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Ben Hughes, Miles City Forums Wants "The Critics To Tell Us What The Book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Is Really About."

Although I am not an expert, here is my reply.

ZMM, is really MANY books!
1) A story of a man in search of himself.
2) A suspense/ mystery novel.
3) An autobiography.
4) It is a father son story.
5) A travelogue.
6) A book about "living in the now". That's the Zen part.
7) Book about right living & Quality living:
8) How to build and achieve your own values.
9) It is a book about university education and good writing. (And is an example of good writing, despite complex topics sometimes.)
10) It is a book which sets up a (new) foundation for western science and philosophy. ZMM establishes a foundation for western philosophy, where none now exists, strange as this may seem!

Because ZMM combines these many "books", you can see why readers say "ZMM is hard to 'peg' ".

What Can You Expect To Get by Reading ZMM?

For any alert literate adult, the ZMM book forces the reader to think a great deal about themselves, their values, and their whole life: What are they doing in life. Why they are "at a job" or at an "institution of higher learning". In general ZMM supports "the student" whether he or she is in The School of "Hard Knocks" or in a "Formal University Education". This book shows "the student", how it is necessary to thoughtfully combine science and humanities and personal values in any endeavor.

The ideas in "Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" (ZMM) will offer any serious reader, deep revolutionary truths concerning the whole process of achieving and living a quality life. This book will be highly significant for you, as is attested in many Amazon.com reviews. (Link below.)

In ZMM we are shown how best to work with (and within) our own God given psychological and material resources. For example, the role of the “flash of insight”, analogy, and metaphor are shown to be fundamental to human thinking and learning. Author Pirsig points out how proper learning is often prevented in our present day culture, and most especially in our schools and universities. Author Robert Pirsig patiently instructs us, how to learn carefully and improve our lives, despite the deficiencies of our upbringing and society around us.

Written in a manner that is accessible and maintains interest, ZMM covers science, philosophy, scientific trouble shooting, problem solving, the process of scientific discovery, building the structure of science, and more. For this reason, ZMM is required reading in many university classes and was used as an auxiliary text for six years in both of my physics classes.

"Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" has an impact much like the ancient "Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu. Robert Pirsig's Book, like Lao Tzu's, is to practical guide life and living, .... a hand book for "Westerners" to apply Zen to their lives. Read the following paragraph meditatively, it also says what ZMM is all about.

"The philosophy of Lao Tsu is simple: Accept what is in front of you without wanting the situation to be other than it is, Study the natural order of things and work with it rather than against it, for to try to change what is only sets up resistance. Nature provides everything without requiring payment or thanks and also provides for all without discrimination — therefore let us present the same face to everyone and treat all men as equals, however they may behave. If we watch carefully, we will see that work proceeds more quickly and easily if we stop "trying," if we stop putting in so much extra effort, if we stop looking for results. In the clarity of a still and open mind, truth will be reflected. We will come to appreciate the original meaning of the word "understand, "which means to stand under" We serve whatever or whoever stands before us, without any thought for ourselves. Te — which may be translated as “virtue” or "strength" — lies always In Tao, or "natural law." In other words: Simply be."

'An other way to understand what ZMM author Robert Pirsig has written', go to Amazon.com book reviews (link below). Scroll down part way to "Editorial Reviews" and then scroll to near the bottom for "Customer Reviews". (At the end of the "Customer Reviews" you can click to "See all 507 customer reviews".)

Sincerely
Henry Gurr,
ZMMQ SiteMaster.

Amazon.com ZMM book "Editorial Reviews" and "Customer Reviews".

Some ZMM Readers Find ZMM Difficult. The Following TWO Links Offer My Guidance On Reading ZMM With Enjoyment and Lack of Frustration.

Some of the 4 Star & 5 Star Amazon ZMM Reviewers offer guidance for enjoyable reading of ZMM. And they also offer their ideas about the causes of frustration in reading ZMM. These are collected and collated to here.
http://ww2.usca.edu/ResearchProjects/ProfessorGurr/index.php?n=Documents.ReadZmmBestWay

My own suggestions as to what causes reader extreme dislike of ZMM are here.
http://ww2.usca.edu/ResearchProjects/ProfessorGurr/index.php?n=Documents.GetOverDislikeZMM

My Modest Collection of "Best Books Lists".

An Other Way To Learn How ZMM Is Received Is To Study Books People Have Found Valuable. At this link you will see Robert Pirsig is Listed right along with Other Classics Authors Such as: Tolstoy, Melville, and J.R.R. Tolkien.
See for Example: "Top 100 Novels" / "Best Spiritual Books of Century" / "Great Books" here:
http://www.usca.edu/math/~mathdept/hsg/ZMMFindSiteInfo.html#BestBooks