vroom vroom

[scoradh]

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

Everyone should read this book. So sayeth the Guardian. And so sayeth I.

At least, halfway through, I thought so...

Comments

[mrsquizzical]

ahahaha! that's hilarious, because i remember my parents and our lodger reading that book back when i was a kid and i'm sure the conversations around the dinner table sounded almost exactly like that!

[scoradh]

AHAHAHA VALIDATION IS MINE! :D

[jehnt]

Yeah, I really don't know much about this book other than I keep hearing that it's OMGWTFAWESOME! but never anything more substantial that might actually make me interested in it.

the lives of non-technological laypeople?

At first I read that as LADYPEOPLE. I think I'm going to use this new word I just invented in the future. Instead of saying "women," I will say "ladypeople," and I will anger many feminists.

But I knew I would be before it happened, because it always happens like that. Narrative imperative, you see?

DOES YOUR LIFE MAKE A GOOD BOOK TOO? MINE TOTALLY WOULD.

If you can't distinguish between good and bad in the arts they disappear. There's no point in hanging a painting on the wall when the bare wall looks just as good.By his estimate, I guess, because my favorite style of art is minimalism/minimalist abstract, all my walls should be covered with, like, blank canvasses and flourescent lights tilted at 37 degree angles, or post-it notes, or something, rather than luscious paintings

[scoradh]

As a feminist LADYPEOPLE doesn't anger me. On the contrary, how so awesome? But we must add in MANPEOPLE too, for balance and yang. Or ying.

I'll let you know in fifty years; maybe something will have happened in it by then. ;D

... Oh, gawd. I hate art that looks like I could do it. For me, art stopped at approximately nine am in October 1898. But his point is that the bare concrete slabs and the art - even minimalist art - are the same if there's no Quality in the world.

The crux of the problem as I see it is that it's a philosophy book with an action plot. Um, no. I kept skimming the philosophy to get to the action, which in the end was duller than a wet day in Dullsville. There was an action plot in Sophie's World, too, but Gaarder gave equal prominence to it and there were also more chapters. I don't even know, dude. It seemed all over the place to me.

[jehnt]

But there are some feminists who have a fundamental objection to the word "lady" and it would anger them! I understand the objection but like the way "lady" sounds on my tongue so I do not share it.

The crux of the problem as I see it is that it's a philosophy book with an action plot.

My response to this description was "lol no." haha. I think what bothers me about this book is generally when people talk about it, they say it's brilliant but then nothing they say after that justifies their initial assertion -- it's generally all a bunch of confusion. I mean, maybe if I read the book it would make sense, but eh. There are much more riveting philosophical accounts I could be spending my time on, I'm sure.

[scoradh]

Huh, this is where things get a leeetle stupid. Some words are intrinsically offensive, but I doubt there's much of a case to be made against 'lady.'

Absolutely. That's why I prefer to hate books - I have so much more to say about them. Even when I found some elements to be good, as in this case, it's the niggles that provide material for discussion.

[emila_wan]

I haven't read the book, but I think this line from your review deserves its own T-shirt: "His Minotaur was his own brain and he never brought any string into the maze."

[scoradh]

Okay, cool! Mind you, it'd probably have to be quite a big t-shirt.