There's a section in this book that discusses the inability of a narcissist to fix a motorcycle. As a software engineer with narcissistic tendencies, that section really struck a nerve, and inspired me to dive way deeper into our systems and try to understand "what where they thinking" when working in a legacy code base someone else designed. This curiosity has led to several aha moments that I would have prematurely dismissed as an idiotic code base designed by idiots had I not spent the time to try and understand it.
There's a number of times when I've finished reading a book, reading an article, listening to an album, or watching a movie, I'm left thinking "What the fuck was that?" It didn't necessarily bring joy, but it made me think, and much later I realize how good it was. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is the best example of this.
People complain about this book a lot but I enjoyed it for the most part. Having no philosophy background, I generally struggled through some of his more academic points though.
But I generally enjoy books that have "quotable wisdom" in the narrative. One of the quotes that has stuck with me the longest is from this book:
"The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there."
It should be cautioned that this book gets killed by a lot of people who have done philosophy for various reasons. But Phil Jackson is apparently a fan, and anyone who wins 10 NBA championships and got the best out of MJ, Kobe, Shaq, and the Worm, and is a "Zen Christian" must know something interesting.
And yeah, it's a book worth reading through, if grueling at times. I can't find the quote, but one of his points is that quality things have quality because their creators deeply cared about them and put that care into the product. It seemed very Jobsian (maybe not surprising given his own interests).
The book's investigation of quality and how quality relates to a meaningful life has occupied my mind off and on for decades now. But much more so the past few years.
I remember going to Duke Chapel a number of years ago and looking at the stone work there and wondering if there was even enough masons of that caliber to build something like that today. Then I thought what it must be like, being able to bring your children and grand children there and say, "Pappy helped build this place with his hands".
Perhaps it's a case of greener pastures but it sure seems having the ability to draw on those types of experiences would act as a warm blanket when the more cynical me started to develop a cold perspective.
I try not to read to deeply into it as a 'Philosophical' text.
And more on the concepts of 'Quality' and the thought process of an analytical person.
The book starts with fairly simple real world examples I'm sure most people could agree or relate with(the author/character was an editor of 'Digital Computer Manuals') .
They may not be stimulating and Reddit search is not working at the moment, but if you'll search there, there's a lot of commentary at different times and across various subreddits on the book.
Is there a resource in the vein of the linked review, but that explains the book (and its philosophical content) on a more basic level, for someone with no background in the subject? I was hoping that Pirsig would help me understand philosophy by placing it in a familiar and tangible setting -- that's what the title suggests. I was very disappointed.
Take the idea of Quality, for example. Pirsig talks about it for half the book; this is a concept that drives him insane and is central to his life and to the narrative. I still haven't the foggiest idea of what he is talking about, pages of strange analogies notwithstanding.
To me, this was a book about a troubled intellectual and his grappling with mental illness. About somebody that drives himself insane by obsessing over abstruse concepts arising from human experience. And it's a well-told story that made me think, but also made it very hard to relate to the protagonist simply because I do. not. understand. his intellectual struggle.
Philosophy has a really strong "begat" narrative that helps if you're interested in learning the bases. E.g. A begat B begat C...
Also, I think one of the difficulties in talking about philosophy is that specialized language in the field has incredible compression efficiency. It's a lot easier to say Kantian than to take 1,000 words to recap his arguments and beliefs.
But you do! You are saying and itterating exactly how he feels when it comes to quality. You can't define what he's talking about in his book. He can't define quality. They're very similar concepts, not exact, but they provide the same feeling.
I would say that quality is an abstract value judgement that requires context to be meaningful. That's why it escapes precise definition.
Whenever Pirsig talks about quality, it seems that he is heavily overloading the term. What he is really trying to do is develop a set of guiding principles that makes him feel like he understands the world and his role in it. Most people use religion or science for this, but Pirsig explicitly rejects science as a way of discovering the truth (for his definition of truth), and I think he implicitly rejects religion as well. I ended up reading "Quality" as just a label that he attaches to the personal philosophy he develops instead.
That's a brilliant review, capturing the major threads of the story like no other I've seen. But it also seems best suited to those who've already read the book (and can appreciate the relevance of the reviewer's philosophical argot), and perhaps not as suited to those who are deciding if this story would be worth their time.
OTOH, maybe anyone not put off by the reviewer's language and willing to read his entire review will see that s/he indeed does have The Right Stuff to plumb the rich depths of ZatAoMM.
God speed, Mr Pirsig. Your book meant worlds to me.
Slight tangent: I have seen a lot of mention of Zen, but not many people bring up the follow-up book, Lila. I found the second to be a more accessible and applicable-to-every-day-life sort of book, and more maturely written.
I enjoyed Zen more when I was younger and Lila more as an adult; I have read both at least 4 or 5 times apiece.
Both are brilliant though. And the linked review is fantastic.
I don't know what you all are talking about. Clearly this is a great piece on how to fix motorcycles! :)
I enjoyed it. The part where he talks about how a stripped screw is suddenly the most important screw in the world and you should treat it as such really stuck with me. I have used that attitude many times to get out of jam.
Also, I really enjoyed his description of how he approached fixing his bike vs his friend's BMW. And also the little talk he gave in putting together the grill and the instructions manual.
To interpret Plato as a practitioner of Zen...the other Buddhist sects must be far different from Mahayana Buddhism--anyone who is familiar with Mahayana, especially the line stemming from Bodhidharma, and Plato's thought will know that to compare Plato's philosophy with Zen is patently ridiculous--the one rejects the existence of objects, the other wants there to be a whole heaven of conceptual objects--to think there is any similarity in the 'one' of zen and the 'one' of Plato, or the Neo-platonists for that matter, just shows to me that you've engaged in very shallow reading. Still perhaps there's something in it, based on how absurdly incorrect it seems--plus I only know a bit about Mahayana--no other Zen traditions, so perhaps there are some that are more akin.
In general I am suspicious of all books and articles that insist on modelling their titles off of buzzy cliche's:
"Zen and the art of XYZ"
"How I Learned to Stop Worrying and XYZ"
etc.
It just does not leave a tantalizing impression and stinks of shallow laziness to me.
I suppose this isn't totally fair to this book, considering it came out in 1974--but still!
That's a shame because skimming through this article, this books sounds as though it may prove to be somewhat interesting.
Please, you've worked so hard on your book--for the love of god, bless it with the title it deserves!
I think this is some practical advice for writer's: consider the glittering titles of Nietzsche's works before you settle on a name for your book--is that really what you want to call it?--is that really its name?
Sheesh, I may have to read this just because of how vehemently I disagree with that Plato/Zen analogy--I need to see where the hell this guy could possibly be coming from other than bad, clumsy reading, and poor conceptual housekeeping--if not from here he's picked up on a grand connection I've missed, and has thus created something worthwhile.
The book is a monument of literature. Its title is the genesis of your buzzy cliché, not a lazy user of it. It deserves none of that opprobrium from someone who hasn't read it.
For those unfamiliar with the works, it's a good reference. In 'Zen in the Art of Archery' Eugen Herrigel uses archery as a metaphor to initially learn, and then to teach Zen to a western audience because teaching it directly, intellectually, is indicated to be impossible.
Pirsig's novel references this because large sections of the book deal with the inability to express something on a purely 'classical' or intellectual level, the inability to define certain concepts, and the attempt to somehow bridge that intellectual leap of faith and explain things that cannot be explained directly.
So he tries to convey his ideas on a more intuitive level, using all the arts of redeemed sophistry through the means of creative writing, a story about travelling on a motorcycle with his son and discussing motorcycle maintenance.
It's interesting to me to what extent the huge amount of "Zen and the Art of.." books that exist these days are references to Pirsig's novel or to Herrigel's. My feeling is generally a lot of them are unaware of the existence of Herrigel's novel and the choice of phrasing does suggest Pirsig's. However, even right at the start Herrigel's title was a template for other books: only a few years after its publication his wife Gustie also published a book called 'Zen in the Art of Flower Arrangement' with a similar treatment of Zen through the medium of Ikebana or flower arrangement.
I assume as much--thus my afterthought about 1974.
The more significant point, about the outright absurdity of interpreting Plato as a practitioner of zen--stands.
It also stands, as I said, that this absurdity makes me want to read the book--it indicates someone is following quite a different set of rules--playing quite a different game.
You're are most definitely correct on calling me out--my comment was a tad irrelevant and unfair--juvenile. Occasionally one regrets a comment after positing--one gets the sense a gut response--a passion, was at root--that comment was my gut response to the Plato/zen idea--which is a nullity to me!
At the same time I do think it's a bit extreme to call my comment an opprobrium.
It doesn't help that, as someone above pointed out, this reviewer clearly wrote the review for those already somewhat familiar with the book. Having not read it, I don't think I could give you a one sentence synopsis about the subject matter with full confidence based on that review alone. I only have that first quote from the text--which out of context, at least, seems absurd in its relating zen and western thought (though it has a fine understanding of Aristotle)
I don't think there is a one sentence description. It's a very, very rich book - a rare thing, with no easy summary possible. I have no philosophy training so I'm not qualified to discuss whether those aspects of the book make sense or not, but there is an involved (and unresolved) discussion on the nature of 'quality' which is alone worth reading it for. There is a narrative. There are questions of mental illness, of family, of interpersonal relationships, all of which are a pleasure to immerse oneself in. It is a difficult book, but ultimately I felt myself the better for expending the effort. I think you might find the experience worthwhile too, given what your comments suggest about the perspective you'd read it through. You might not agree with it but you may enjoy the argument.
You should not confuse the western philosophical zen writing tradition with Zen Buddhism.
In the western Zen Buddhist circles Robert M. Pirsig and Alan Watts are seen as both menace and blessing.
On the other hand these two gentlemen created interest for people to learn zen. On the other hand they created new western philosophy that adopted the name of zen and shares some ideas in surface level. Watts was very educated in Zen Buddhist literature and his writings are even more confusing.
Zen tradition is known as the meditation tradition in Buddhism. The word itself (etymology: zen -> ch'an -> dhyana) means meditation. Zen training trough the history is sitting in meditation. Very little is taught as a philosophy. People who go to the gym and are able to put time aside to train can pick up zazen easier than people who read zen books for 10 years.
I am most familiar with the platform sutra and some poetry of the monks--and well--it's nigh impossible for me to relate that to anything Plato ever conceived.
But of course that may just mean I haven't read enough Plato or practiced enough zen.
I think you are taking the Plato as a Buddhist quote too literally. It is meant as a literary metaphor to draw a distinction between Pirsig and Phaedrus, who are both characters in this particular novel.
You're seriously overthinking the name here. I generally feel the same about names but make exceptions for the original use that started the trend and creates the fashion such as How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Atomic Bomb or Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Also a reference to motorcycle maintenance is central to the start of this book, sadly I've only read the first third, so the name feels perfectly natural especially so taking into account the time it was published in with the time's interest in Zen.
I cannot speak to your other objections but I suspect you would like the book based on your response and if you give it two chapters I think you'll know.
