Good Reading - Philosophically Problematic

In his now classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig brings us a literary chautauqua, a novel that is meant to both entertain and edify. It scores high on both counts.

Phaedrus, our narrator, takes a present-tense cross-country motorcycle trip with his son during which the maintenance of the motorcycle becomes an illustration of how we can unify the cold, rational realm of technology with the warm, imaginative realm of artistry. As in Zen, the trick is to become one with the activity, to engage in it fully, to see and appreciate all details--be it hiking in the woods, penning an essay, or tightening the chain on a motorcycle.

In his autobiographical first novel, Pirsig wrestles both with the ghost of his past and with the most important philosophical questions of the 20th century--why has technology alienated us from our world? what are the limits of rational analysis? if we can't define the good, how can we live it? Unfortunately, while exploring the defects of our philosophical heritage from Socrates and the Sophists to Hume and Kant, Pirsig inexplicably stops at the middle of the 19th century. With the exception of Poincaré, he ignores the more recent philosophers who have tackled his most urgent questions, thinkers such as Peirce, Nietzsche (to whom Phaedrus bears a passing resemblance), Heidegger, Whitehead, Dewey, Sartre, Wittgenstein, and Kuhn.

In the end, the narrator's claims to originality turn out to be overstated, his reasoning questionable, and his understanding of the history of Western thought sketchy. His solution to a synthesis of the rational and creative by elevating Quality to a metaphysical level simply repeats the mistakes of the premodern philosophers. But in contrast to most other philosophers, Pirsig writes a compelling story. And he is a true innovator in his attempt to popularize a reconciliation of Eastern mindfulness and nonrationalism with Western subject/object dualism. The magic of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance turns out to lie not in the answers it gives, but in the questions it raises and the way it raises them. Like a cross between The Razor's Edge and Sophie's World, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance takes us into "the high country of the mind" and opens our eyes to vistas of possibility.

Go Deeper.

The search for a greater understanding, greater meaning than what you see on the surface, is something that many men have but few men actually undertake, and fewer yet find what they are looking for. An ideal first step to becoming one of the individuals that makes an effort to go on this search is to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. One of the deepest, most profound works ever written, the book takes you on a journey of a who that searches so deeply into the mind that he eventually loses his, and takes on the personality of the narrator. The narrator then goes on a journey with his son, Chris, to discover a greater understanding of what his alter-ego, Phaedrus, was looking for. Along the way, we ponder deep, philosophical questions, most notably "What is quality?" and the split between the underlying function of things and what they appear to be on the outside (classic vs romantic). The ideas to be sparked, the questions to be asked further, and the deeper and deeper levels of the mind to be pondered after reaading this work will go on for thousands of years. Take advantage of your mind, go deeper, and explore the intidmitating, yet glorious possibilities.

Painful read.

Don't get me wrong, I like the ideas Pirsig presents. But his style of writing was extremely boring and uninteresting to me. Then again, I was forced to read this for a class and didn't have interest in the subject at all. If you enjoy philosophy and the sort, there's a good chance you'll like this book. If you're just a casual reader, you would do well to avoid it.