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Note: The font size of the text in the book is 11.5 ptA penetrating examination of how we live and how to live betterA narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions on how to live. The narrator's relationship with his son leads to a powerful self-reckoning; the craft of motorcycle maintenance leads to an austerely beautiful process for reconciling science, religion, and humanism. Resonant with the confusions of existence, this classic is a touching and transcendent book of life.This new edition contains an interview with Pirsig and letters and documents detailing how this extraordinary book came to be. Read more
Publisher : Mariner Books Classics
Publication date : August 2, 2005
Language : English
Print length : 464 pages
ISBN-10 : 0060839872
ISBN-13 : 71
Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
Dimensions : 5.31 x 1.05 x 8 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #863,278 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #4 in Zen Philosophy (Books) #15 in Travelogues & Travel Essays #22 in Travel Writing Reference
#4 in Zen Philosophy (Books):
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Kindle
Looking at the reviews here, this book is loved by hundreds and reviled by a small percentage. I wonder what causes so much passion? It's wonderful that we have, among those who gave the book just one star, so many people who are so far above it intellectually -- too familiar with philosophy, too personally enlightened, perhaps -- to find any value in it. But I would like to point out to the subset of our best and brightest, those who tell everyone else not to waste their time reading it, that just because you got nothing out of the book doesn't mean no one else will. One of the complaints I see here is that there isn't much of the title's Zen nor much motorcycle maintenance, either -- and I note that the author says something about this in his introduction, so it must be true, right? -- yet I believe there is plenty of both. If the reader is expecting an introduction to Zen or a How To manual on motorcycle maintenance, those will not be found. It's not even the author sharing his enjoyment of either of the two fields with his audience. But the themes that run throughout the book explore many of the same ideas the Buddha did, and several concepts important to motorcycle maintenance that will not be found in manuals are discussed throughout the work. But the title really represents the duality that Pirsig puts under his microscope: Zen represents the hippie "go with the flow" attitude that is contrasted to the "slice and dice" schemes of technology, via motorcycle maintenance. And in the end, the title doesn't say just motorcycle maintenance; it's the "Art " that's critical, because one thing the book is aiming for is to show us that the science of technology is an art -- or at least should be an art -- and that the two ways of looking at life don't need to be in opposition, but can be quite naturally blended, to the benefit of all concerned. It might seem like the novel is caught in its time, with language about those who see things as "groovy" vs. "the squares" but the dichotomy between the two has been under discussion in various forms for centuries: romanticism vs. empiricism, passion vs. logic, science vs. religion. The same split is found today underlying two sides of the debate over climate change. If the book is not approached as being literally about Zen and motorcycle maintenance, but as using these as stand-ins for concepts that can be much larger -- or even much smaller -- there is a lot to be gained here. Another complaint is that the protagonist is not sympathetic, but that's because this isn't a novel written from the romantic side, nor, really, the empirical side -- it's not even a novel, though it reads a lot like one -- it is a true-enough tale of relationships between two related men, and a father and a son, and a road trip that carries with it time for plenty of slow discussion of philosophy. The book takes its time putting the pieces together, and the author isn't trying to win our love -- if you can approach the book on its own terms rather than with a whole load of expectations about what it should do and how it should do it, you may get something out of it -- but to truly enjoy it, you've got to go with the flow, you know? I know I get a lot out of it every time I read it. I love road stories, and this one is paced just like a real long-distance trip, with long stretches of time to think things through interspersed with short breaks for taking care of the business of life. That what's going on in the environment, relationships, and other encounters reflects what's being thought through in the long stretches is a small bonus. The writing is clean and evocative, enjoyable. For the most part, the carefully constructed introduction to all the elements needed to understand the philosophy is gentle enough to be clear and not overly taxing, at least until the deepest parts, which can be hard to follow (and for good reason). The elements of psychological mystery captivate me each time. I first read ZAMM the year it was released, in the mid-70s, and have read it at least every five years since then, and each time I thoroughly enjoy it. The first time through, I could not follow the philosophy all the way down into the descent into madness it brought on. Five years later -- with time for the ideas to be examined through my own life -- I got it, even agreed with it. This time, this reading, is the first time I ended up doubting the validity of the greatest philosophical insights the story offers. Ironically, it's my deepening understanding of Buddhism that changed my mind. There really is a lot of Buddhism in this book, and not specifically Zen, either, but the deepest themes common to all forms of Buddhism. The questions about the wisdom of dividing the world up into a duality of the physical vs. the mental, of seeing ourselves as somehow separate from everything else, these were explored by the Buddha, too, though the framework he used to discuss these ideas was -- obviously -- nothing to do with motorcycles. In Dependent Arising he, too, considers how it comes to be that we split the world in two. "Name and form" he calls this split, and later thinkers have described what he was talking about as the same subject-object division that Pirsig is mulling over in ZAMM. The Buddha, though, says that it is "desire for existence" -- not quality -- that, to borrow Pirsig's phrase, "is the generator of everything we know". I tend to agree with the Buddha because I can see in our lives, and through our sciences, what that desire for existence is and why it drives us to divide the world up the way we do, and exactly how it leads us into trouble. I can't say the same for Pirsig's metaphysics, but that doesn't stop me from deep enjoyment of the book. I hope to have another half-dozen five-yearly reads, if I'm lucky, and -- who knows -- maybe I will come around again to see it the way he does.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2015 by Linda Blanchard
Format: Kindle
I first read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in high school, and reading it then was an amazing discovery. I remember not being able to stop reading it, going on until well past midnight, barely able to stop when it was time to sleep, and finishing it the next day. When I saw that the Kindle edition was down to $2.99, I didn't hesitate and bought it and read it again. Books are different beasts when you read them a second time. The first time I loved the description of the scientific method and it's application to debugging computer programs (in addition to the problems you find when you need to repair a motorcycle): When you’ve hit a really tough one, tried everything, racked your brain and nothing works, and you know that this time Nature has really decided to be difficult, you say, “Okay, Nature, that’s the end of the nice guy,” and you crank up the formal scientific method. For this you keep a lab notebook. Everything gets written down, formally, so that you know at all times where you are, where you’ve been, where you’re going and where you want to get. In scientific work and electronics technology this is necessary because otherwise the problems get so complex you get lost in them and confused and forget what you know and what you don’t know and have to give up. (Loc 1603) This time around, I found another part of the story, the story about a father and son, re-united after a horrifying personal disaster, and the realization that it as his son that brought him out of the psychiatric ward: We’re related to each other in ways we never fully understand, maybe hardly understand at all. He was always the real reason for coming out of the hospital. To have let him grow up alone would have been really wrong. In the dream too he was the one who was always trying to open the door. I haven’t been carrying him at all. He’s been carrying me! (Loc 6249) What's great about the book is that all this is interspersed with a motorcycle trip from Minnesota to California. It's full of little tips about cycle touring that indicate that Pirsig did do quite a bit of motorcycle touring, though he does spend way too much time on a freeway in California instead of riding down the coast. (And much like most tourists, he makes the mistake of visiting the California coast during the summer, when it's mostly fogged in) There are also little interesting observations about people on the road: While we wait for chocolate malteds I notice a high-schooler sitting at the counter exchanging looks with the girl next to him. She’s gorgeous, and I’m not the only other one who notices it. The girl behind the counter waiting on them is also watching with an anger she thinks no one else sees. Some kind of triangle. We keep passing unseen through little moments of other people’s lives. (Loc 4385) Ultimately, the book's a philosophical novel, with lots of explanation of the authors' ideas about the nature of Quality, the split between the arts and the sciences, and his attempts to unify the two by keeping Quality undefined as, "You know it when you see it." For a rhetoric class at the places Pirsig has taught, I think this approach might work. For those of us working in technology, however, I'm not sure that non-definition is useful. There's a certain sense that those who care passionately enough about their work enough to have strong opinions and defend them are better engineers than those for whom engineering is "just work." On the other hand, you could argue that in many ways, the constant arguments over the quality of say, the choice of programming language is well over-blown, and people would mostly be better of getting work done than engaging in the low-Quality flame wars that you find on the internet. Regardless of how you feel, however, the novel is thought-provoking, interesting, and never dull, despite being mostly about ideas, rather than being about characters or plot. It's a great book and well worth reading and re-reading. Highly recommended.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2014 by Piaw Na
Format: Kindle
The art of motorcycle maintenance poses some philosophical questions which Robert M. Pirsig tries to answer in his Chautauqua, in this book, The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. With his twelve-year-old son Chris, he tours the United States on a motorcycle while talking about various philosophical problems, but mainly about the idea of Quality, the difference between the classical and romantic understanding of technology, and he even discusses Immanuel Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason'. He does this with a clear understanding about where he wants the discussion to go. The idea of Quality is the main drive force behind the discussion, and it is thought-provoking and interesting at the same time. Quality, he thinks, is the essential necessity to building houses, and without it, you are just building with bricks, and not sensing the overall picture or idea of the house, which makes it look good. Quality is also an essential part of writing, and he comes up with an example in a classroom situation, where the students discusses quality in writing (to take just one example). In his Chautauqua, he also discusses questions like the difference between seeing the motorcycle in a classical way and seeing it in a romantic way. The classical way is concerned with the underlying structure of the motorcycle, the functions: if you do this to the motorcycle, it will do that and so on, whereas the romantic way concerns itself with the feeling of the motorcycle. If you want a philosophical book that is easier and more fun than the great classical philosophical books, you should read this book. It is an interesting and fun book that covers many of the problems that technology and the human interaction with technology can create.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2013 by p_abc85
Format: Mass Market Paperback
If philosophy began, as this book suggests, through a pursuit of "the immortal" - those truths that exist outside of time, then by it's own definition this book earns it's place as a philosophical masterpiece. Almost half a century later this tome, written over a decade before I was born, seems as relevant to the challenges of today as it was upon conception. This because it focuses not on the trees but the forest itself, and for those of us blinded by our own perspective, takes us on a motorcycle journey up to the treeline. Pirsig begins his narrative as a describer and ardent defender of the scientific method and rationality, acknowledging that this puts him in the category his contemporaries (at the height of the 60's counter culture movement), would call "square." Using his friends John and Sylvia as foils he describes the line between this worldview and the more intuitive, aesthetically driven values of artists. This is the same line that divides east from west, "hip" from "square", artists from engineers, Jobs from Gates, and the list goes on. As he describes this line it is impossible not to see all the places it manifests itself both in history and present day life. He provides this definition for two reasons. One is to prove that he understands both sides of the line fully and completely, and that while aware of his own bias he corrects for it and makes arguments that fully acknowledge both positions. The second reason for defining the line is to eventually reject it altogether. It says it right there in the title of the book "The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"... this book seeks to mend this great rift in thought. The answer he discerns yields stunning parallels to principles of both eastern (and to a lesser extent western) spirituality - where the "Zen" in the title comes from. I'll leave the philosophical merits the arguments to the reviewers with more foundation in this area, even though according to the arguments in the book I shouldn't. The author gives a broad overview of the classic philosophers, which I found fascinating, though he goes into just enough depth to support and tie into his own arguments - which at this point in the book have been fairly well established. There is nothing stilted or esoteric about this book. The narrative stems from very practical questions in the authors own experiences, and the answers touched on have very practical implications for any reader in any profession in any walk of life. He explains clearly how to find the art in every day tasks, such as repairing a motorcycle, and how this is in fact an essential requirement of performing that task well. I dare you to not find applications to your profession, hobby or other life's passions. The author deftly switches between a narrative a motorcycle road trip and philosophical musings, in a pendulum swings that is completely in harmony with itself. Any time the narration becomes too abstract, he returns to earth with such profoundly "every day" examples that it is impossible not to continue being pulled along for the ride. Highly recommend.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2014 by Brandon Ramirez
Format: Kindle
5.0 out of 5 stars Just Finish It, November 13, 2014 By Hawk - See all my reviews This review is from: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Kindle Edition) Okay, so I'm not a philosophy major and I'm not a great literature critic. You should read this book even if it is the only book you ever finish. I'll admit it is one of the most difficult books I've ever read. However, it is one of the only books I've read multiple times. I was forced to read it for a 100 level Philosophy course in college in the year of 1979. I hated it, but I dutifully read it for the lesson plan. It stuck with me in my subconscious. The story kept popping up in my mind and I kept following the lessons. In my early career days, I followed the advice to take pride in the "quality" of my work. I wanted to do my job good, not just to get by and get home, but to be really good at my job. I read this book again when I was in my late 30s and my kids were about Chris's age. Again, I had to persevere to finish the book. I got a lot more from it. I wanted to explain myself better to my children than the narrator explained himself to his son Chris in the book. I accomplished this as well. My children understand me and I understand them. We are very close and as a result there were never any secrets and we all get along very well. I just read it again in my mid 50s. I still had to endeavor to finish it. Maybe I have a slight advantage because I have been riding and working on motorcycles for 45 years. However, this book will teach you different meanings of life at every stage of your life. I now get the philosophical lessons about understanding how to blend the classic and romantic perceptions for a better quality of life. My favorite passage from this book is; "The real cycle you're working on is a cycle called yourself. The machine that appears to be "out there" and the person that appears to be "in here" are not two separate things. They grow toward Quality or fall away from Quality together". I talk to so many people who said they tried to read it and have given up a quarter to half way into it. That's kind of ironic isn't it? Read the book, finish the book, try to understand some of it. Read it again later and see how much more you understand. I plan to put it on my bucket list to read it again and see what I get from it next time !!!
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Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2014 by Hawk
Let me start off by saying that my feelings toward Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM) are deeply conflicted. As a philosophical treatise it is nearly a complete failure, with concepts that are often contradictory, and maddeningly ambiguous at best. Make no mistake about it: the book is a rhetorical device intended to convey the author’s opinions on the intellectual state of the world and his ideas on the direction our lives should take (toward the indefinable ‘Quality’). The result is a soaring narrative that attempts to do no less than reconcile the fundamental conflicts between Eastern and Western philosophies and answer The Question (of Life, the Universe, and Everything). In pursuing such a lofty goal, ZAMM shows glimmers of clarity and insight, but the essay-interspersed-with-novella format leaves many key concepts half-formed and ill-explained. To add to the frustration, there is an underlying conflict between the narrator and Phaedrus (and even past versions of Phaedrus) where each has his own ideas, often contradictory ones, that are never really reconciled. After finishing ZAMM I felt massively intellectually dissatisfied. Attempting to grapple with the ideas presented in the book at any depth brings more uncertainty than certainty, and many more questions than the book has answers for. But, there is also something unmistakably satisfying about ZAMM that has nothing to do with the use of logic and reason to make airtight philosophical arguments. Indeed, rather than rely on Reason to make its point, ZAMM spends a large chunk discrediting the capital R Reason that other philosophical treatises rely on. I think the reason for this satisfaction (and the reason for the book’s popularity) is what Pirsig himself acknowledges in the afterword, that the book offered an expanded version of “success” that went beyond the materialism that still seems to define American culture today. To the average American reader it feels and seems a profound book because it offers an alternative motive for life (Quality) that doesn’t feel shallow or inherited. And it can do this because it doesn’t need or want the shackles of traditional Reason that have prevented philosophy from giving such a satisfying answer to the question of Life. This satisfaction is why my feelings are so conflicted. The abstract Quality of Pirsig feels right, especially when the vast majority of Western analogues are of materialism. But is it right, or am I doing the same thing that Pirsig does with ZAMM, and arranging my facts to make it feel right? Does ZAMM feel satisfying because I’m an American, burned out on materialism, aching for some other analogue to fill the void? These are questions that can’t be answered, and certainly can’t be addressed by the book. And herein lies the ultimate problem with a philosophical book that alternatively rejects Reason and simultaneously tries to appeal to it: there is no resolution. It may feel right, but ultimately that’s all you have with this book: a feeling. And maybe that’s enough.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2014 by Andy Rice
Format: Kindle
I recently completed reading the book "The Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Persil. This is an extremely well written book having little to do with motorcycle maintenance. Instead, it is a book about a journey, both metaphorically (a life journey) and literally (road trip). Reading any book is a committment of time and thought, so I am very picky on what I choose to read. This book was recommended to me by a friend to give me some stylistic ideas on my current book project "Last Ride with Winters Child", which is a book about a metaphysical journey down a river. I was not disappointed in this regard at all - this is a great book for aspiring authors. Its a thinking man's book. If you were to ask me what section of the library this book belongs in, I would say philosophy. Persig discusses Greek and Age of Enlightenment philosophies in depth as part of this journey. This is definitely a book that makes you think rather than a book that one would read purely for entertainment. Its a book about a journey, not a quest. Journeys often provide their own lessons, and most of the time can be even more interesting than the destination. On a critical level, the author jumps around quite a bit, between time past and time present. There aren't any real delineations or transitions when he does. One second, you are in time present, the next second in time past. Some people clearly won't like this, as it can be tough to follow. There are very deep themes - thought provoking themes - so this is definitely not "light reading". Some folks may not like this either. The narrator/main character/Phaedrus is a well developed character. This is important, since large segments of the book occur in his head. The author doesn't spend much time developing the other characters... The net is that the other characters are somewhat obscure. This may have been on purpose, since the narrator and author has mental health issues, preventing him from having real relationships with others, let alone fictional characters in this book. Based on the difficulty level - I would recommend this book for serious readers and critical readers. This book has stood the test of time. I would think it would be a great book for discussion in a philosophy class in a college or an undergraduate English course. Five stars.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2016 by Arthur Gitau Mbuthia
Format: Mass Market Paperback
The book is based on true accounts experienced by the author. The book doesn't really talk about Zen, but is more based on Western Philosophy. The author writes, "What follows is based on actual occurrences. Although much has been changed for rhetorical purposes, it must be regarded in its essence as fact. However, it should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It's not very factual on motorcycles, either." The book is about the author's cross-country motorcycle trip with his 8 year old son Chris, which leads to a journey of self-discovery. It is an examination of the spiritual relationship between a parent and a child, and man's search for reason. During this journey, the author teaches us about life and the human condition in a profound and thought-provoking way. It is a terrific book about philosophy and life, albeit a difficult read. After reading this book, you might reevaluate the way you live, go on a personal quest for the meaning of life, and be interested in reading more books on philosophy. In my case, the book made me want to read more about Kant and Hume, and review some of the books I read before on Plato and Aristotle. Some of the deep philosophical questions and conundrums raised by the author are: (a) Before Newton discovered The Law of Gravity, was there gravity? Did gravity exist before Newton or is it the thought of Gravity that suddenly manifested the Law of Gravity? Is it the thought of something that suddenly creates it? (b) The Arabs and Indians used the `zero' before the Romans and Greeks. Why did the Greeks not invent the zero? How did their societies function for so long without the zero? Could it have continued without the discovery of `zero'? Was the `zero' always there regardless of whether it was discovered or not? (c) All arguments, solutions, and scientific `truths' have already been invented. We simply discover the best solution. (d) How do we define the "present" when everything we're conscious of has already happened, and is already a part of the past? (e) Which self is the real you? (f) What is good and what is bad? The book opens with the following quote: "And what is good, Phaedrus, and what is not good-- Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?" (g) "Astronomers would be telling mankind that if he looked long enough through a telescope powerful enough, what he would see is the back of his own head." (h) In life there is no grade, no pass or fail. (i) "Any intellectually conceived object is always in the past and therefore unreal. Reality is always the moment of vision before the intellectualization takes place. There is no other reality." (j) "Religion wasn't invented by man. Man was invented by religion." [No idea who invented women, hihihihihi] (k) How can something can be exclusively "material," when our reality is exclusively spiritual (l) We should remain open to the part of the world that is beyond appearances, beyond the so-called matter, and cannot be experienced but only imagined. (m) How do you deal with technology and remain sane? (n) Man searches for something that he can't quite define, identify or reach. Plato and Aristotle, the author argues, conceived a system of thought in which beauty is severed from functionality. Functionality became less attractive to us than beauty. Plato and Aristotle, according to the author, committed a murderous act by this system of thought that is still carried out till today. "Quality" has thus been victimized. The author went insane as a graduate student as he searched for the answer to "what is quality?", and spent considerable time at the asylum. He was subjected to shock treatments that wiped out his personality and most of his memory. He later realized that he was not really insane, but thought in a different level than most people. Pirsig sees the problems in our world as the result of an overemphasis on beauty, when functionality is more essential. One reviewer puts it nicely, "...pure `function' has problems of its own. For example, our bodily organs carry out the function of allowing us to live, but one doesn't really desire for our skin to be translucent so we can watch these functions. In fact, we would have a revulsion to such a thing. Therefore, we have a combination of both "form" [beauty] and "function"; our organs work very well without our having to see them. This is the desirable state. This desirable state is called `Quality'." However, `Quality' is indefinable. It comes before thought, and before actions. Any attempt at describing it is useless, because as soon as you attempt to, you are only talking about one aspect of it. This is one of those books that you either both understand and enjoy or you don't. It is really all about timing, your past experiences and knowledge, and your reasons for reading this book in the first place. If you don't understand it put it down and wait until the time is right. Don't throw it away! Read this book slowly if you really want to understand it. If you like to read thought provoking and intellectually challenging books, you will love it! To close, one reviewer wrote, "Many of the negative reviews are from people who had a preconceived notion of what this book was before they read it (either from the title or from a recommendation) and were upset that it didn't meet their expectations. It seems to me that these folks have received their Zen lesson..."
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Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2007 by Sahra Badou