Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : An Inquiry into Values

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Summary: Too good to be true
Review: For once, believe the hype. This is one of those extremely rare books that start off slowly, seemingly going nowhere but into its own center, then builds gradually into a huge canvas of everything humans have ever wondered about ( I know that sounds tacky and too much like gratuitous compliments - read it and you'll see what I'm trying to say ), and shatters your mind with its final devastating pages. For once, a book about which one shouldn't be embarassed to use words like monumental, or life changing. To imagine that, in this day and age, as tacky and driven by sheer greed and consummerism as they are, someone actually could actually go insane because of Aristotle is proof that maybe not all is lost. What is still boggling this very European mind of mine is this - how on EARTH did this book ever get to be so popular in America, of all places? But then again, maybe I'm biased...

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Summary: Where's the zen?
Review: First, the book is well written. It is well written trash, but nevertheless the prose is magnificent. Yet my years of studying zen reveal no such correlation between this individual who has learned to not try is the best way to not succeed (ref. the story of climbing the mountain with his son). Unfortunately, he is trying to pass this message on to others. If the story was written with less talent one could see the flaws inherent in this philosophy. It is as if one desired Marilyn Monroe's lifestyle because she brought such penache to the screen. In the end the only real loser is one who quits, and that seems to be lost on Pirsig.

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Summary: Excellent - read and reflect on our culture and society!!!
Review: I constantly find myself picking up this book at least once a year. The book forces you to pay attention and to think; to reflect on the direction of our society and our culture, and to question if it is a good direction. Pirsig does an excellent job in not preaching, but telling a wonderful story, and uses the story as a tool to introduce and expand upon his philosophy and the zen philosophy. The book challenges us all to reflect and to work at understanding our lives and our culture in a time where everything is forcefed to us through television and 15 second sensationalized news stories. Read Pirsig and awaken your mind.

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Summary: 25 Years old yet Eternal in Message
Review: When you finally get through this book, possibly needing to read it several times to fully comprehend what is being said, you will be left in a daze.

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Summary: Pirsig is a master, this book is profound!
Review: On one level this is an adventure story, on another, its a metaphysical journey, on yet another its a primer on life...Pirsig is able to intertwine his journey with philosphy, adventure, and discovery. I had to read this book twice to fuly understand it. After the first 100 pages i could not put this book down!

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Summary: This book changed my life
Review: This book helps one to deal with the conflicts one faces in the day to day pursuit of truth.

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Summary: Magnificent example of metaphysical excellence
Review: This book succeeded in forcing open the rusting mind of humanity and setting precedence for aspiring philosophers and theologians to come.

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Summary: a book that can change the way you look at things
Review: This book is one of those rare books which can completely change the way you think. Pirsig is a brilliant author who takes you on a trip where you start disbelieving everything you have learnt so far in your life and finally accept it. It is a book which makes you question the absurdities of present day thinking, our set of rationality and very forcibly explodes your mind .An indepth and profound book on thinking and knowledge ,probably the most original after Kant. A must read book for all.

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Summary: ZMM--Exciting, fascinating, rewarding, totally unique.
Review: The essential how-to for learning to take a mental knife and split reality into new ways of seeing and understanding. An excellent resource on the art of persuasive writing (rhetoric) and communication. Written by an education reformer, it is a wonderful biographical novel, an inspirational travelogue, an introduction to metaphysics and philosophy, a frightening ghost story and mystery. Excellent book to read aloud with teenagers. The best book ever written.
Note: The current editions have an afterword, written years after the original publication of the book. THIS SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ADDED. IT DOES NOT BELONG, AND DESTROYS THE ENDING. Have someone else cut this out and stuff it into an envelope for you. Keep it to read a year after you finish the book.

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Summary: A profound and challenging journey of the spirit.
Review: This is one of the most difficult but, ultimately, most rewarding works of literary non-fiction written in this country in this century, and one of the few books that I can say I was privileged to have experienced in my life. "Zen etc." is a haunting, quntessentially American jewel of insight, reflection and expression. It ranks alongside James Agee's and Walker Evans' "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" in the richness of its subject and its defiance of easy categorization. Understand and be forewarned: "Zen" is not "light reading". The story unfolds pondersously through a series of flashbacks and philosphical discourses along a motorcycle trek with his young son between Minnesota. Montana, the Pacific Northwest, and California. The "plot" is an ex-college professor/PhD candidate's vision-quest to come to terms (after a fashion) with the circumstances and a hubristic persona he calls "Phaedrus" that brought him to debilitating madness, divorce and the estrangement of his son. This trek brings him a kind of catharsis and redemption, in the final analysis, but the getting of wisdom, the reconcilliation with his son (and Phaedrus) are not without their own costs. I have recommended this book over the years to many friends. Few have had the stick-to-it-iveness to get beyond the first 100 pages, let alone finish it. But like climbing Mt. Everest, the reward of the view is assuredly worth it.