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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

by Robert M. Pirsig

Summary

Robert Pirsig's journey to enlightenment on the back of a motorcycle was rejected 121 times before its publication in 1974. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE immediately hit the best-seller lists, and, even decades later, it remains a cult classic. A combination of travelogue, philosophical tract, gripping novel, and probing memoir, ZEN encompasses both Eastern and Western thought in an exploration of the concept of "Quality"-what it means and how to achieve it. Pirsig's method involves an examination of self: who are we, how did we get where we are, and what is worth striving for? In a readable, often enchanting narrative, he attempts to answer these questions, first for himself, as he travels back into his life and scrutinizes his own experiences, and then for the reader, who is on his or her own quest for meaning. Pirsig's book, both intimately personal and powerfully universal, is in the end a book about how to live. But seen solely as the chronicle of a cross-country trip, ZEN is equally appealing. As the narrator and his 11-year-old son, Chris, travel the roads in all moods and all weathers, he describes, with humor and warmth, his interactions with Chris, and the boy's responses to everything from firecrackers to the sound of rain on a tent roof to a massive bull moose in Montana-and a deep and solid father-son relationship begins to emerge. In a heartbreaking Afterword written in 1984, Pirsig describes Chris's murder in San Francisco, in 1979, at the age of 22, and the decision he and his wife made to have another child-a little girl named Nell. After his initial grief, Pirsig refuses to sink into mourning for his son," and writes, "Chris's body was gone. But the larger pattern remained."

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Media Reviews

"One is tempted to call the book a psychomelodrama, for Pirsig's intentions are as extravagant as his themes. The attempt to triumph over madness, suicide, death in the self, of his son, for our world, by means of the patient exploration of ideas an emotions is certainly an extravagant ambition. That he succeeds in finding a plausible catharsis through such an enterprise seems to me sufficient reward for the author's perseverance, and ample testimony to his honesty and courage."    -- Edward Abbey

   -- New York Times Book Review

"What happens along the way is that the narrator thinks, mostly, a pastime which has not been very fashionable in this age of see-me-feel-me-touch-me-heal-me."

   -- Washington Post Book World

Bibliographic Details

Publisher: Bantam Books
Published date: 1995
Size: 4.25 x 6.75 inches
Weight: 0.45 pounds

Publisher's Notes

The extraordinary story of a mans quest for truth. It will change the way you think and feel about your life."The cycle youre working on is a cycle called yourself.'""The study of the art of motorcycle maintainence is really a study of the art of rationality itself. Working on a motorcycle, working well, caring, is to become part of a process, to achieve an inner peace of mind. The motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon." -- Robert M. Pirsig

Other Editions

• Hardcover - Harpercollins (1984) - from $2.12
• Paperback Reissue - Bantam Books (1995) - from $1.00

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