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| Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (P.S.) | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert M. Pirsig
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $6.93
You Save: $10.02 (59%)
Buy New/Used from $6.86
Avg. Customer Rating:  (530 reviews)
Sales Rank: 3570
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.3
ISBN: 0061673730
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780061673733
ASIN: 0061673730
Publication Date: October 1, 2008
Release Date: September 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
blockquote p"The real cycle you're working on is a cycle called 'yourself.'"/p /blockquote pOne of the most important and influential books of the past half-century, Robert M. Pirsig's iZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance/i is a powerful, moving, and penetrating examination of how we live and a meditation on how to live better. The narrative of a father on a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest with his young son, it becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life's fundamental questions. A true modern classic, it remains at once touching and transcendent, resonant with the myriad confusions of existence and the small, essential triumphs that propel us forward./p
Amazon.com Review
In his now classic IZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance/I, Robert Pirsig brings us a literary chautauqua, a novel that is meant to both entertain and edify. It scores high on both counts.p Phaedrus, our narrator, takes a present-tense cross-country motorcycle trip with his son during which the maintenance of the motorcycle becomes an illustration of how we can unify the cold, rational realm of technology with the warm, imaginative realm of artistry. As in Zen, the trick is to become one with the activity, to engage in it fully, to see and appreciate all details--be it hiking in the woods, penning an essay, or tightening the chain on a motorcycle. p In his autobiographical first novel, Pirsig wrestles both with the ghost of his past and with the most important philosophical questions of the 20th century--why has technology alienated us from our world? what are the limits of rational analysis? if we can't define the good, how can we live it? Unfortunately, while exploring the defects of our philosophical heritage from Socrates and the Sophists to Hume and Kant, Pirsig inexplicably stops at the middle of the 19th century. With the exception of Poincare, he ignores the more recent philosophers who have tackled his most urgent questions, thinkers such as Peirce, Nietzsche (to whom Phaedrus bears a passing resemblance), Heidegger, Whitehead, Dewey, Sartre, Wittgenstein, and Kuhn. In the end, the narrator's claims to originality turn out to be overstated, his reasoning questionable, and his understanding of the history of Western thought sketchy. His solution to a synthesis of the rational and creative by elevating Quality to a metaphysical level simply repeats the mistakes of the premodern philosophers. But in contrast to most other philosophers, Pirsig writes a compelling story. And he is a true innovator in his attempt to popularize a reconciliation of Eastern mindfulness and nonrationalism with Western subject/object dualism. The magic of IZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance/I turns out to lie not in the answers it gives, but in the questions it raises and the way it raises them. Like a cross between IThe Razor's Edge/I and ISophie's World/I, IZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance/I takes us into "the high country of the mind" and opens our eyes to vistas of possibility. I--Brian Bruya/I
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| Customer Reviews: Read 525 more reviews...
 A Pseudo-intellectual Classic December 17, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
A pseudo-intellectual classic for people who can't handle real philosophy. I met a woman years ago who thought that metaphysics was the study of "ESP and stuff." She had just entered a graduate program in philosophy. Zen and the Art would be perfect for her. For those interested in reading real philosophy, I recommend Martin Heidegger's The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics: World, Finitude, Solitude (Indiana University Press, 1995). Don't worry about reading Being and Time right away, just enjoy The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics. When you finish, you'll never want to read pop-philosophical kitsch like Zen and the Art again.
 Appreciate the clarification of ideas in writing December 11, 2008
I have marked several pages in this book where the author succinctly wrote about ideas that I have had but were unclearly conceived in my own mind. A problem many of us have is with language itself being of such abstract nature, often our feelings or impressions of things are either unclear or incomplete as a result. Pirsig has the ability to express complex ideas clearly and often used examples, metaphors, or paraphrasing to facilitate that.
Neat October 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
For those who are unfamiliar with philosophy, this is a very accesible book with some nice insights.br /It reads like a train (although you might want to pause once in a while to think about some paragraphs).br /br /It is a bit outdated, and I have some personal remarks concerning a few topics.
Couldn't put it down. August 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was a thought provocing and very enjoyable read. Although it isn't "action packed" or anything, that isn't the point. The author's naration tells the tale of his philosophical journey cross country with his son on his motorcyle. Not only was this book inspirational, but provides new insight in terms of how one sees the world around them. A must read!
About this book August 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I re-read this book after about 15 years and enjoyed it just as much as the first time, but I got something different out of it this time too.br /br /This book has a great calming effect on me. It's so interesting on so many subjects, and so accesssible. This is such a relevent read.
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