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Zen And Now: On The Trail Of Robert Pirsig And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance (2008)

by Mark Richardson(Favorite Author)

3.59 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0307397475 (ISBN13: 9780307397478)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Knopf Canada

review 1: Too self-conscious in its attempts to mirror the structure and style of Pirsig's book, it is often melodramatic and hippy-dippy and saccharine and just bad. In several places I found myself writing "ugh!" or "yuck!" in the margin, and I'm not a hater. It was interesting for its insights into the ZatAoMM backstory and Pirsig's life outside the book, but I found Richardson's story and his quasi-philosophical meanderings to be amateurish, bumbling, choppy, and really without value.
review 2: This is a first-person account of a journalist who follows in Robert Pirsig's... well not footsteps, tire marks I suppose. Pirsig is the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a partly fictional account of Pirsig's motorcycle trip across the U.S. with his teenag... moree son. The main thrust of the original book was Pirsig's assertion that Quality (with a capital "Q") was at the heart of the meaning of life. In short, if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well.Richardson, the new author, recounts his own journey, and along the way explains how Pirsig came to write his book and what happened to him after it was published. For much of the trip, Richardson is a bit out of sorts. He likes the idea of Quality, but something seems to be missing. In the end, Richardson realizes there's something more important than Quality, and it appears that Pirsig found that out, too, in his post-Zen life.Richardson is very honest about his experiences and feelings during the rather solitary adventure, and I think his conclusions are valid. I just don't think you need to ride thousands of miles to figure it out. Still, an easy, entertaining read, although it will undoubtedly help if you've read Pirsig. less

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