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Reading lists

20 books everyone should read before they’re 20

40th Anniversary Edition

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

'A brilliant and original book... Everybody should read it' Guardian

Profoundly important...full of insights into our most perplexing contemporary dilemmas

Mr Pirsig has written a work of great, perhaps urgent, importance... Read this book

The book is inspired, original...the narrative tact, the perfect economy of effect defy criticism. The analogies with Moby Dick are patent

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is an unforgettable trip

Disturbing, deeply moving, full of insights...this is a wonderful book

It is filled with beauty...a finely made whole that seems to emanate from a very special grace

Robert M. Pirsig was born in 1928 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He holds degrees in chemistry, philosophy, and journalism and also studied Oriental philosophy at Benares Hindu University in India. He is the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Lila.

Acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters, this modern epic became an instant bestseller upon publication in 1974, transforming a generation and continuing to inspire millions. A narration of a summer motorcycle trip undertaken by a father and his son, the book becomes a personal and philosophical odyssey into fundamental questions of how to live. Resonant with the confusions of existence, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a touching and transcendent book of life.

Robert Pirsig

Mr Pirsig has written a work of great, perhaps urgent, importance. Read this book

Disturbing, deeply moving, full of insights. This is a wonderful book

The book is inspired, original...the narrative tact, the perfect economy of effect defy criticism.The analogies with Moby-Dick are patent

Profoundly important-full of insights into our most perplexing contemporary dilemmas

A brilliant and original book... A path-finding attempt to examine and solve our contemporary ills. Everybody should read it.

The Wholly convincing American narrator moves seamlessly between narrative, metaphysics and the fringes of insanity.

I think Mr. Pirsig has written a work of great, perhaps urgent, importance ... Read this book.

An Inquiry into Values

An odyssey into life's challenging philosophical questions during an unforgettable summer motorcycle trip, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance transformed a generation and continues to inspire millions. 
 
One of the most influential books written in the past half-century, Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a powerful examination of how we live and a breathtaking meditation on how to live better. Following a father and his young son on a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest, to complete the Chautauqua spiritual journey, it is a story of love, fear, growth, discovery and acceptance. Both personal and philosophical, it is a compelling study of relationships, values, and eventually, enlightenment and meaning - resonant with the confusions and wonders of existence. 
 
Acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters, this modern epic became an instant bestseller upon publication in 1974. 
 
'The book is inspired, original...the analogies with Moby-Dick are patent' New Yorker 
 
'Mr Pirsig has written a work of great, perhaps urgent, importance... Read this book' Observer

Robert Pirsig

Books by Robert Pirsig

Articles featuring Robert Pirsig

20 books everyone should read before they’re 20

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