Rating: 
Summary: A dramatically different way of looking at things.
Review: This book was first read to me by my brother when I was around 6 or 7 and it has stuck with me through present college life. Recently, I've just started to read the text again....for the first time.
The book on tape read by Lawrence Pressman, though abridged, is absolutely a joy to listen to during a long airplane or car trip.
Rating:
Summary: A Work of Quality
Review: This book is a fine read on many levels. I can think of no better introduction into the basic themes of rhetorical theory, Western philosophy, and travel literature. Pirsig offers the basics of a systemic philosophy -- something no philosopher has attempted for the last fifty years. It is a fine antidote to relativistic existentialism! It is curious how readers either love or hate this book. It is less curious that those who hate the book rarely offer comments that truly engage Pirsig's main argument. If you don't like the book, slow down and read it again.
Rating:
Summary: The Paradigm Shift
Review: The book is revolutionary and has a certain timelessness about it. It is revolutionary as it questions the very essence on which our systems and beliefs are founded. It articulates a very strong case for the so called 'out of box' thinking and very logically picks holes in our current methodology of instruction and analysis. I read the book for the first time as a student some ten years back, and have read it about 5 times ever since. As a teacher, I found the section on 'grades' particularly useful and enlightening. Pirsig's analysis of the shortcomings of the present educational system is very succinct and strikes at the very root of our way of thinking and analysis. The book makes a very strong case for a definitive paradigm shift that shall help us to face the challenges of the coming century. In a lot of ways, the book is philosophical and some passages tend to be very heavy. Readers are advised to also go through the very thoroughly researched and well written guidebook that was presented to me by one of my American friends when he heard me recite an entire passage from the book verbatim sitting in a bar!! 'The Turning Point' by Fritjof Capra also makes a very similar point but his approach is more matter of fact and 'historical', Pirsig's is intuitive and compellingly sincere. Take your time over it, skip the difficult passages at first go, finish it once and you are bound to get back to it again and again. Happy reading. Mohit Misra Asian Institute Of Management, Philippines.
Rating:
Summary: Clear vision & understanding the paradox of western culture.
Review: An excellent examination of the deep, nearly invisible, internal incongruities of Western society. Read it in my early twenties and it changed my life. When you read and understand the way our minds and hearts are programmed by our society, and how that programming leads us to goals that don't satisfy or unsuccessful pursuits of happines, it's almost a religious experience.The reviews posted here don't call enough attention to the paradox Pirsig examines, and here it is: you are brought up to believe that what is right, what is true, what is logical will prevail in the end. That logic is truth. The problem is that rhetoric overpowers logic, and rhetoric is the tool of those who further their dark ends by pushing our buttons -- buttons we don't even realize we have. Sure, we all may look at that statement and say "Yeah, so what?" The beauty of this book is how it helps us get past that 'rhetorical' mind set, the "So What" mind set. Getting past it is no small feat. It's also hard to get past the smirks of your peers. This book helps you look inside yourself and realize not only where, but why you are making decisions and behaving in ways which prevent you from growing as a person and transcending the banality of consumption as a way of life. When you finish reading this book and try to explain it to someone else, you will find yourself at a loss for words because there is virtually no vocabulary, no paradigm around which to discuss it. Yet another major paradox of our society. When you extend this line of thinking a bit, it becomes clear that the message in this book is not for glib conversation, a la Frazier Crane. You can't change other people much; but you can change yourself. And that's an internal conversation. When I look at how ZAMM asks some painful, bedrock questions about our lives, I wonder where the answers are. The only book that seems to address some of the questions is Steven Covey's book on the Seven Ha! bits. Problem is, how do we un-program ourselves so we can move toward Covey's paradigm. I don't pretend to know the answer. So maybe we need the third book to complete the set for the modern philosopher. This book demands multiple re-reading. It's the most profound book I've read in English.
Rating:
Summary: Just ignore the title.
Review: There are at least two reviews here which criticize the lack of factual infomation on the subject of Zen philosophy in this book. Perhaps it would be a good idea to check the first few pages and read Pirsig's disclaimer. I don't have a copy handy, but he says something about the fact that the reader shouldn't mistake his book for an actual treatment of Zen philosophy. So if it bothers or offends you, scratch out "Zen" and write in "Quality". Then, if you feel you must, present some sort of valid criticism.
Rating: 
Summary: ploddingly deep but worth the delve
Review: I put this book down the first time I attempted to read it, just after I finished college coursework many moons ago. Since then, I've tried it again and again, and read it to completion four times and find that I love it. The tales unfolds as a mystery wrapped around, as it says, an inquiry into values. The narrative itself is clever, and I won't reveal any more of that, but as it pushes, excruciatingly slow at times, it makes a case - in fact, numerous cases - for the importance of quality (as opposed to consumption of quantity) in our lives, and deliciously weaves those inquiries into the narrative. Unfortunately, I found those discussions at times to be so deep, deep, deep, as to frustrate me to the point of putting the book down. But as I am drawn back time and time again, I realize the value the "inquiry into values" has had on my life, or at least in my inquiry into it. I encourage you not to beceome so frustrated you don't go back to it again. And again.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book but where is the zen???
Review: I have read the book. I put the five not so much becuase of the book itself but rather because of what I thought it would contain. I am only eighteen but I have mixed feelings about the book. First of all I plan on majoring in religious studies and the original reason I read the book was to read about zen. I found little of that there if any really and I was very dissapointed. The objection I have to this book isn't the actaul story because that does make you think which is something few books seem to do for me but rather the fact that you can find it under zen buddhism in a library. I would rather have it under philosophy. It changed me to the extant that a well written book changes anyone but it lacked faith. That I think is why americans like it so much. . . maybe. then again I am an american too so who knows? it is ineresting. go for it if you can't decide.
Rating:
Summary: A Truly Engaging Work
Review: Zen and the art of Motercycle Maintenance was a rare treat. Mr. Pirsig did a great job with it. Philosophically sound-- yet light and easy to read. His story needed to be told.
Rating:
Summary: Still interesting after all these years
Review: I read Pirsig's book for the first time in 1979 while on my way to Japan and was greatly moved by it. I later used it in teaching writing and reread it at least four or five times. Recently, frustrated over how computers and the Internet are changing people's lives (including mine as a teacher), I reread it and found Pirsig's ideas about technology just as applicable as they were before the current computer revolution began, whenever that was. It was like a visit with a wise old friend who's just as sharp as he or she used to be!
Rating:
Summary: A 5, but only cause I can't choose 1 or 10!
Review: I have a real love/hate relationship with this book. We read it for a class, and I have to say, it was an interesting class! But there's something about Pirsig... This book unquestionably changed my life, but there are times when you would gladly rip it to shreds! It really makes you think, but somehow it doesn't make life any clearer- it only succeeded i confirming the fact that I have NO clue about life whatsoever! But, it is a nice bit of brain food, so I guess it's all a matter of whether you wanna think and be baffled or just avoid it and stay happy in your own little world!!!
| 
