Benjamin P. (bdp2) reviewed on 2/16/2015

This is a book that I've heard about for years, which, for me, tends to build a resistance against reading it, fearing that it will never live up to its own legacy. After having had it recommended to me by three separate friends, whose tastes in books are comparable to mine, within two months, I decided to take the plunge. It was worth it.

Pirsig manages to wrap up his dense philosophy into an engaging travel story, grounding his metaphysics in "real-life" experiences. While I've never found this to be a requirement for philosophy to be engaging, this sort of presentation does make it a more relatable system. The narrator's life is an example of an attempt at implementation of his theories, which allows for a examination of the pros and cons of that implementation.

The progression of Phaedrus's search is rivoting as well. He doesn't set out from the outset to define an overarching philosophy, but by pulling himself along the thread that started with his question, "What is Quality?", he is compelled to question the basic structure of Western thought. I won't go much more into it for fear of butchering Pirsig's eloquent arguments, but I can say this. You should read it.

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