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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday April 25 2017, @07:25PM   Printer-friendly

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!


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:30PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:30PM (#499543)

    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)

    by dyingtolive (952) on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:47PM (#499567)

    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)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 26 2017, @06:49AM (#499876)

      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

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 26 2017, @12:48PM (#499975)

        You're coming off petulant about that 50k you spent on your gender studies degree, brah.