# Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2001, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/79693 "2001-09-04T17:10:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/79693/21 "2001-09-05T02:46:40Z")
I found it to be philosophical claptrap and pretty much a waste of paper. But that probably means that I “didn’t get it”. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/79693/22 "2001-09-05T02:54:51Z")
[Robert Pirsig voice] Sometimes what you get out of a book is what you bring to it. [/Robert Pirsig voice] ---
**Author:** ![warmgun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@warmgun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warmgun)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/79693/23 "2001-09-05T05:51:56Z")
**dropzone** , you lied! you didn’t leave at all. 🙂 I also meant ‘required’ in a similar vein as **xanakis**. **obfusciatrist** , don’t know that will mean much, but I hated it the first 3 times I tried to read it. But like **xanakis** I found I retained just enough to keep me wanting to understand it better. I finally slowed my reading pace, comprehension went way up (which is key) and now, like some others here, I re-read it once a year or so. I read and liked ‘The Way of the Peaceful Warrior’ as well, though to those interested I would also suggest ‘The Snow Leopard’. Not as deep as ‘Zen…’ but a better narrative. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2001, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/79693/24 "2001-09-05T18:50:53Z")
So, it isn’t possible that I pretty well understood what Pirsig was saying and just disagreed that it was insightful or important. Is it possible for me to understand and still think it is mostly bunk? I didn’t like, I think I understood it. The many discussions I have had of it led others to believe I understood it. I still think it is crap. I’m open to the idea that if I reread it in 10 years that my response will be different. But the fact that I don’t/didn’t like it, does not inherently mean I didn’t understand it. ---
**Author:** ![warmgun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@warmgun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warmgun)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2001, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/79693/25 "2001-09-09T23:33:17Z")
Obfusciatrist, A thousand pardons. I re-read your post and saw that you were being facitious. Missed that the first go around. I’m sure many folks quicker on the up-take than I can read and thoroughly comprehend it in one reading. And, of course, you are free to think it’s crap. I was speaking from my own experience. I thought it was crap my first read, but upon re-reading I understood **I** didn’t “get it”. And, I was also looking for answers, you might be a much more centered guy. Didn’t mean nuthin’. Just trying to help. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/79693.md?page=1)