Resenhas - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Durval 06/11/2011

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.