I usually don’t like going to see a movie of a book I enjoyed… I am more likely to see a movie of a book I didn’t think quite worked, because in that case, a movie can act as a last ditch effort to make it all work. Some things need a visual more than others. If I like my own inner visual, I usually let it be.
This movie I would probably want to see however, if not just for a cinematographer’s take on Bandon Dunes.
I’ll take an audiobook or movie over the novel any day, purely because I spend all day reading and writing words and need a break! Typically I’ve got Rod Morri interviews going on in the car, repeating about 5 times until I burn a new one–I’ve never met Rod personally but feel like I’ve known him for years. 
Yeah, Peaceful Warrior was Millman Bom.
Kingdom is a good read, I think the 2nd part was very interesting and thought provoking. Is there anyone here who read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and liked it/got it? Probably half a dozen times over the years I’ve picked it up and always put it down less than halfway through mostly out of tedium. The thing is I love On the Road and most everything I’ve read from The Beat writers and Holden Caufield is one of my all time heroes. And I had a bike for years but I can’t get through that book, it’s so long and boring. Can anyone explain the hoopla?
LCDV,
Yep, I read “Zen” years ago in the 1970’s while in college. For whatever reason, it hit a chord with me at the time. Who knows why I picked it up and read it. The air was different back then. And while I couldn’t give you an accurate book report on it now, I consider it one of the positive influential books I have read…but there are many. It was sort of a game changer, an attitude adjustment.
What I do remember was his emphasis on QUALITY, and at the time it seemed things of quality in America were declining. …American made cars were the perfect example. ( But it could have been just as much the users fault).
I also remember things like his attitude of looking after his motorcycle properly, carrying “back-up” parts and tools he might need, CARING about the thing. Making it last. Thinking ahead. Being prepared. Being careful. Considering consequences.
Those sort of things transfer to many other areas of life. At the time, those concepts had not been driven into me. So if you already hold those things dear, then it may not grab you as it did me at the time. Looking after the motorcycle was a good metaphor for relating those things. And the timing, in terms of what was going on in my life and the world, was good. When I meet someone who has read it, and appreciated it , there is a bond, an understanding, an unspoken knowing that we agree on something important. And while it was a popular book, a cult book…there aren’t many people I run into that have read it. Maybe I run in the wrong circles!
But again…those things are probably true of many other books.
I bought another book by the author, Pirsig, “Lila”, but could not get into it…maybe much like you are experiencing now.
You just did… apparently it sank a little deeper into your DNA than you thought!
It’s a classic. Saved me writing a review on it!
Literature is an area where I am high handicapper, and it’s been a long time since I read “Zen”, but more stuff has come to mind…
A theme of Pirsig’s was the tug between the 2 extremes of spontaneity and planning/ preparation. Yin and Yang. Opposing forces sort of. We all have enjoyed the wonderful magic of spontaneous experiences…like riding the motorcycle on a beautiful day and feeling at one with nature…or the greatest party that develops accidentally…clicking with that special someone. But we have also experienced times like the magic of having that one spare part you need when yours or a friend’s bike breaks down…all because you planned ahead. Or the time the power goes off, but your dad always kept good batteries in the flashlights. Or you have a heart attack, and some guy spent many years learning or creating how to fix your heart, and someone planned for that hospital nearby.
Pirsig seems to say it’s not either/or…but rather both/and. The world is better with spontaneity AND planning.
Something like that.
The magic or mysterious event when subjective meets objective… can only give rise to a “possible” quality event or “experience”. Quality simply cannot be defined either objectively or subjectively in any absolute way. Both have their shortcomings. Ironically enough he spends most of the book trying to define it, yet knowing that he can’t. It really is a very deep and important concept if you ever take the time to let your mind go there. To me, that was why the book was such an epic success. I had never heard or read anyone hint at the true nature or depth of such a universal topic. The book could be read and enjoyed for the simple narrative as one might enjoy “On the Road”… but I think Pirsig really went to the “center of the earth” with this one. It really does address “the science” vs “the arts” as well as anything I have ever seen presented.
To me it REALLY hit home with golf. In some ways, it was the most important golf book I ever read. I was fortunate to have read it at the right time in my life.
LCD asked
Yes.
LCD asked
lag’s last post is spot on.
Part of what makes the book so sublime is that it succeeds on so many levels; as a work of literature, as a tech manual (Pirsig’s bike maintenace tips are spot on); as a snapshot into the workings of the human psyche (papers on Pirsig can get really out there).
It’s one of those books that “leave a mark.”
Hawg1
Just as reading this forum has changed how I look at the golfswing, “Zen” gave me a new set of glasses to view the world and interpret all I saw. Nearly all careers require multiyear training. Some are formal/ structured, and with luck, exposure to some true masters. My “Zen glasses” helped me appreciate the common characteristics of those teachers who had become masters, and see the principles at work and the results.
Lag’s thread on "How to flatten a persimmon driver has “Zen” stamped all over it. In fact, the whole ABS course and forum is dripping in Quality.
When I read the above quote, I figured I had likely run into another “Zen” comrade.
Lag wrote:
That kinda says it all.
100% agree. All the best athletes effortlessly wield their equipment like it’s a extension of their body and this hand crafting brings one closer to their equipment–a ‘oneness’.