Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
by Pirsig, Robert M
- Used
- good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Good
- ISBN 10
- 0553277472
- ISBN 13
- 9780553277470
- Seller
-
Prescott, Arizona, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
One of the most important and influential books written in the past half-century, Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a powerful, moving, and penetrating examination of how we live . . . and a breathtaking meditation on how to live better. Here is the book that transformed a generation: an unforgettable narration of a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest, undertaken by a father and his young son. A story of love and fear -- of growth, discovery, and acceptance -- that becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life's fundamental questions, this uniquely exhilarating modern classic is both touching and transcendent, resonant with the myriad confusions of existence . . . and the small, essential triumphs that propel us forward.
Synopsis
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."
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Details
- Bookseller
- Lifeways Books & Gifts (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- zen84
- Title
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
- Author
- Pirsig, Robert M
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN 10
- 0553277472
- ISBN 13
- 9780553277470
- Publisher
- Bantam Books
- Place of Publication
- Westminster, Maryland, U.s.a.
- Date Published
- 1995
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- Shelf Wear
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