A Review of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M Pirsig

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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is a fantastically well conceived book by Robert M. Pirsig, author of the subsequent work "Lila: An Inquiry into Morals". In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance he presents a part-fiction part-fact account of a motorcycle journey through the back-roads of America during which an array of philosophical issues are raised and discussed that question many of the notions which we take for granted such as the fundamental way in which we perceive the world, be it "romantically" or "classically".

The journey unfolds gradually alongside the philosophy with the two interspersing each other in order to keep the philosophy from getting too overbearing and the journey from becoming too tiresome. Although the book can be read by one who is simply looking for a good travel story, it best serves those who wish to read a little philosophy alongside a more traditional tale.

The structure works excellently to keep the novel fresh at all times, with the constant breaking between narration and discussion making for a continually rewarding read. However, this alone does not account for what makes the novel so fantastic. Although the structure does play a significant role in the readers' experience, it is the manner in which Pirsig manages to present his ideas and carry out his discussions and inquiries into philosophical dilemmas that really brings the work to life.

There is a delightful contrast between scenes of nature and discussions of philosophy which are somehow married together in such a way as to inform one another. Whilst moments of natural beauty are often noted during the journey these seem to supplement the complex philosophical discussions, and likewise the complex discussions give a sense of greater meaning to the natural observations. The concept of analytical thought is frequently brought up and the sense one gets is that the natural observations come through an underlying analytical thought process which sees beauty in the clever workings of systems rather than the purely aesthetic beauty of, say, the sun setting.

Perhaps one of the most enjoyable aspects of this philosophical novel is the characters themselves who make the inquiries all the more interesting through their personalities. The main character's son provides a childlike questioning which brings out some of the finer nuances in the discussions whilst the other two riders provide opposing viewpoints for the main character to wrestle with. This results in a great deal of interesting dialogue between the various characters that mimics the classic philosophical dialogues of Berkeley and Plato amongst others.

Pirsig's achievement is the way in which he has managed to make philosophy interesting to the masses whilst adapting a traditional method of philosophical writing and making it something enjoyable to read. Philosophical dialogue has rarely been this good and neither has a novel been so well structured as to captivate the reader this thoroughly at all times. This is a must-read for anyone with an inquisitive mind or anybody who can appreciate a finely crafted piece of literature.

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The SafeHouse written by T Thomas arable trait

A well-written down-to-earth story of spousal abuse. I realize there are some men that are abused by their spouse but the huge number of abuse done by husbands far exceeds that figure. Much is not reported by the woman figuring that "for the child's sake", "better it will get" or, or "he won't do that again", or "he really loves me", and "he didn't realize what he did to me", and on and on explanations that are rarely truthful. No. "it" hits a woman or his own children, for those that do reduce themselves to a non - civilized way of living, are not men! Detective Jessie Warren had been with the city of white cliff and what now getting all of the domestic violence calls the city received. She what getting quite a few cases on this matter and had learned how to treat the abused as well as those charged or suspected to be the abusers. Some of these methods were not legal but if the end result stopped an abuser, she was contented. Jessie had several that worked with her to get that end result and with the many women that needed help from these brutal abusers and batterers, she had amazing success in getting a resolution to most cases.

There were shelters for the abused women and their children (when they were involved); shelters that were located in secret areas so the women could feel safe physically. Mentally they never felt safe from harm until their spouse or boyfriend were locked up or gone from the face of the earth. If, as in a small number of cases, the shelter as found by the batterer, Jessie would then get them to a safehouse where they would not be bothered or hurt, but in these women's mind, they were never safe. Jessie was relentless in tracking down these men. She had her own methods in dealing with them by several methods; some men would "happen" to have an auto accident or other type of accident that took their life; some would spend time in prison but the length of imprisonment which never long enough and the abused could not feel safe knowing that. Jessie had her ways of dealing with these abusers.

Some you will follow through court as the law fights to put these abusers where they belong for a long time. You will therefore follow Jessie through her methods, hopeful hoping she does not get caught and she herself would have to be charged in a crime. A very good book that enlightened my knowledge. You will feel enraged at some of the things these abusers try, and many times succeed, when they go berserk and become enraged at their spouse either by terrible temper or by alcohol. "Safehouse" is an easy to read book that covers abuse very extensively. I highly recommend it.

Reader review by CY Hilterman of a book supplied by the author and publicist.