Mumsnet logoby parents for parents
home search join my Mumsnet recipes reviews local sites blogs member discounts shopping classifieds contact a mumsnetter games
log in

moon
Sign up for Mumsnet's weekly talk round up in which our very own Morningpaper rakes over the highs, lows and just plain weird bits from Mumsnet Talk. So if you worry that you always miss the juicy bits or if you'd like to see MP's own unique take on them, sign up now and we'll add you to the mailing list. Best, Mumsnet Towers.
Mumsnet Discussions: Adult fiction : Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence (4 messages)
Add a message Watch this thread Flip this thread Add new thread in this topic
Contact the poster Contact mumsnet about this post By Annthecat on Thu 27-Nov-08 14:37:06
I am reading this currently, for the first time.

I am enjoying it, but struggling with some of the ideas.

What do others thnink?
Contact the poster See this person's profile Contact mumsnet about this post By Bewilderbeast on Thu 27-Nov-08 21:10:00
It is a bit of a challenge of a book. Do you know anything about the author? It might help
Contact the poster Contact mumsnet about this post By pointydog on Thu 27-Nov-08 21:21:04
oh yes, I struggled. As soon as he got in too deep with his nervous breakdown and philospohical pondering, I struggled.
Contact the poster See this person's profile Contact mumsnet about this post By hkz on Thu 27-Nov-08 21:29:55
I think the author suffered from some kind of breakdown and this is reflected in his narrative...the son in the book, Chris, is based on his real son, who died tragically in the 70's. he went on to have a daughter who he thought was a reincarnation of his lost son.

In my copy there is an afterward by Pirsig explaing his rationale and reasoning....it took me about three tries to read it, but was completely worth it...pretty heavy going though, especially all the Phaedrus stuff. Think I definitely need to reread it to get my head round a lot of the ideas in there.


Add your message here

Message
Emphasis: To bold a word, surround it with asterisks, so *hello* will display hello. For underline use _ , so _hello_ gives hello. For italics use ^, so ^hello^ gives hello. To strike out a word, surround it with two hyphens either side, so --dog-- gives dog

Links and smileys: To insert a smiley face,  , type [smile] or :)
For a big grin,  , type [grin] or :o
For a wink,  , type [wink]
For a shocked face,  , type [shock]
For an angry face,  , type [angry]
For an embarrassed face,  , type [blush]
For a sad face,  , type [sad] or :(
For an envious face,  , type [envy]
For a sceptical face,  , type [hmm]

Links The simplest way to insert a link is to enter the link itself, surrounded by [[ and ]]. So if you type [[www.mumsnet.com]], the link will display as http://www.mumsnet.com. If you want your link to display text other than the web address itself, leave a space after the address then add the text before the ]]. So "Look at [[www.mumsnet.com this page]]", would display "Look at this page".
Nickname:
Password:
To post a message you need a valid mumsnet nickname and password. If you have forgotten your nickname, click here for a reminder. If you are not yet a member of mumsnet, you can join here.