What a pleasure. I read this umpteen years ago when I was in high school. It's quite fascinating to reread it as an adult. Beautiful story of father and son, beautiful attention to detail as they travel across the country, and very interesting philosophical exploration. It's not a fast read, as the philosophical sections require actual thought and digestion, but well worth the work.

This can only be described as a quality book. I loved it. ( )

This was the precursor to Illusions by Richard Bach for me. My Dad gave it to me to read when I was about 13 and it left a profound impression on me. Dad had made many notes in the margins of this book and, at 13, some of them helped me to make sense of the deep thinking contained therein. Whilst it was on surface about motorcycles, there were many more lessons about life to be taken from this book. I later heard it called "wanky" when I attended university, but it has a special place in my heart so I would have none of that! I have not read it for some time and I am afraid to now because I might agree! ( )

un-be-lie-va-ble. this book is like a black hole that sucks you in and doesn't let go. it is many things folded into one at incredible conceptual density: a travel diary, a family history, a chronicle of a mental breakdown, a reflection on western civilization and a sketch of a theory of consciousness. this is serious, serious writing with all the bullshit stripped out to a degree that is unexpected, incredible and mesmerizing.
the philosophical parts are technically wanting but contain flashes of blinding brilliance. the best book I have read in the last two or three years. ( )

I really didn't like it. At all. I'm sure part of the problem was my own pre-reading expectations, but this also seems like one of those situations where you either love it or you hate it. Personally, I don't really like it. A combination of biography, philosophy and insanity are essentially thrown on the back of a motorcycle while Robert M. Pirsig drives points into the ground. There are parts of the ZatAoMM that are genuinely interesting, thought provoking, and touching, however it's almost like they appear on accident and even though I didn't particularly like ZatAoMM, it deserves props for being insightful.

Mr. Pirsig's style of writing was also very disagreeable to me and his voice as a writer quickly set me against him. He's so arrogant, so elitist and so sure that he's the only person in the world to ever have the thoughts he presented when really it just seems like he's the only one to state them so dryly. There are parts of ZatAoMM that I literally fell asleep during and other parts where I'd be re-reading the same paragraph for about half an hour because it was so boring that I couldn't force my mind to be bothered with it. There are chapters exclusively given to Pirsig's continual again, and again approach to an idea. He'll explain it inside and out several times before finally consenting that maybe his reader isn't a complete moron. I suppose I found that last bit rude as well as annoying; Pirsig is constantly presuming an air of superiority that frankly I don't think he deserves. There's no doubt that he's intelligent and pensive but that doesn't give him any right to presume that his opinions are more correct than anyone else's, nor that others can't understand him without elementary explanations. Plus he used a lot of big words, which, out of spite, I refuse to look up. There are sections of ZatAoMM where it feels like Pirsig says things, or uses certain words, just to make his reader realize how much they don't know. We're not here to be told how ignorant we are, we're here to learn.

All that being said, there are passages where ZatAoMM is truly amazing, sections where it's true intent (or what I believe it to be) reached me, and sections where I can admire Pirsig's writing, however, like I said earlier, it's like these areas happened on accident, like the only passages where Pirsig wasn't putting on airs you might get a real whiff of truth. But as much as it seems like these passages where accidental, I'm almost sure they're not as they tie in beautifully with the underlying messages of the book as echos more than anything else. For this reason I think Pirsig had it within his ability to write this book in a way that I would have found better and he simply chose not to. Which is fine, but also nixes a star or two for me.

I guess the last point of interest before deciding to read ZatAoMM is that you realize almost right away that the narrator isn't operating in the same realm of sanity that most of us are raised in. This can be disturbing for those who see it strictly as a sickness, as something to be cured; but then again, those with personal experience or even just an acceptance of alternative views of what exactly is 'sanity' might be insulted or annoyed by what feels like almost a denial on Pirsig's part. I can't pin point exactly what it is, but it's like even once "sanity" is reached, Pirsig sees himself as separate people rather than personality fragments of one whole. Perhaps that's the point, that he's still borderline crazy, but at any rate, it slightly annoyed me.

Three stars for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M Pirsig. This can be found in the biography section of your local library (921 Pirsig) or book store. ZatAoMM may be especially interesting to those interesting in psychology or philosophy. ( )