Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig

It was fitting that I listened to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance on my road trip across the western US. I traveled along many of the same roads that Phaedrus, the narrator, takes with his son. The book takes a deep look at philosophy and (in)sanity. This book defies a lot of explanation, and I need to re-read it a few times to understand it completely.

Key Takeaways

• We don't know what it's like to be insane. Insanity is hard to define.
• Philosophy seems to form many pedantic and arbitrary schools of thought.
• Humanity has placed an element of insanity in every one of us.

Memorable Quotes

• The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.
• When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion.
• The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling.
• You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.
• You look at where you're going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you've been and a pattern seems to emerge.
• We’re in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it’s all gone.
• Sometimes it's a little better to travel than to arrive
• Is it hard? Not if you have the right attitudes. Its having the right attitudes thats hard.
• In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame. On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.
• For every fact there is an infinity of hypotheses.

Rating: 9/10
Wisdom pervades this journey of a book. I could read this over and over, and it still has a lot to teach me. Anyone interested in understanding themselves and others should read this. Anyone interested in the mystery of humanity should read this. Everyone should probably read this.