Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values Paperback - 2005 - 1st Edition

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values was written in 1974 by Robert M. Pirsig, a commentary on the Metaphysics of Quality within a growing commercialized society. The work is a fictionalized autobiography narrating a 17-day motorcycle journey across the U.S. with his son, Chris, and his friends John and Sylvia Sutherland.

 The trip is punctuated by numerous philosophical discussions, referred to as Chautauquas by the author, on topics including epistemology, the history of philosophy, and the philosophy of science. The interactions of these romantic philosophically driven discussions are tied by the author, who refers to his past self as Phaedrus. 

Author Robert M. Pirsig, a teacher of creative and technical writing at a small college, became engrossed in the question of what defines good writing, and what in general defines good, or "Quality", which he understood similar to Tao. His philosophical inventions and investigations later left him mentally ill, forcing him to reconcile with his past during his trip. 

"Quality . . . you know what it is, yet you don't know what it is. But that's self-contradictory. But some things are better than others, that is, they have more quality. But when you try to say what the quality is, apart from the things that have it, it all goes poof! There's nothing to talk about. But if you can't say what Quality is, how do you know what it is, or how do you know that it even exists? If no one knows what it is, then for all practical purposes it doesn't exist at all. But for all practical purposes, it really does exist."

William Morrow & Company published a first Edition hardback in New York, 1974. The book is held together in Octavo sizing and covered with a dust jacket. Jacket design by Paul Bacon features a wrench coming out of plant leaves. 

The Bodley Head published the first Edition, first UK Printing in London, 1974. The hardback is cloth bound and illustrated dust jacket. The UK dust jacket, illustrated by John Sewell, features a romanesque statue sitting thoughtfully atop a motorcycle, with a plant coming from their head.