Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
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Re: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
#2The schism between classicism and romanticism, as presented in "Zen", changed the way I view the world. I've been slowly teaching myself to see both, and to switch between those views at will, though it's occasionally unsettling to do so.
Re: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
#3Out of curiosity, how did people who had already studied philosophy find this book? Nothing in it struck me as particularly revelatory, and I'm wondering if maybe I just wasn't the intended audience.
Re: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
#4Very wordy review of a very good book.
My favorite take-aways from the book are that 'Good is a noun' and the concept that not all questions may actually be formed properly and thus may not deserve an answer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(negative)#Cultural_referenc...
Re: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
#5Out of curiosity, how did people who had already studied philosophy find this book? Nothing in it struck me as particularly revelatory, and I'm wondering if maybe I just wasn't the intended audience.
I had read some philosophy before reading ZAMM, but it didn't seem connected to my everyday life. It seemed to be about abstruse, academic arguments that had been going on for centuries about things which really didn't seem very important to my life.
This book put philosophy at the right place in my life - or me in the right place to understand philosophy.
Re: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
#6I failed at my first attempt to read this. I'll have to try again someday.
Re: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
#7Out of curiosity, how did people who had already studied philosophy find this book? Nothing in it struck me as particularly revelatory, and I'm wondering if maybe I just wasn't the intended audience.
Had I not been a writing teacher when I read this book, I would not have appreciated it as much as I did. In particular, the "Itty-bitty rules for itty-bitty people" line (while he is at the U of Chicago) resonated with me.
You're right in that not much was particularly revelatory, as all of the discussed elements are discussed in multiple other places, often with greater depth.
But it's rare to see it all come together in a way that is almost immediately pragmatic and sensible.
Re: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
#8This book did not appear to have value for me when I attempted to read it.
Re: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
#9Out of curiosity, how did people who had already studied philosophy find this book? Nothing in it struck me as particularly revelatory, and I'm wondering if maybe I just wasn't the intended audience.
If you come from a solid grounding in (specifically Greek) philosophy, the concepts and questions Pirsig raises are familiar, but for me the way he addressed them seemed much less self-indulgent.
Greek philosophers were public intellectuals and, for me at least, reading their texts was somewhat off-putting because of the level of... grandstanding for lack of a better word. ZAMM seems so much more honest. It's framed as a man attempting to pass on actionable wisdom to his son that will make him a better person.
The questions are the same questions people have been asking for thousands of years: what is good? (and derivitives thereof) but Pirsig frames his answers with a very appealing humility.
Having lived off of my writing for a spell, I struggled deeply with the problem of metaphysical quality and no amount of classical philosophy ever brought me the admittedly limited clarity I felt like a got out of ZAMM. YMMV, though.
Re: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
#10This book did not appear to have value for me when I attempted to read it.
I completely agree - I put it down in irritation after ~100 pages.