Books: May 2012

ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE – ROBERT PIRSIG

“The place to improve the world is first in ones heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there. Other people can talk about how to expand the destiny of mankind. I just want to talk about how to fix a motorcycle. I think what I have to say has more lasting value.” – Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

This book just grabbed my eye as I was picking up some other titles at The Book Bin in Salem. I had heard the name a few times before and decided to take a chance on it. After I bought it my mother told me that the book was a hot topic when it first came out in the mid 1970s. It took me a while to get through but not because it was a bad read but because it didn’t lend itself to reading quickly. This book is a hunk of stale rye bread; you’ll lose your gumption if you try to do more than slowly chew up one stubborn bit at a time.