The better known, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, delves into Pirsig's exploration into the nature of quality. Ostensibly a first-person narrative based on a motorcycle trip he and his young son Chris had taken from Minneapolis to San Francisco, it is an exploration of the underlying metaphysics of Western culture. Overview. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was published in 1974. Told through the frame of a long motorcycle trip across America, the book explores life and how to best live it. The world of ideas takes center stage, providing both the conflict and resolution for living such a balanced approach to life. Robert Pirsig's book 'Zen and the art of Motorcycle maintenance' has a lot to say about high quality engagement, indeed the main idea he presents is that this is the secret to a fulfilled life. What lessons does this hold for schools? According to Pirsig being engaged is a necessary condition for excellence. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance interweaves two parallel plots: the first is the chronicling of a transcontinental motorcycle journey taken by the narrator and his eleven-year-old son, Chris. The second plot details the life and thought of a man named Phaedrus, a solitary intellectual obsessed with a philosophical concept called Quality. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance begins as a narrative account of a motorcycle trip that author Robert Pirsig took with his son Chris. It quickly becomes much more than a travel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance references the Sanskrit doctrine of Tat Tvam Asi ("Thou art that"), which asserts an existential monism as opposed to the subject-object dualism. [1] Development The Metaphysics of Quality originated with Pirsig's college studies as a biochemistry student at the University of Minnesota. .

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