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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (An Inquiry Into Values)
 

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

by Robert M. Pirsig

Arguably one of the most profoundly important essays ever written on the nature and significance of "quality" and definitely a necessary anodyne to the consequences of a modern world pathologically obsessed with quantity. Although set as a story of a cross-country trip on a motorcycle by a father and son, it is more nearly a journey through 2,000 years of Western philosophy. For some... (read more)

Top tags: philosophy,  spirituality,  fiction,  travel,  zen (all tags)

Discussions

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  • ajjoozaa

    ajjoozaa said:

    “the most imp thing this book does is shake our belief in the "absolute truth" of religion, what the narrator calls "ghosts".it really helped me to get over the fact that god or religion is completely a figment of our imagination, and that there is no such thing as god.from agnostic i am now an atheist, all thanks to this book.
    did anyone else feel like it..??”

    posted Friday, June 20 2008 ( | view 2 replies )
  • Selina C

    selina c said:

    “Felt sorry for Chris, his son in the book. Totally empathised with him when he sighed 'Dad..I'm bored!'. what does Dad do? Sends him home alone! An utterly self-absorbed father takes him out on a month-long motorbike trip expounding academic rhetoric to anyone who will listen. If I was as obssessed with theory as he was it would drive me up the wall. All in all, interesting, in a preachy kind of way but really felt sorry for the kid. Not a fun trip.”

    posted Monday, June 16 2008 ( | view 1 reply )
  • Patishil

    patishil said:

    “I picked up this book from a second hand shop. The title was interesting. Sat at a coffee shop to start me off on the beginning chapters. Woaahh! What a discovery! I'm not even midway through the book yet but I'm liking it for the ideas in it that we don't often hear rationalized everyday. I say take your time reading this. Put the down the book if specially if there's lightning that strikes your thoughts. And then keep your thoughts going ... and don't let go til you've exhausted it. The book makes you break down your thoughts and and then you go further into rationalizing his thoughts to compare it with yours. Get it? Well anyway, thanks to the internet.. what great resources you'll find on the background of this book. Robert Prisig... now who's ever heard of this name? But then the you realize by browsing the net that you've stumbled upon possibly one of the great books written by a distinguished mind. Oh! And what a surprise to find out that Prisig spent some years in a mental institution... I guess partly because his non-conventional thoughts were either too much for him to control or that it was just too much for a conventional world.
    OH well.. so much for that.
    So now I continue reading into this book... ”

    posted Wednesday, April 16 2008
  • Bharat S

    bharat s said:

    “The first time I read the book was in 1973. It was mind blowing in its scope and topicality. I've re - read it innumerable times, it covers a lot and I've tried to base my life and actions on it (sometimes well, sometimes not). After so many years I still find the message relevant. Living a life of quality has a lot of rewards, compromising on quality may be good materially for a moment, it doesn't last. Trust me, I've been on the rollercoaster.”

    posted Wednesday, April 9 2008
  • Anne B

    anne b said:

    “I've been wanting to read this...will keep it in mind for this year, thanks!”

    posted Monday, March 31 2008
  • Geder

    geder said:

    “Not really about Zen, not really about motorcycle maintenance... but certainly about how to perceive and function in this world. I read this book over 30 years ago. Loaned it out four times - each copy never came back! That's how good this book is. Recommended for anyone who thinks.

    Peace,
    "Guided by the Ancestors" ”

    posted Wednesday, January 16 2008
  • Rajath S

    rajath s said:

    “This is THE defining moment in recent philosophical history!! Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values! Ah... that says it all!”

    posted Wednesday, January 16 2008
  • Stacy W

    stacy w said:

    “I read this book when I was just out of high school, and it was very mind-expanding. I like it because there are so many levels to it, from the relationship between the father and son, to the descriptions of the procedure he uses to fix his motorcycle, to the deep philosophical inquiry, "What is quality?" I've read it three times, and It's waiting in my bookcase to be read again.
    ”

    posted Thursday, December 20 2007
  • Stacy W

    stacy w said:

    “I read this book when I was just out of high school, and it was very mind-expanding. I like it because there are so many levels to it, from the relationship between the father and son, to the descriptions of the procedure he uses to fix his motorcycle, to the deep philosophical inquiry, "What is quality?" I've read it three times, and It's waiting in my bookcase to be read again.
    ”

    posted Thursday, December 20 2007
  • vinayak10

    vinayak10 said:

    “I dont rememeber how many times I have read this book.
    ”

    posted Tuesday, December 18 2007
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