| Title | : | On Quality: An Inquiry into Excellence: Selected and Unpublished Writings |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 006308466X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780063084667 |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | 224 |
| Publication | : | Published September 21, 2021 |
"The ultimate goal in the pursuit of excellence is enlightenment." --Robert M. Pirsig, 1962
More than a decade before the release of the book that would make him famous, Robert M. Pirsig had already caught hold of the central theme that would animate Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: "Quality," a concept loosely likened to "excellence," "rightness," or "fitness" that Pirsig saw as kindred to the Buddhist ideas of "dharma" or the "Tao." As he later wrote in Zen, "Quality is the Buddha."
Though he was revered by fans who considered him a guru, the famously private Pirsig published only two books and consented to few interviews and almost no public appearances in later decades. Yet he wrote and thought almost continually, refining his "Metaphysics of Quality" until his death in 2017.
Now, for the first time, readers will be granted access to five decades of Pirsig's personal writings in this posthumous collection that illuminates the evolution of his thinking to an unprecedented degree. Skillfully edited and introduced by Wendy K. Pirsig, Robert's wife of four decades, the collection includes previously unpublished texts, speeches, letters, interviews, and private notes, as well as key excerpts from Zen and the Art of the Motorcycle Maintenance and his second book, Lila.
Since its publication in 1974, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance has established itself as a modern classic of popular philosophy; selling millions of copies and inspiring a generation, while serving as a perennial touchstone for the generations that follow. On Quality is a remarkable contribution to our understanding of one of the most influential thinkers and writers of our time.
On Quality: An Inquiry into Excellence: Selected and Unpublished Writings Reviews
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Mostly excerpts from "Zen" and "Lila", with some new letters and notes on Quality. The new parts are interesting but they wouldn't be nearly enough for a standalone publication, hence the filler from previous books. All in all an interesting read but if you read the two books before, this won't be new.
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Interesting trip inside an obsessed mind.
Sometimes an idea grabs ahold of you and won’t let go until you follow the Rabbit Trail wherever it leads until you have explored its every nook and cranny.
This is what happened to Pirsig and this little book is a diary of his journey. Reading brief snippets of his letters, speeches and essays was very comforting as I have often found myself in similar mental straits.
His obsession was the word Quality, or Value or Dharma, and he saw it as a Unifying Concept that would help him make sense of every aspect of the World around him. Mine is “Truth” and the search has been equally perilous. His search led him across America and Asia, helped him write an best-selling book, got him invited to speak all over the World, and even found him admitted to a Mental Hospital.
Those Rabbit Trails can be hazardous but reading about them was very enlightening and inspiring for this Reader. I thoroughly enjoyed riding along with him. Five Stars ***** -
This book suffers from problems of coherence and consistency. Some of the introductory biographical material is good, as it helps to put his story into perspective. The remainder and bulk of the book consists of snippets of material from 'Zen' and Lila, with excerpts from letters and notes as well.
One section of the book appealed to me strongly - where Pirsig gets into discussion of Sanskrit 'rta' as the original presentation of Quality in ancient India, and how this notion percolates through subsequent cultures. This section of the book will push me forward into some further research.
Unfortunately, the discussion on Quality in the book takes many turns, many of which seem at best confusing if not outright contradictory.
Quality is initially presented as the point at which we experience reality, where the line (there is no line!) between subject and object occur. The hot stove principle is repeatedly referred to, where we recoil immediately from the touch of a hot stove without any intellectual involvement, which to me seems to bring instinctual responses of an organism into the mix without adequate consideration.
Later in the book, the notion of Quality begins to diverge into good Quality and bad Quality, as Pirsig wants his students to assess and present their own versions of good Quality as opposed to bad. This is the zone of 'Zen', where the valuation and appreciation process is key. Pirsig uses the transitions of the Sanskrit 'rta' (from experiential Quality to that of quality valuation) and the notion of Greek 'areté' as cultural examples of where the personal, moral, and ethical notions of excellence arise. I enjoyed some of this material. Toward the tail end of the book, the notes seem to want to separate Quality into Dynamic Quality (the quality of direct perceptual experience) and Static Quality (the quality of the valuation process). These distinctions come across as poorly articulated, but this criticism needs to take into consideration that these are notes rather than a carefully composed exposition of material. -
On Quality is a posthumous collection of quotes from Robert M. Pirsig about his concept of Quality. Pirsig published some of his ideas about Quality in two books, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Lila. This book collects quotes from these books in addition to quotes from letters and interviews and talks over the years.
It is illustrated with photos of Pirsig's tools. -
I loved both ‘Zen’ and ‘Lila’ but found this re-cap a little disappointing. Martin Buber, Whitehead, and Vivekananda travelled the same thought-highways and addressed much that appears to be just beyond Pirsig’s reach, I think.
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Pirsig’s much more well-known work is “zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.” This book is a (not successful, in my view) attempt to further explain the ineffable concept behind Zen, which Pirsig terms “quality.”
“Quality” for Pirsig roughly means when an object or experience aligns with the Platonic ideal - you get so lost in it (whether it’s a tool or a piece of art or a stretch of road) that you can actually focus on its fundamental being-ness. If this sounds abstract and hard to explain, it’s because it is. philosophers west and east have been trying to explain this foundational concept of being for thousands of years and one of the best explanations is still “you know it when you see it” or “you are lost in flow when interacting with it.” Pirsig didn’t really do much to advance beyond that here. -
Agree with most of what has been said, but on a positive note, when I came across this at my library and read it (in one sitting-there isn’t much to it), it prompted me to go back and re-read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which I did not really appreciate years ago. This book provides the context for Zen, so net positive. Just don’t buy it. I never read Lila, so I plan to read it next.
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Favorite sentences: Regarding the creative process, I want to talk about two books. The first is the book I never wrote, and the second is the book I wrote (p.2).
