A long dry book with some interesting parts but not enough to carry you through 400 pages. Probably enjoyable to some but I found it difficult to get through and fairly depressing. ( )

Had some good points but I couldn't finish it - too deep for me. ( )

I first read this book after reading about it in the NYT Review of Books in 1974. It was the first book that I remember reading with a dictionary beneath it (but not the last) and it is one of the books that changed the direction of my life, recognizing that my life IS a quest for meaning. I have read it several times since (including in audio) and each time I get a little more out of it. Definitely one of my 'Top 10 Favorites' books. I highly recommend it. ( )

Undoubtedly my favorite book from my undergrad years although I admit I had to read it about 10 times before I began to comprehend what he was writing about. Pirsig's "Inquiry into Values" has much in common with Volney's Ruins of Empires and Law of Nature. I'll bet Volney would have approved of Pirsig's critique of Kant's work as well as his disapproval of the so-called Church of Reason. What Pirsig approaches, but doesn't quite hit upon, is the direct link between human-created moral codes and the physical laws of nature. Even so Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance remains one of the greatest books of the prior century.

Excellent....I have read and re-read...I use it in my
Introduction to Philosophy class. ( )