Robert Pirsig | GTAMotorcycle.com

Robert Pirsig

Rest in peace.
 
RIP, guess I'll finally give Zen another try. Picked it up 2-3 times now and just can't finish it.
 
I remember when the book was released circa mid-1970s. It eventually won international acclaim for philosophy. I found it hilarious in places, yet it tended to be wordy and meandering at times. In recent years Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance has become a bible for motorcycle hipsters, sort of what the back-to-the-land movement was to the 60s kids, now mutated to a one-with-the-machine philosophy for Millennial bohemian subculturalists. So we have all these folks creating motorcycle art...and selling t-shirts and beard softener. Persig must have felt like a veritable Timothy Leary for this generation. One wonders how he felt about turning thousands of otherwise unemployed mechanically illiterate philosophy students into retro bike builders with a love of David Mann posters. What a trip. RIP Robert.
 
I read it in 1977. I was 17. Read it in my buddies mustang on the way to sugarloaf Maine for a week of skiing. The skiing was way better than the book...
RIP (belated).
 
busabim said:
he died 2 years ago in 2017, wtf?
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Sometimes I think this forum is a time machine. Persig's concern for his rear tire shredding was always on my mind when I was on a superslab between two semi's on a hot summer day. Keep resting in peace.
 
busabim said:
he died 2 years ago in 2017, wtf?
Click to expand...

Yeah I was confused for a second there. RIP Robert Pirsig, your book about Quality was kinda weird
 
Read Zen years ago, didn't really get it at the time. May re-read it again, since it's still on the shelf.
 
I think it's that book that all motorcyclists ought to love but don't get it, or few have. I didn't also.

However it made a good stocking stuffer it seems, year after year after year.....
 
... and for the un-initiated: Zen is, and always was, a philosophy textbook.
The philosophical question it asked: Is value subjective? (Spoiler: yes it is).
As is the follow-up book; Lila, also a good read... if you're into philosophy text books. I am.
 
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