Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance

by Robert M. Pirsig

English language

Published Nov. 6, 2005

ISBN:: 978-0-06-167373-3

(5 reviews)

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values is a book by Robert M. Pirsig first published in 1974. It is a work of fictionalized autobiography and is the first of Pirsig's texts in which he explores his concept of Quality.The title is an apparent play on the title of the 1948 book Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel. In its introduction, Pirsig explains that, despite its title, "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."
Pirsig received 121 rejections before an editor finally accepted the book for publication—and he did so thinking it would never generate a profit. It was subsequently featured on best-seller lists for decades, with initial sales of at least 5 million copies worldwide.

14 editions

Geoff reviewed Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

Review of 'Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

This book started slow and frustrating but redeemed itself by the end. I’m not a philosophy expert by any stretch of the imagination but I found Part 3 engaging and thought provoking.

Part 1 felt, to me, marred by a sort of narcissism that was grating. Both the narrator and the author felt a bit like a “well actually” reply guy except instead of one exhausting tweet, he wrote a whole book.

At one point the narrator describes a time when he felt seen and accepted as his true self, and it was when he stood at the head of a classroom and everyone hung on his every word. This is revealing.

But like I said, although this narcissism never went away, and the narrator remains, to me, deeply unlikable, the philosophy of the later parts drowns it out and it becomes worth reading.

Wesley Aptekar-Cassels reviewed Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (3rd re-read)

4 stars

This is the third time I've re-read this book, and I liked it the least this time. This book has a few important points, some of which I haven't found other books that talk about — in particular, the ideas about the tautological nature of "rationality" and "science" are important and unique, and the ideas about the nuances of what about the relationship of people to technology causes unhappiness and strife is well-considered. Unfortunately, much of the book is discussion of the novel philosophical concept that the author calls "Quality", a concept which I think is ill-considered and ill-argued. Frustrating, since the disagreements the author assumes a reader might have with his arguments are not the ones that I have.

I still do love this book, and I certainly would still recommend it in many circumstances, but I was sad to return to it and find it not quite as …

I still do love this book, and I certainly would still recommend it in many circumstances, but I was sad to return to it and find it not quite as lovely as I'd remembered. Then again, this book has somewhat of a reputation as being a book that's attractive to younger people, so perhaps that's natural.

Alexia reviewed Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

Review of 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Very long winded, slow to get to the point. Only at the end does it get quite exciting, but did the author really need so long to finally reveal what he meant by "Quality"? I felt rather cheated when I found out what he meant (no spoiler! so I do not extend further...). But then, maybe I have exactly the kind of mindset he seems to have a problem with, so it is not so surprising I was frustrated by this book. It took me two years to finally get to the end of it...

Jaap Stronks

rated it

Aug. 1, 2015

InfernalTeddy

rated it

March 8, 2022