#robert m pirsig
“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.”
― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
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Rating this book out of five stars does not seem appropriate somehow. It is a thought provoking book, a book designed to make you think, question, and think again. I got bogged down a bit in the endless discussion of Quality, the “high country of the mind,” and the discussions of Plato and Aristotle. I’ve never liked classical philosophy much.
I thought there were some excellent points about education, the Church of Reason, and the romantic and classical modes of understanding. I certainly fall under the heading of “romantic,” but I make an effort to appreciate the classical. Pirsig’s meditations on these ideas resonated with my own thoughts, and articulated them far better. I’m glad I read this book, though it’s hard to say I “liked” it.
I recommend this book to readers with patience, an appreciation for detail, and a willingness to read with the entire mind. I will probably read it again someday, this time with a pen, and annotate in the margins. It’s the kind of book that invites discussion with the text.
“The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.”— Robert M. Pirsig
