Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance - An Inquiry into Values

Robert Pirsig

Vintage Classics

1991

432 páginas

14h 24m

ISBN-13: 9780099786405

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance caused a sensation when it was first published in 1974.The story of the narrator, his son Chris and their month-long motorcycle odyssey from Minnesota to California profoundly affected an entire generation.Both personal and philosophical, this book is a compelling study of relationships, values, madness and, eventually, enlightenment.

Resenhas (1)

5 (Perfeito)

Great philosophic novel

In spite of the title, this book is not really about Zen Buddhism or motorcycle maintenance, it is a novel about a trip across the US, a dramatic personal experience and philosophy of values.

The story is about a man who travels across the US, riding a motorcycle, with his son and a couple of friends. As he travels, he develops ideas about technology and general attitudes towards life. He remembers facts about his own life and a mistery appears. The mistery is gradually clarified, as he develops his reflections and visits places related to his previous life.

Pirsig writes about great philosophical issues with extraordinary clarity and avoiding technical words. He does not use tiresome quotations and references, but lets us know the origin of the ideas and concepts he presents.

It is a brilliant book, that catches our attention because of the story, the mistery, the descriptios of the travel, the important ideas he explains. I have read it thoroughly various times, both in the Portuguese translations and in the English original, always with pleasure and finding new stimulus to think.