Though I didn’t find Pirsig’s main thesis on a new theory of “value” very profound, I was won over by his investigations into “mind traps”, classical vs. romantic world views, and the paradoxical nature of the university education system. Pirsig explores the first two through the liberal use of a motorcycle maintenance analogy, the eponymous activity that he uses to cleverly convey his philosophical insights.

He investigates the frustrations of the out-of-sequence gumption trap, the intermittent failure setback, and parts problems of motorcycle maintenance as well as value traps (including value rigidity, ego, anxiety, boredom, and impatience) and the truth trap and Japanese concept of “mu” as metaphors for the challenges of any problem-solving or goal-seeking endeavor.

He also continually explores the dichotomy between a classical “how things work” view of the world and a romantic “how things make you feel” view and what each has to offer (a concept I expanded in a blog post inspired by this book).

Finally, he points out the inconsistency in an institution meant to foster a spirit of self-motivating discovery and creativity force-feeding knowledge to its students – one of the many cracks in the broken model that is the modern university system.

How does Pirsig manage to wrap these wide-ranging topics into a coherent novel? He invents a new style – the Chautaqua. A casual entertaining lecture meant to simultaneously entertain and enlighten inspired by the traveling tent-shows of pre-radio America. The book is worth a read alone for the introduction to this engaging and effective writing style.

This is definitely a book I’ll return to every few years (like The Fountainhead) to mine it for more personal insights.

View all my reviews.

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