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On Quality: An Inquiry into Excellence: Unpublished and Selected Writings
From the author of the multi-million-copy-selling classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, an original collection of Robert Pirsig's writings on the central theme of his thought--"quality"--featuring never-before-seen selections from his unpublished works.
"The ultimate goal in the pursuit of excellence is enlightenment."
Robert M. Pirsig wrote this unpublished line in 1962 while a patient at Downey Veteran Administration Hospital in Illinois, where he was admitted as a psychiatric patient. More than a decade before the release of the book that would make him famous, 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 Buddha."
Though he was hounded by fans who considered him a guru, the famously private Pirsig only published 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 his thinking to an unprecedented degree. Skillfully edited and introduced by Wendy Pirsig, Robert's wife of over forty years, the collection includes previously unpublished texts, speeches, letters, interviews, and private notes (including from Pirsig's time in the mental hospital), as well as key excerpts from Zen and the Art of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 transforming a generation, while serving as a perennial touchstone for the generations that follow. On Quality is a remarkable addition to the literary and philosophical canon, from one of the most influential thinkers and writers of our time.
"The ultimate goal in the pursuit of excellence is enlightenment."
Robert M. Pirsig wrote this unpublished line in 1962 while a patient at Downey Veteran Administration Hospital in Illinois, where he was admitted as a psychiatric patient. More than a decade before the release of the book that would make him famous, 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 Buddha."
Though he was hounded by fans who considered him a guru, the famously private Pirsig only published 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 his thinking to an unprecedented degree. Skillfully edited and introduced by Wendy Pirsig, Robert's wife of over forty years, the collection includes previously unpublished texts, speeches, letters, interviews, and private notes (including from Pirsig's time in the mental hospital), 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 transforming a generation, while serving as a perennial touchstone for the generations that follow. On Quality is a remarkable addition to the literary and philosophical canon, from one of the most influential thinkers and writers of our time.
192 pages, Hardcover
Published April 26, 2022
81 people are currently reading
643 people want to read
About the author
Robert M. Pirsig
27 books1,678 followersRobert Maynard Pirsig was an American writer and philosopher. He is the author of the philosophical novels Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (1974) and Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (1991), and he co-authored On Quality: An Inquiry Into Excellence: Selected and Unpublished Writings (2022) along with his wife and editor, Wendy K. Pirsig.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
May 3, 2022
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.
May 4, 2022
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 *****
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 *****
January 1, 2023
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.
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.
February 9, 2024
strange editing. felt all too copy and pasted together in a way that hampered the depth
March 6, 2024
I used to feel bad that I’d never read Pirsig’s famous book Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance because I love Buddhist philosophy. After reading On Quality, I feel far less bad about it. Quality is an interesting topic, and I was interested in a book with a philosophical look at it, but this book just wasn’t for me. I’m sure many will love it, but not me.
I’m a fan of books that are written for everyday people, and this book is just way too much for the average reader. It’s a short read, but it’s one of those books where it talks in the most confusing way possible to be more intellectual. I’m not dumb, so I grasped what Pirsig is discussing in the book, but I don’t read books for it to feel like I’m in a college course.
In my personal opinion, I feel like people say they love books like these to feel smart when there are other books that speak in everyday language and say a whole lot more. Maybe someday I’ll read his other book, but if the whole thing is like this, I’ll probably stop before finishing it.
I’m a fan of books that are written for everyday people, and this book is just way too much for the average reader. It’s a short read, but it’s one of those books where it talks in the most confusing way possible to be more intellectual. I’m not dumb, so I grasped what Pirsig is discussing in the book, but I don’t read books for it to feel like I’m in a college course.
In my personal opinion, I feel like people say they love books like these to feel smart when there are other books that speak in everyday language and say a whole lot more. Maybe someday I’ll read his other book, but if the whole thing is like this, I’ll probably stop before finishing it.
May 16, 2022
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.
It is illustrated with photos of Pirsig's tools.
May 7, 2022
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.
Read
August 11, 2024This is a nice book for anyone who is hesitant to read either Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM) or Lila. This collection contains excerpts from both works and is Pirsig’s philosophy on tap. After initially flipping through the book and seeing photos of Pirsig’s shop tools, I hoped the book would include anecdotes about craft and/or workmanship. Instead, the book gets at the heart of Pirsig’s philosophy of Quality without focusing on specifics of how Quality may manifest itself in objects, an example of what Pirsig calls “static Quality.”
Pirsig’s writing is very down to earth. I admired his explanation for writing ZAMM and Lila as first-person fiction in order to avoid his philosophy sounding “like somebody’s talking from a pulpit, pontificating.” (p.15) Pirsig refuses to define dynamic Quality, instead allowing it to be an open, flexible concept that can aid people as they grow. (p.97)
One highlight of this book (which is actually just a long excerpt from ZAMM) is Pirsig’s realization that he can avoid the overarching dualistic conundrums of philosophy (Subject vs Object, Mind vs Body) by introducing dynamic Quality as a third player. Quality is described as the event in which object and subject brush up against one another. He then takes this idea one step further:
“The very existence of subject and object themselves is deduced from the Quality event. The Quality event is the cause of the subjects and objects, which are then mistakenly presumed to be the cause of the Quality!” (p.54)
While this thought process is provocative, its byproducts shape how I will think of Quality more so than many other statements in Pirsig’s writing. A byproduct I’m referring to is, according to Pirsig’s worldview, Quality is the cosmic building block for everything (or for the Buddhists, nothingness), even from an empirical angle. Pirsig doubles down:
“Why… should a group of simple, stable compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen struggle for billions of years to organize themselves into a professor of chemistry? Natural selection is Dynamic Quality at work…” and “The universe is evolving from a condition of low quality (quantum forces only, no atoms, pre-big bang) toward a higher one (birds, trees, societies, and thoughts), and in a static sense these two are not the same.”
This is flirting with Leibniz’s worldview of ours being “the best of all possible worlds” parodied by Voltaire in Candide. Pirsig continually uses the example of someone sitting on a hot stove and realizing they are in a low-quality situation before they need intellectualize (attribute words and symbols) what has happened. I believe a key concept missing from Pirsig’s metaphysics of quality is a discussion of equality. Equality, when compared to equity, can yield less than ideal situations. I believe that the person who sits on the stove will experience a low-quality situation that yields the heat’s proliferation/actualization on a chemical level. In short, for someone to experience a high-quality situation, they must do so at the expense of something/someone else who will suffer a low quality result. I’m sure that Pirsig would disagree (and I’m also sure this flies in the face of Buddhism / Hinduism), but his use of materialist arguments don’t do him any favors as far as I’m concerned. Outside of these materialist arguments, I do enjoy his worldview. Again, his down-to-earth writing style does help.
A passage I found amusing was Pirsig’s retelling of how complex it is to describe what constitutes quality to his English students. “The solution lies in a common word that on first analysis seems as simple as the word ‘time’ and that, on further inspection, turns out to be fully as complex as that word ‘time.’” (p.26) I find this funny because before reading this book I asked myself “What is required in order for something to be of quality?” With much conviction, I answered “Things of quality take time.” I now see that both are loaded words and I’m very skeptical of my answer.
Many times while reading this book I was reminded of the title of Lawrence Weschler and Robert Irwin’s “Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees.” I would recommend that book to anyone who enjoys Pirsig’s worldview.
A life lesson:
“I want to emphasize that when that idea came [the idea for the book ZAMM], there was no preparation for it. It arrived out of my own circumstances, rather than out of a deliberate desire on my part to sit down and write. I wasn’t being separate from what I was doing; this was arising out of what I was doing.” (p.8) –
“Again, I’ll repeat: not a deliberate thing where I’m coming at it from a distance saying, ‘Now I’m going to do this thing that was in front of me,’ but a kind of opening up from inside, and finding that this thing that I’ve started to do is bigger than I ever thought it was, and I’m going to let it grow…” (p.12)
And a favorite quote:
“The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.” (p.58)
Pirsig’s writing is very down to earth. I admired his explanation for writing ZAMM and Lila as first-person fiction in order to avoid his philosophy sounding “like somebody’s talking from a pulpit, pontificating.” (p.15) Pirsig refuses to define dynamic Quality, instead allowing it to be an open, flexible concept that can aid people as they grow. (p.97)
One highlight of this book (which is actually just a long excerpt from ZAMM) is Pirsig’s realization that he can avoid the overarching dualistic conundrums of philosophy (Subject vs Object, Mind vs Body) by introducing dynamic Quality as a third player. Quality is described as the event in which object and subject brush up against one another. He then takes this idea one step further:
“The very existence of subject and object themselves is deduced from the Quality event. The Quality event is the cause of the subjects and objects, which are then mistakenly presumed to be the cause of the Quality!” (p.54)
While this thought process is provocative, its byproducts shape how I will think of Quality more so than many other statements in Pirsig’s writing. A byproduct I’m referring to is, according to Pirsig’s worldview, Quality is the cosmic building block for everything (or for the Buddhists, nothingness), even from an empirical angle. Pirsig doubles down:
“Why… should a group of simple, stable compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen struggle for billions of years to organize themselves into a professor of chemistry? Natural selection is Dynamic Quality at work…” and “The universe is evolving from a condition of low quality (quantum forces only, no atoms, pre-big bang) toward a higher one (birds, trees, societies, and thoughts), and in a static sense these two are not the same.”
This is flirting with Leibniz’s worldview of ours being “the best of all possible worlds” parodied by Voltaire in Candide. Pirsig continually uses the example of someone sitting on a hot stove and realizing they are in a low-quality situation before they need intellectualize (attribute words and symbols) what has happened. I believe a key concept missing from Pirsig’s metaphysics of quality is a discussion of equality. Equality, when compared to equity, can yield less than ideal situations. I believe that the person who sits on the stove will experience a low-quality situation that yields the heat’s proliferation/actualization on a chemical level. In short, for someone to experience a high-quality situation, they must do so at the expense of something/someone else who will suffer a low quality result. I’m sure that Pirsig would disagree (and I’m also sure this flies in the face of Buddhism / Hinduism), but his use of materialist arguments don’t do him any favors as far as I’m concerned. Outside of these materialist arguments, I do enjoy his worldview. Again, his down-to-earth writing style does help.
A passage I found amusing was Pirsig’s retelling of how complex it is to describe what constitutes quality to his English students. “The solution lies in a common word that on first analysis seems as simple as the word ‘time’ and that, on further inspection, turns out to be fully as complex as that word ‘time.’” (p.26) I find this funny because before reading this book I asked myself “What is required in order for something to be of quality?” With much conviction, I answered “Things of quality take time.” I now see that both are loaded words and I’m very skeptical of my answer.
Many times while reading this book I was reminded of the title of Lawrence Weschler and Robert Irwin’s “Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees.” I would recommend that book to anyone who enjoys Pirsig’s worldview.
A life lesson:
“I want to emphasize that when that idea came [the idea for the book ZAMM], there was no preparation for it. It arrived out of my own circumstances, rather than out of a deliberate desire on my part to sit down and write. I wasn’t being separate from what I was doing; this was arising out of what I was doing.” (p.8) –
“Again, I’ll repeat: not a deliberate thing where I’m coming at it from a distance saying, ‘Now I’m going to do this thing that was in front of me,’ but a kind of opening up from inside, and finding that this thing that I’ve started to do is bigger than I ever thought it was, and I’m going to let it grow…” (p.12)
And a favorite quote:
“The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.” (p.58)
September 1, 2025
On Quality: Pirsig and Zen at 50
Waaaay back when, in 1968, a man goes on a trip with his son and thinks about philosophy.
Then writes a book about it.
It became a massive bestseller, got rave reviews, and became a cultural touchstone. And the motorcycle now sits in the Smithsonian.
The story is Zen And The Art Of The Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values. The author is the late Robert M. Pirsig. And last year, in 2024, his classic turned fifty.
Oh, by the way, just a quick FYI, Pirsig admits right from the start, this book is not very factual on zen or motorcycles.
With the Zen book, Pirsig wrote a quasi-autobiographical tale of him taking his younger son Chris on a cross country motorcycle trip, all while opining endlessly on his philosophy of Quality, and relearning himself after a mental breakdown. Pirsig has to reconcile with his past self Phaedrus. Partly to save himself, partly to save his son Chris. There is much to learn from and think about here, as millions who have read it can attest too.
Pirsig wrote a sequel in 1991 called Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals, and it is about him on a boat sailing around America and his travelling companion Lila, with loads more of his philosophy. He also has to deal with Chris’s murder, which really did happen. Lila was also quasi-autobiographical but not nearly as popular.
Between the two, a Guidebook to the Zen book came out in 1990, created by Ronald I. DiSanto and Thomas J. Steele, which invaluably document the motorcycle trip and expanded on his thinking. Years later in 2008, Now And Zen comes out by Mark Richardson, and he recreates the zen trip.
Pirsig passed away in 2017 at age 88.
Which bring us to his last work, that his second wife Wendy K. Pirsig edited, called On Quality: An Inquiry Into Excellence, published in 2022. This is a slim volume of less than 150 pages, because all the other books mentioned here are much bigger, and consists of snippets from letters and speeches and interviews and question & answer sessions and pieces from Pirsig’s books. Sometimes these snatches are pages long, others a paragraph or two, and a few times it is just a sentence. Along the way Wendy Pirsig includes poems which lend themselves to the philosophies Robert Pirsig espoused, and pictures of his tools are placed throughout as well. You can tell this collection was a labour of love for her, as a final testament to his work.
For me, I greatly loved this final chapter on Pirsig and Quality. The discussions by his fans of him and his thoughts will still continue of course, but Pirsig and what was left of Phaedrus are resting in peace.
Now for the rest of the general public, if you have not read the Zen book, or gone further down the rabbit hole with Lila and the Guidebook and Now and Zen, then On Quality is not the thing for you. This is an endpoint not a launching pad. Getting into Pirsig with this one would be like trying to understand all the Marvel Movies by starting with Avengers Infinity War. Good luck with that.
As for Pirsig’s thoughts, the Zen book starts with a paraphrased quote from Plato, “And what is good, Phaedrus, and what is not good - Need we ask anyone to tell us these things.” This kickstarts him trying to marry Eastern thought and Western thought together, and for good measure define Quality. Pirsig goes deep dive into history, thought, and everyday life, giving plenty of examples from his own experiences, to bring the Metaphysics of Quality into reality. But it already exists in reality, doesn’t it? These are definitely the parts of his writings that cannot be glossed over while reading, they need to be adsorded, whether you agree or disagree with everything. But it will make you think. Because it is all part of the journey after all, the journey of yourself.
On Quality is not very factual on zen or motorcycle maintenance or sailing or families or friends.
But it is very factual on the who and the what and the how of Pirsig.
Scoopriches
https://scoopsmentalpropaganda.wordpr...
Waaaay back when, in 1968, a man goes on a trip with his son and thinks about philosophy.
Then writes a book about it.
It became a massive bestseller, got rave reviews, and became a cultural touchstone. And the motorcycle now sits in the Smithsonian.
The story is Zen And The Art Of The Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values. The author is the late Robert M. Pirsig. And last year, in 2024, his classic turned fifty.
Oh, by the way, just a quick FYI, Pirsig admits right from the start, this book is not very factual on zen or motorcycles.
With the Zen book, Pirsig wrote a quasi-autobiographical tale of him taking his younger son Chris on a cross country motorcycle trip, all while opining endlessly on his philosophy of Quality, and relearning himself after a mental breakdown. Pirsig has to reconcile with his past self Phaedrus. Partly to save himself, partly to save his son Chris. There is much to learn from and think about here, as millions who have read it can attest too.
Pirsig wrote a sequel in 1991 called Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals, and it is about him on a boat sailing around America and his travelling companion Lila, with loads more of his philosophy. He also has to deal with Chris’s murder, which really did happen. Lila was also quasi-autobiographical but not nearly as popular.
Between the two, a Guidebook to the Zen book came out in 1990, created by Ronald I. DiSanto and Thomas J. Steele, which invaluably document the motorcycle trip and expanded on his thinking. Years later in 2008, Now And Zen comes out by Mark Richardson, and he recreates the zen trip.
Pirsig passed away in 2017 at age 88.
Which bring us to his last work, that his second wife Wendy K. Pirsig edited, called On Quality: An Inquiry Into Excellence, published in 2022. This is a slim volume of less than 150 pages, because all the other books mentioned here are much bigger, and consists of snippets from letters and speeches and interviews and question & answer sessions and pieces from Pirsig’s books. Sometimes these snatches are pages long, others a paragraph or two, and a few times it is just a sentence. Along the way Wendy Pirsig includes poems which lend themselves to the philosophies Robert Pirsig espoused, and pictures of his tools are placed throughout as well. You can tell this collection was a labour of love for her, as a final testament to his work.
For me, I greatly loved this final chapter on Pirsig and Quality. The discussions by his fans of him and his thoughts will still continue of course, but Pirsig and what was left of Phaedrus are resting in peace.
Now for the rest of the general public, if you have not read the Zen book, or gone further down the rabbit hole with Lila and the Guidebook and Now and Zen, then On Quality is not the thing for you. This is an endpoint not a launching pad. Getting into Pirsig with this one would be like trying to understand all the Marvel Movies by starting with Avengers Infinity War. Good luck with that.
As for Pirsig’s thoughts, the Zen book starts with a paraphrased quote from Plato, “And what is good, Phaedrus, and what is not good - Need we ask anyone to tell us these things.” This kickstarts him trying to marry Eastern thought and Western thought together, and for good measure define Quality. Pirsig goes deep dive into history, thought, and everyday life, giving plenty of examples from his own experiences, to bring the Metaphysics of Quality into reality. But it already exists in reality, doesn’t it? These are definitely the parts of his writings that cannot be glossed over while reading, they need to be adsorded, whether you agree or disagree with everything. But it will make you think. Because it is all part of the journey after all, the journey of yourself.
On Quality is not very factual on zen or motorcycle maintenance or sailing or families or friends.
But it is very factual on the who and the what and the how of Pirsig.
Scoopriches
https://scoopsmentalpropaganda.wordpr...
Read
July 22, 2022I was very excited when I happened upon (completely by accident--I was looking for something else) this book on the public library's website. I'd read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance several times, and Lila once. I'd also nibbled at Guidebook to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Ron Di Santo & Tom Steele...though I have to admit that I wasn't man enough to read the whole thing. But I think I've established my street cred here: I loved Robert Pirsig dearly. So finding out that there was a new Pirsig book excited me greatly.
I put in a request for the it, got it almost immediately (not a good sign for a brand new book), and commenced to reading it.
Hmmm. Not exactly the most compelling material. First off, there was a long Preface ("Bob's Quest") by Wendy Pirsig. And I'm sure that Wendy is a lovely human being...but she is not a great writer. Despite my great interest in the subject matter, I found the Preface exceedingly tedious, and it took me a lot longer to work through it than I would have believed possible. But after that it was all new Pirsig, right? 135 pages of text!
Well...not really. For one thing, there were a lot of pictures of Bob's tools. Interesting, yes...but that's not what I was looking for. And then it became obvious that a lot of the written material was stuff taken from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Lila. In fact, there were only about 62 pages of "new" material. And those pages were not very full. In fact, I'd guess that if you boiled it all down to a normal sized book--this one is only 5.5 x 8.25 inches, about the size of a paperback book; and the spacing is generous; and the margins are wide; and the font is not small--that you'd have maybe 25 pages. It's stuff from letters and lectures, for the most part.
But it's worse than that. The material here is so tedious and repetitive that despite my great love for Pirsig, I was ready to quit by the time I finally dragged myself to page 102. I felt like I was reading the same five lines over and over again. In fact, the only reason that I finished the book was because I was stuck in the car waiting for my son to get off work and I'd forgotten to bring my Nicholas Nickleby along.
And get this: the list price for this book is $26.99.
If you love Robert M. Pirsig, you do not want to buy this book. In fact, I feel ripped off, and I didn't pay a cent to read it. It's just shit, really.
Re-read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance again instead. You'll be a lot happier than I am right now.
I put in a request for the it, got it almost immediately (not a good sign for a brand new book), and commenced to reading it.
Hmmm. Not exactly the most compelling material. First off, there was a long Preface ("Bob's Quest") by Wendy Pirsig. And I'm sure that Wendy is a lovely human being...but she is not a great writer. Despite my great interest in the subject matter, I found the Preface exceedingly tedious, and it took me a lot longer to work through it than I would have believed possible. But after that it was all new Pirsig, right? 135 pages of text!
Well...not really. For one thing, there were a lot of pictures of Bob's tools. Interesting, yes...but that's not what I was looking for. And then it became obvious that a lot of the written material was stuff taken from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Lila. In fact, there were only about 62 pages of "new" material. And those pages were not very full. In fact, I'd guess that if you boiled it all down to a normal sized book--this one is only 5.5 x 8.25 inches, about the size of a paperback book; and the spacing is generous; and the margins are wide; and the font is not small--that you'd have maybe 25 pages. It's stuff from letters and lectures, for the most part.
But it's worse than that. The material here is so tedious and repetitive that despite my great love for Pirsig, I was ready to quit by the time I finally dragged myself to page 102. I felt like I was reading the same five lines over and over again. In fact, the only reason that I finished the book was because I was stuck in the car waiting for my son to get off work and I'd forgotten to bring my Nicholas Nickleby along.
And get this: the list price for this book is $26.99.
If you love Robert M. Pirsig, you do not want to buy this book. In fact, I feel ripped off, and I didn't pay a cent to read it. It's just shit, really.
Re-read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance again instead. You'll be a lot happier than I am right now.
January 24, 2024
With his book On Quality, Pirsig has demonstrated that he is a true philosopher of the highest order.
His thoughts here echo the wisdom of the sages of all ages, both of East and West. Although Pirsig focuses mostly on examples from the Eastern traditions of Buddhism and Taoism, many parallels can be found in the pagan Greco-Roman traditions as well as in the more recent Christian traditions.
His concept of the Trinity, (Quality-subject-object relationship) with Quality being the absolute transcendent basis of all reality—including both subject & object—seems to echo the ancient notion of the Spirit-soul-body constitution of man.
Furthermore, his idea of the Dynamic Quality and static quality of reality appears to be related to the Christian theological concepts of Providence and Destiny, as they were understood by Augustine and Aquinas. Pirsig says, “To the extent that you perceive Dynamic Quality, you make your own life, and to the extent you cling to static quality, you are the victim of fate.” pp. 69
So Pirsig isn’t really saying anything new here. But that was never really the point of philosophy, or religion, or for those seeking enlightenment, was it? Instead, the goal is simply remembering Quality and our relationship with it, in a very real, experiential way—not just logically or intellectually. Not so much in the head, but in the heart. Which is something that every one of us has always known, yet are so quick to forget.
History ought to remember Pirsig as one of the notable philosophers of the 20th century. Great work, and may his legacy live on.
His thoughts here echo the wisdom of the sages of all ages, both of East and West. Although Pirsig focuses mostly on examples from the Eastern traditions of Buddhism and Taoism, many parallels can be found in the pagan Greco-Roman traditions as well as in the more recent Christian traditions.
His concept of the Trinity, (Quality-subject-object relationship) with Quality being the absolute transcendent basis of all reality—including both subject & object—seems to echo the ancient notion of the Spirit-soul-body constitution of man.
Furthermore, his idea of the Dynamic Quality and static quality of reality appears to be related to the Christian theological concepts of Providence and Destiny, as they were understood by Augustine and Aquinas. Pirsig says, “To the extent that you perceive Dynamic Quality, you make your own life, and to the extent you cling to static quality, you are the victim of fate.” pp. 69
So Pirsig isn’t really saying anything new here. But that was never really the point of philosophy, or religion, or for those seeking enlightenment, was it? Instead, the goal is simply remembering Quality and our relationship with it, in a very real, experiential way—not just logically or intellectually. Not so much in the head, but in the heart. Which is something that every one of us has always known, yet are so quick to forget.
History ought to remember Pirsig as one of the notable philosophers of the 20th century. Great work, and may his legacy live on.
April 30, 2024
IF I GAVE YOU A CLUE AT THE COST OF YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE I WOULD BE THE WORST OF TEACHERS.
The process of great effort which produces nothing is important to go through.
That way of doing things is the right way, and the way that produces things of real value, where there is no separateness between the doer and the done. But it takes a lot of frustration to reach it.
At the instant quality is observed, observer and observed aren't separate.
Quality is the experience before it is symbolised.
The tree that you are aware of intellectually, because of the time lag, is always in the past and is therefore always unreal.
Reality is always the moment of vision before the intellectualisation takes place. There is no other reality.
Quality and God are the same.
Quality is just experience. Its the essence of experience. That is all. Its not an intellectual category or any kind of 'thing' that is independent of experience itself.
Quality occurs at the point at which subject and object meet.
Quality is a term that equates to the 'nothingness' in Buddhism.
Meditation is like the finger pointing at the moon, rather than the moon itself.
Mu means no thing. Outside dualistic discrimination. Mu says no class, not one, not zero, not yes, not no.
The buddha-nature cannot be captured by yes or no questions.
Caring - a feeling of identification with what one is doing.
The process of great effort which produces nothing is important to go through.
That way of doing things is the right way, and the way that produces things of real value, where there is no separateness between the doer and the done. But it takes a lot of frustration to reach it.
At the instant quality is observed, observer and observed aren't separate.
Quality is the experience before it is symbolised.
The tree that you are aware of intellectually, because of the time lag, is always in the past and is therefore always unreal.
Reality is always the moment of vision before the intellectualisation takes place. There is no other reality.
Quality and God are the same.
Quality is just experience. Its the essence of experience. That is all. Its not an intellectual category or any kind of 'thing' that is independent of experience itself.
Quality occurs at the point at which subject and object meet.
Quality is a term that equates to the 'nothingness' in Buddhism.
Meditation is like the finger pointing at the moon, rather than the moon itself.
Mu means no thing. Outside dualistic discrimination. Mu says no class, not one, not zero, not yes, not no.
The buddha-nature cannot be captured by yes or no questions.
Caring - a feeling of identification with what one is doing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2022
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.
“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.
January 15, 2023
I saw another review mention Pirsig's obsession with the term Quality, and that word fits, though being led through someone else's obsession can feel like a slog, especially when it often seems like it's going around in circles.
This book does Pirsig's legacy no favors, scattering bits and pieces of correspondence that come across like ramblings when stripped of greater context for the sake of filling pages with the novelty of words and thoughts from Persig. It probably didn't need to be published, but I'm sure his more dedicated fans will enjoy it. Despite a few fascinating and deeply interesting passages, I found it near impossible to hold onto the thread or not feel my eyes glazing over through what should have been a breezy read.
It's either a bad book or I don't have a head for Pirsig. Both these things can be true, I suppose.
Completed 1/15/23
This book does Pirsig's legacy no favors, scattering bits and pieces of correspondence that come across like ramblings when stripped of greater context for the sake of filling pages with the novelty of words and thoughts from Persig. It probably didn't need to be published, but I'm sure his more dedicated fans will enjoy it. Despite a few fascinating and deeply interesting passages, I found it near impossible to hold onto the thread or not feel my eyes glazing over through what should have been a breezy read.
It's either a bad book or I don't have a head for Pirsig. Both these things can be true, I suppose.
Completed 1/15/23
January 28, 2024
On Quality is a meditation on the life and writings of Robert Pirsig, the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Lila. The book was compiled posthumously by Wendy Pirsig, Robert’s wife. Pirsig draws his metaphysics of quality from eastern philosophy— notably Indian Hinduism and Japanese Zen Buddhism, but Pirsig, much like Thomas Merton, actually explored these traditions and his experiences in India were profound and at one point life threatening.
The meditations on quality are applicable principles to life, and Pirsig, who suffered mental illness, fought hard for these ideas. I sensed an underlying Platonism in the Quality metaphysics, and if somewhere in the background Plato’s theory of the forms was just sort of hanging out, just kind of like the borrowed words of one politician’s by another.
The meditations on quality are applicable principles to life, and Pirsig, who suffered mental illness, fought hard for these ideas. I sensed an underlying Platonism in the Quality metaphysics, and if somewhere in the background Plato’s theory of the forms was just sort of hanging out, just kind of like the borrowed words of one politician’s by another.
June 17, 2024
I suppose you could say the quality of Robert Pirsig’s thoughts was more apparent to me in the context of his two books, which I read and was fascinated by years ago, one in college the other on my own. Reading in this context I have trouble distinguishing his thoughts from what I know was a popular alternative at the time he was working in the books, and even when I was in college, and is probably now as well, the cultural heritage of India that has been with us for thousands of years, never having to have been rediscovered there, but in a constant state of rediscovery here. And before it was useful to me (I’ve written many poems with a huge debt to Pirsig) and now it seems less so. But it is still useful, and this companion digs in a little more deeply to his thought process, how it was formed. So it has its own quality.
June 18, 2022
A collected of Pirsig's writings on his theory regarding Quality. At first I was a disappointed, as the intro by Pirsig's wife and a speech by Pirsig that retells the origin of his famous "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" take up nearly 1/3 of the book. But when I got to the meat of the book, the part about Quality, I felt as though maybe the earlier, short biography of Pirsig would be the highlight.
I fell for Pirsig's non-western views of value and the undefinable Quality in Zen, but the subject seems to work much better when intertwined within the motorcycle journey than when its extracted and wrung out into a mass of repetitious snippets from his books, letters, and speeches. And it gets no clearer.
I fell for Pirsig's non-western views of value and the undefinable Quality in Zen, but the subject seems to work much better when intertwined within the motorcycle journey than when its extracted and wrung out into a mass of repetitious snippets from his books, letters, and speeches. And it gets no clearer.
January 17, 2024
(3.5) First read Pirsig’s opus “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” while studying abroad. We shared the copy among our friends and each wore a badge of honor for getting through the philosophical epic. It was worth it, but I remember the struggle more than the content. This book felt similar in some ways - very complex explanations of “Quality” that felt inaccessible. I tried hard to follow the concepts but found I resonated most with the beginning essay on the process of writing “Zen…” and the final section on “Attitude”. I guess I am overly pragmatic and appreciate anyone who shares their values and their process. For me that is the most caring and generous thing you can do. Imbue others with wisdom of what it takes to make something of lasting and enduring quality.
August 29, 2022
Sometimes it is fruitful to attempt a psychoanalytic approach to a novel, for example, Anna Karenina was clearly profoundly mentally ill (the character).
And then there are books that give you a peek inside the mind of a writer's profoundly challenging relationship with his own psyche.
This hodgepodge of quotes, essaylets and excerpts do little to explicate Pirsig's inexplicable philosophy of Quality. It is outside his grasp. It is outside of ours.
But it does provide a glimpse into the experience of someone who feels certain they have uncovered a major truth of the nature of reality, but like a bipolar Cassandra, is condemned never to be heard.
And then there are books that give you a peek inside the mind of a writer's profoundly challenging relationship with his own psyche.
This hodgepodge of quotes, essaylets and excerpts do little to explicate Pirsig's inexplicable philosophy of Quality. It is outside his grasp. It is outside of ours.
But it does provide a glimpse into the experience of someone who feels certain they have uncovered a major truth of the nature of reality, but like a bipolar Cassandra, is condemned never to be heard.
November 5, 2023
Thought proviking
Pirsig by snippets. He wants to talk about quality, to define it. At first I thoroughly disliked his argument, that quality is undefinable and yet we know what it is. I still don't like it but he made me think about the total concept. To me we have the source of quality, the creator and the object containing quality, the creation. He calls these dynamic and static quality. But, I believe we can define what quality is, to me the quality of a creation is the content of applied knowledge. The creator determines the quality of the creation by choice from her store of knowledge.
Pirsig by snippets. He wants to talk about quality, to define it. At first I thoroughly disliked his argument, that quality is undefinable and yet we know what it is. I still don't like it but he made me think about the total concept. To me we have the source of quality, the creator and the object containing quality, the creation. He calls these dynamic and static quality. But, I believe we can define what quality is, to me the quality of a creation is the content of applied knowledge. The creator determines the quality of the creation by choice from her store of knowledge.
November 9, 2024
Pirsig's missives on Dynamic and Static Quality have always resonated strongly with me. Like many, I absorbed ZAMM in college, and later on when it was published, Lila as well. THIS book (On Quality) best fits as a reminder for some of the most valuable lessons discussed in the first two books. While there is not a ton of new material within On Quality, reading the excerpts of Pirsig letters, interviews and presentations from the last 5-25 years did provide some fresh, valuable perspective. For example, an excerpt of a letter found on p. 85 provides the best summary of that Metaphysics of Quality that I've found in his teachings.
November 24, 2022
This book is OK, but not great. It is certainly not in the same category as the author's masterful "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." I do not see how it is worth the $27 that I paid for it. I plan to donate it to Goodwill because I am sure I will never read it again.
My grandfather was a Tool Person, and my father was a Tool Person, and I am a Tool Person, so the things I liked best about this book were all the black-and-white photos of the author's motorcycle maintenance tools -- wrenches, etc.
My grandfather was a Tool Person, and my father was a Tool Person, and I am a Tool Person, so the things I liked best about this book were all the black-and-white photos of the author's motorcycle maintenance tools -- wrenches, etc.
October 27, 2023
Robert M. Pirsig had an incredible mind.
There's one passage that's particularly noteworthy for me in which he discusses a frustrating need for students to clearly understand what a professor wants in order to work toward that goal, instead of pursuing something of quality on their own. That, I believe, the search for learning how to be creative on your own without constantly seeking validation, without solely trying to please one person, is the goal of higher education within creative fields.
There's one passage that's particularly noteworthy for me in which he discusses a frustrating need for students to clearly understand what a professor wants in order to work toward that goal, instead of pursuing something of quality on their own. That, I believe, the search for learning how to be creative on your own without constantly seeking validation, without solely trying to please one person, is the goal of higher education within creative fields.
August 9, 2022
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.
June 22, 2023
I really enjoyed Pirsig’s first book “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” and his musings on “quality” being a fundamental bedrock of our reality. In this book, Pirsig adds to his analysis with additional letters and writing that he has developed over the years. I particularly liked how Pirsig related quality to someone who cares and or loves what he or she does. Quality, as Pirsig says, cannot be defined, but it is everywhere, and you know it when you see it.
December 28, 2023
This was my first read from the author so I didn’t entirely know what I was getting into. I had perhaps hoped to find something more either descriptive or instructional and it was neither of those. Even as a philosophical text the author made constant unsupported assertions rather than providing supporting arguments mathematically or logically. It was kind of just like all the thoughts that came to his head and that wasn’t helpful in terms of what I was looking for.
August 17, 2024
collection of quotes from books, letters, speeches, interviews. Good follow-up to his books. Reading this lead me down the internet rabbit hole to find contemporary analysis of his works. The academics who teach classical philosophy were dismissive. The new-age people were thrilled. There were thoughtful pieces by Anthony McWatt. I think more serious inquiry would be useful by professionals who know both the Eastern and Western philosophical traditions.
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September 24, 2025Instead of reason, instead of a world made of subject and object, Pirsig theorizes of the world as made of Quality. We know it when we see it. It is how we have meaning and value and goodness in our lives. We should let it flow between us and all things in all ways.
Pirsig’s philosophy attempts to bridge East and West, and while I don’t always buy it, it’s a fun and fascinating artifact of anti-logic. A compelling and relatively quick read of philosophy and personality.
Pirsig’s philosophy attempts to bridge East and West, and while I don’t always buy it, it’s a fun and fascinating artifact of anti-logic. A compelling and relatively quick read of philosophy and personality.
September 7, 2023
This book is an excellent review of two books by Robert Pirsig I read many years ago - 1) Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, and 2) Lila. I appreciated the focus on the philosophy of quality because it helped me understand the philosophy better than when I read Pirsig’s two books. I especially improved my understanding of the “zen” in Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.
October 24, 2023
3.5 Stars.
A nice little book, taking many of Pirsig's correspondence over the decades and expounding upon the numinous connection to Buddhism he draws, as well as his concept of the monism of Quality. Interesting stuff - but, inevitably due to the post-humous nature of the collated works, a little scattered and without connecting tissue. Still a worthwhile read for any Pirsig fans.
A nice little book, taking many of Pirsig's correspondence over the decades and expounding upon the numinous connection to Buddhism he draws, as well as his concept of the monism of Quality. Interesting stuff - but, inevitably due to the post-humous nature of the collated works, a little scattered and without connecting tissue. Still a worthwhile read for any Pirsig fans.
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