'Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' Author Robert M. Pirsig Dies At 88

[underpants]

Robert M. Pirsig, who inspired generations to road trip across America with his "novelistic autobigraphy," Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, died Monday at the age of 88.

Zen was published in 1974, after being rejected by 121 publishing houses. "The book is brilliant beyond belief," wrote Morrow editor James Landis before publication. "It is probably a work of genius and will, I'll wager, attain classic status."

Pirsig was born in Minneapolis, the son of a University of Minnesota law professor. He graduated from high school at 15 and enlisted in the Army after World War II. While stationed in South Korea, he encountered the Asian philosophies that would underpin his work. He went on to study Hindu philosophy in India and for a time was enrolled in a philosophy Ph.D. program at the University of Chicago. He was hospitalized for mental illness and returned to Minneapolis, where he worked as a technical writer and began writing his first book.

Pirsig also helped found the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, then lived reclusively and worked on Lila for 17 years before its publication in 1991. "A skilled mechanic, he performed repairs in his home workshop," writes the publisher. "He taught himself navigation in the days before GPS, and twice crossed the Atlantic in his small sailboat, Aretê."

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[Voltaire2]

1. Well that sucks.

[Buns_of_Fire]

2. R.I.P., Phaedrus.

"Zen..." is one of the few books I still own that I refuse to lend or otherwise lose track of.

And what is good, and what is not good -- need we ask anyone to tell us such things?

[yallerdawg]

3. 'Zen' and 'Lila' are two of the most interesting books ever!

Rest in peace, Robert Pirsig.

You added a great deal of quality to my life.

[sl8]

4. R.I.P.

[nolabear]

5. I loved that book. I might read it again. RIP.

[dem in texas]

9. A great read way back in the 1970's

I still have the book, saw it on the bookshelf a while back. My grandson found it and read it and he loved it. That is why I have kept it around. It bears reading again and see what feelings it invokes in 2017.

[panader0]

6. I loved that book.

[Wounded Bear]

7. Read Zen several times...

never could get through Lila.

RIP

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. I'm glad I read it about 40 years ago. It's helped me apply zen to everyday life, though

... I remember little of it. Time to reread it.

One of those things that just seem to make so much sense that it was easy to integrate. Like learning something that becomes so innate that you forget how how you learned it.

Went looking for my copy among estimated 1,000 books, no luck, must have given it away at some point.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. I had it with me for about 20 years.

I bought one copy. read it, slowly, read it again a few weeks later, and gave it to one of my room-mates, she moved, with it, then I moved a few months later, and one day, found a different copy , on my bookshelf.
Hmmm..had not bought that one.
Gave it to my then teenage son. He kept it.
Moved again a year later.

found a copy back on my bookshelf.

Hmmm...

got the hint, still have it.

[Bob Loblaw]

10. Dammit.

Time to read Zen again.

I removed two pairs of underwear and socks from my backpack to make room for that book on my own cross country motorcycle trip back in '82. And when I read it again it will be that same copy I read as a high school senior three years prior thanks to a great young high school literature teacher named Larry McKinley.

I tell my wife I'm just between bikes at this time, but I know right where to find that book.