Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values is a book by Robert M. Pirsig first published in 1974. It is a work of fictionalized autobiography and the first of Pirsig’s texts in which he discusses his concept of Quality.
The extraordinary story of a man’s quest for truth. It will change the way you think and feel about your life. “The cycle you’re working on is a cycle called ‘yourself.'”
“The study of the art of motorcycle maintainence is really a study of the art of rationality itself. Working on a motorcycle, working well, caring, is to become part of a process, to achieve an inner peace of mind. The motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon.” — Robert M. Pirsig
“Profoundly important… full of insights into our most perplexing contemporary dilemmas… It is intellectual entertainment of the highest order.” — “The New York Times”
“It lodges in the mind as few recent novels have… The book is inspired, original… As the mountains gentle toward the sea–with father and child locked in a ghostly grip–the narrative tact, the perfect economy of effect defy criticism… The analogies with “Moby Dick” are patent. Robert Pirsig invites the prodigious comparison… What more can one say?” — “The New Yorker”
“It’s a miracle.. sparkles like an electric dream. Freshness, originality… that seduces you into loving motorcycles, as tender in their pistons as the petals in the Buddah’s dawn lotus.” — “The Village Voice”