on three distinct levels: 1) Persig explains the "One" ("All is One"--Hericlitus, the great Greek philosopher), the Transcendent and how the wisdom compares on the whole with current western philosopy. He explains where western philosophy went wrong, the split between Plato and Aristotle, how and where that arose. And he does so in easy to understand, exciting prose. This alone is worth the price of the book. 2) Persig tells the delightful story of his journey from his from his home to the west coast, which different parts of the journey serving as methaphors for the interesting events of his life. 3) He teaches, he makes a series of observations about life and the human condition, and those observations are at times profound. This is a terrific book about philosophy, about life.
Rating: 
Summary: Your Brain Either Hurts or Just Goes Numb
Review: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig gives a whole new definition to the phrase "deep thinking." The observations, conclusions, and speculations recorded in this novel are quite thought-provoking, but to the non-philosophical mind often become monotonous. The author ponders numerous simple themes in unnecessarily complicated ways. There are two kinds of readers who read this book: those whose brains hurt from thinking too hard, and those whose brains just go numb and refuse to take in anymore complex nonsense. I was probably both of these at one point or another in this book. One could also argue that there is a third type of reader-one who takes in every little detail and enjoyably soaks in every statement. I personally think that these people are insane right along with the narrator. But for any type of reader, there are many lessons that can be learned from the author's experiences, insights, and mistakes.
This story also gets the reader thinking about topics that a person would not typically think about. My initial response to the early chapters of the book was wonder and adventure, but then the tone of the book changed considerably. I often found myself having to read the same sentence several times in order to derive its meaning, and then once I understood the meaning, I was usually even more confused. The book does do a nice job of getting the reader into the mind of an insane person, and to understand how different minds think. The tone of the story was also very apparent, and the change in tone made lasting impressions on the reader. The novel, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, can be compared to its title-it's long, it's confusing, and it leaves the reader saying "huh?"
Rating:
Summary: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Review: When I was first assigned to read this book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance seemed to have quite an intriguing title. I had heard from others who had previously read it that I would learn to hate this book. I tried to keep an open mind as I started reading this book, which proved to be very difficult throughout the remainder of it. The book was extremely long and confusing.
It begins as Robert Pirsig takes his son, Chris, on a motorcycle trip from Minnesota to California. As they journey, Pirsig begins a Chautauqua, completely detailing everything around him. The reader would assume this is just a part of the story, perhaps adding a bit to the main plot. This is far from the truth. Pirsig tends to ramble on and on about the smallest details, especially Quality. In fact, the entire Part III is devoted to trying to describe an "indefinable" word. I can now say that I hate the word "quality" with a passion.
Along with his analysis of Quality, Pirsig attempts to explain the ideas of many great Greek philosophers, including Socrates and Plato. A person would have to have a basic knowledge of their philosophies to understand most of this. I, on the other hand, know very little and was lost the majority of the time. Because of this, I would not recommend Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to anyone not wanting a difficult read or anyone else for that matter. I'd keep a dictionary, and maybe an encyclopedia, nearby just in case.
|
