Mental masturbation of the worst kind; totally self involving blather with little or no contribution to anything worthwhile save re-enforcement of the author's overblown ego. Even while not waxing tedious on encyclopedic anecdotes, the author's condescending judgmental attitude toward his travel mates makes me wonder why these people want to spend any time with the author in the first place.The marketing come-on gracing the front cover states, "a man in search of himself". I could buy into that if the book had any relation to a true Zen experience. This is more a monologue of scattered philosophical thought chosen to support the authors preconceived prejudices. ( )

This is one which, I hate to say, lost me towards the end. I really enjoyed the first two thirds of this book, but the text surrounding Persig's apparent mental breakdown and what seemed to be a second personality really threw me for a loop. Maybe I'm not "Zen" enough to understand it, as my professor vaguely implied, or maybe the failure can partially be laid on the author's own shoulders. Either way, tread with caution. I wouldn't tell anyone to avoid this book--I quite enjoyed it--but be prepared to be puzzled. ( )

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! ( )