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Robert M. Pirsig, whose "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," a dense and discursive novel of ideas, became an unlikely publishing phenomenon in the mid-1970s and a touchstone in the waning days of the counterculture, died on Monday at his home in South Berwick, Me. He was 88.
According to the New York Times.
This was one of those books that more or less defined an era. I would recommend it, but I know from experience that it does not resonate the way it did in the '70's. A philosophy professor I knew said he used to use the novel to introduce philosophy, but one year, in the early '80's it just stopped working. Nonetheless, it is worth a read, even though,
In a foreword to the book, Mr. Pirsig told readers that despite its title, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" should "in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice."
He added, "It's not very factual on motorcycles either."
But it does have a rather long discussion of Plato's Phaedrus and quite a lot about a certain motorcycle shop in Miles City, Montana. And the novel is much better than the movie, which of course was never made. Open roads, and may your handlebars never come loose, Robert!
(Score: 5, Informative) by dyingtolive on Tuesday April 25 2017, @07:39PM (18 children)
Definitely one of those books that I feel had a very influential and profound effect upon me when I first read it. I heartily recommend it to anyone who like to read things.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday April 25 2017, @07:40PM (8 children)
Q: What did the washed-up hippie say while reading Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance after his drugs wore off?
A: "This book sucks."
(Score: 5, Touché) by bart9h on Tuesday April 25 2017, @07:58PM (1 child)
Q: What one would think of a book that Ethanol-fueled said it sucks?
A: It must be great, then!
(Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday April 25 2017, @09:15PM
I think the bigger question is why is EH reading philosophy books?
I'm sure that he hasn't read it, and that it is just another attack on the people he hates.
Remember, EH gets his reading material from people in pointy hoods.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:10PM
And lo! does Ethanol's lack of aptitude for philosophy influence his perception of the quality a book on such a thing.
Such revelations never beheld for all to see! Never I say! Oh, how genuinely novel.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:30PM (3 children)
Q: Why is Ethanol-fueled so salty?
A: His drugs wore off.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:35PM (2 children)
That's why? I thought it was the improbable, nay, incredible amount of RWNJ dicks he's got crammed into every orifice, pocket, and pore...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:57PM
... wow so I thought those were blackheads but as it turns out they're micronigger cocks!
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday April 25 2017, @10:24PM
Without a doubt suffering from depression and possibly some form of mild autism. And I'm not trying to be insulting either. I have similar issues myself and can relate to his outbursts, not the content but the desire to do it in the first place. His outbursts are his form of relief. I don't like it (his outbursts) but I get it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 26 2017, @02:58AM
I was going to mod you flamebait, then I noticed it was you and didn't bother as "ethanol-fueled" and "troll"/"flamebait" are synonymous terms.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by migz on Tuesday April 25 2017, @07:45PM (1 child)
I've read it 3 times about 10 years apart. It reads very differently as you get older.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 26 2017, @06:45AM
Agree. First 2 times were the best tho.
(Score: 2) by lx on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:16PM (2 children)
I read it when I was 19, had forgotten most of it twenty years later, but when reading it again last year, I noticed that I had absorbed many of the ideas in the book. It's a shame that the second half drags on and on.
Still haven't gotten around to read Lila.
(Score: 2) by mmcmonster on Tuesday April 25 2017, @09:30PM (1 child)
Sounds kinda like me. Read in in my late teens. I had taken it on a trip and didn't have anything else to read. The second have was a bit dull. But it ended nice enough, with a nice revelation about his driving companion.
I bought Lila as soon as I got home. Haven't opened that up yet. But, hey, it's only been on my shelf for 30 years...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 26 2017, @06:47AM
Lila is not good. Reads like ad copy. It's like Pirsig had a point to prove how he solved everything. Maybe will try again in a few years.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:30PM (3 children)
I never read it, but that was always one of those books that struck me as being on a top ten list of books that most people claim to have read but never did.
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:47PM (2 children)
Ya know, I could actually see that. It's just famous enough, and yet old and obscure enough that dropping it seems impressive, and no one is probably going to call you out on it, having likely not read it themselves. Kinda like all the dweebs with their Hitchhiker's references (OMG 42, right? It's the ANSWER!) that don't know who Douglas Adams is. Or all the people who haven't read Nineteen Eighty-Four, which is to say, virtually all of the people who reference it.
_I_ have read it though. I actually enjoy books with a philosophical slant. Philosophy was my second major in college before I dropped out.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 26 2017, @06:49AM (1 child)
Philosophy would have been my major if I had done philosophy. Can haz cred 2?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 26 2017, @12:48PM
You're coming off petulant about that 50k you spent on your gender studies degree, brah.