Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Robert M. Pirsig

Harper Collins, Apr 21, 2009 - Philosophy - 448 pages

THE CLASSIC BOOK THAT HAS INSPIRED MILLIONS

A penetrating examination of how we live and how to live better

Few books transform a generation and then establish themselves as touchstones for the generations that follow. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is one such book. This modern epic of a man’s search for meaning became an instant bestseller on publication in 1974, acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters. It continues to inspire millions. 

A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions on how to live. The narrator's relationship with his son leads to a powerful self-reckoning; the craft of motorcycle maintenance leads to an austerely beautiful process for reconciling science, religion, and humanism. Resonant with the confusions of existence, this classic is a touching and transcendent book of life.

This new edition contains an interview with Pirsig and letters and documents detailing how this extraordinary book came to be.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - SeriousGrace - LibraryThing

When you are traveling across the country on a motorcycle, you have more than enough time to analyze the world around you in ways you wouldn't if you chose to passively ride in a car or fly by plane ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - TobinElliott - LibraryThing

This book...it has a hold on me. You look at where you're going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you've been and a pattern seems to emerge. This is very ...

Contents

• Section 1: 3
• Section 2: 23
• Section 3: 35
• Section 4: 47
• Section 5: 60
• Section 6: 80
• Section 7: 94
• Section 8: 115
• Section 9: 128
• Section 10: 136
• Section 11: 145
• Section 12: 169
• Section 13: 181
• Section 14: 192
• Section 15: 218
• Section 16: 235
• Section 17: 255
• Section 18: 269
• Section 19: 288
• Section 20: 307
• Section 21: 325
• Section 22: 331
• Section 23: 349
• Section 24: 351
• Section 25: 371
• Section 26: 385
• Section 27: 423
• Section 28: 426
• Section 29: 455
• Section 30: 492
• Section 31: 515
• Section 32: 527
• Section 33: 532

About the author

Robert M. Pirsig (1928–2017) is the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which has sold more than five-million copies since its publication in 1974, and Lila, a finalist for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He graduated from the University of Minnesota (B.A., 1950; M.A., 1958) and also attended Benares Hindu University in India, where he studied Eastern philosophy, and the University of Chicago, where he pursued a PhD in philosophy. Pirsig’s motorcycle resides in the Smithsonian Institution.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values; Harper Perennial modern classics
• Author: Robert M. Pirsig
• Publisher: Harper Collins, 2009
• ISBN: 0061907995, 9780061907999
• Length: 448 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs; Philosophy / Eastern; Philosophy / Zen; Psychology / Emotions; Travel / Essays & Travelogues