Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.

[Desprate Dan]

I would recomend reading this book it has changed my life... dont be put off by the title, it has very little to do with motorcycles but a lot to do with life and how we see it...

WoW it really changed my life and i must thank Fozzy is crying for he is the one who recomended it to me..

Give it a go....

Dan

[ZoJo]

Thanks Dan,

I will look into that one.

[Desprate Dan]

You will not be disapointed, its also available as an audio book...

Has anyone else read it????

And what did you think????

Dan

[darrenc]

I've read it, and concur that it's an amazing book. I can't say I remember much about it now (I read it ~15 years ago), but the warmth of humanity in it is really uplifting.

It also made me want to buy a motorcycle myself, and go on a big tour around america.

[Meltdown]

I read this book, and found it very hard going, and somewhat pretentious!

But I read it a few years before suffering with panic attacks. Maybe it would make more sense to me now? Perhaps I will read it again one day...

[Meltdown]

I've just found a brief review I wrote for a motorcycle club, back in 2005! These things are always subjective, so probably the best thing is to buy the book and judge for yourself!



"This was a book, which I had been meaning to read for the past 20 years!

It has enjoyed a reputation of being one of those life-changing books, which everyone should read, at least once.

Having read it over the past few weeks, my verdict is: “fairly disappointing.”

The story of a man’s journey across America on a motorcycle with his 11 year old son, the narrator struggles to come to terms with his former self, a self which was wiped out by some sort of electro-convulsive therapy. It is not clear whether the book is autobiographical, or the first person narrative is employed merely as a device to engage the reader. Having read the notes which accompany the 25th anniversary edition, I rather suspect the former is true.

It seems the narrator’s former self was a lecturer in philosophy, and drove himself insane by becoming obsessed with the meaning of various abstract concepts, the straw that broke the camel’s back, being the definition of the word “Quality”.

Written in a kind of lazy, informal style, the journey across America is punctuated with short essays on the thoughts of the great philosophers, including Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates, together with the main character’s unique and obsessive approach to maintaining a motorcycle. I have to confess the bulk of the philosophy stuff went right over my head!

What particularly disappoints is that there is only passing reference to the detail of the landscape he is passing through, and having read the book, I can’t recall being told what make or type of motorcycle he is riding.



Overall: pretty heavy going, and not particularly enlightening. Maybe philosophy students would enjoy it!"