Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Zen and Now is a vivid chronicle of a journalist’s heartfelt and determined journey to reconnect with a beloved American classic.

In 1968, Robert Pirsig and his eleven-year-old son, Chris, made the cross-country motorcycle trip that would become the inspiration for Pirsig’s book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a powerful blend of personal narrative and philosophical investigation that has inspired generations.

Among the millions of readers to fall under the book’s spell was Mark Richardson, who as a young man struggled to understand Pirsig’s provocative and elusive ideas. Rereading the book decades later, Richardson, now a journalist and a father of two, was moved by its portrayal of Pirsig’s complex relationship with Chris and struck by the timelessness of its lessons. So he tuned up his old Suzuki dirt bike and became a “Pirsig pilgrim,” one of the legion of fans who retrace the Pirsigs’ route from Minneapolis to San Francisco. In following this itinerary over the lonely byways of the American West, Richardson revisits the people and places from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, pondering the meaning of Pirsig’s philosophy and the answers it may offer to the questions in his own life. Richardson’s dogged reporting also gives new insight into the reclusive writer’s life, exploring Pirsig’s struggle with mental illness, his unwanted celebrity, and the tragic, brutal murder of Chris in 1979.

Published to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of Pirsig’s original trip, Zen and Now is a stirring meditation on a classic work and a passionate inquiry into the lessons it continues to teach us in the complex and bewildering world we inhabit today.

Average Customer Rating:

zen and ho-hum

Customer Rating:

i kick-started this book with high hopes and expectations, if only to reconnect with the original zamm which i read as a college freshman at the university of michigan in 1976. but disappointment soon came over me, as i realized that the author was more intent on making "time" than "seeing" america as he attempted to retrace pirsig's original route. didn't he know that you can't step in the same river twice? and why was he so intent on making it to sf by his 42nd birthday? to his credit, the good parts of the book are like scenic overlooks into the biography of pirsig himself, and the tortuous psychological journey that became his life. pirsig gave the world a great book, and like prometheus, suffered for it. you need to be a real zamm devotee to want to buy and read this shallow retread. i am sure that it made a nifty and clever book proposal, but too much of the book is dull and lacks genuine introspection by not searching for higher, deeper philosophical truths. instead, the author is more concerned about writing in too much detail about all the various motels he stayed in. for that, one can buy an aaa motel guide.

Interesting, although not very deep	Customer Rating:
It was enjoyable reading up on some of the characters behind the ZAMM story. But there's too much fluff here.

Another 'quality' book...

Customer Rating:

I like the style very much, how it mirrors ZATAOMM. I found Richardson's journey and story to be equally compelling as Pirsigs. The author mixed these stories together in three threads: his journey across the country, Pirsig's original journey, and the biographical facts of Pirsig's life. I enjoyed all three. This book does not dwell on the philoshical part of ZATAOMM. That is ok. Any attempt to re-create or deeply evaluate Pirsig's concepts would likely pale in comparison. I still think that this book is excellent, and I recommend it. Mike

An Inquiry Into Cluelessness

Customer Rating:

Like Mr. Richardson I'm a huge fan of Pirsig and motorcycling and bought this book when I saw a review of it in the WSJ. I was deeply disappointed. Zen and the Art ... works because of the explorations into various facets of philosophy and identity. It's not really about a motorcycle trip, it's about exploration. Richardson's book explores nothing. There are a few random stabs into his family relationships and past experiences but they are far from profound and seem tacked on. All you learn about the author from this book is that he's whiny and prone to making spurious correlations. He never comes across as understanding Zen and the Art ... You'd think from reading Richardson that having to camp was high on the list of human miseries. That, and having to drive with the sun in your eyes. Real hardships, those. As a travel narrative writer he fails badly. I had to force myself not the skip the sections where he's describing which way the creek he was driving next to turned or how the water in this creek made a gurgling sound. In Pirsig's book such descriptions served as launching points for something else. Here there's no context for this, it's just bland, the-sky-was-deep-blue type, description. And there's a lot of it. I did not know much about Pirsig's history or the story surrounding the writing and aftermath of Zen and the Art ... and those parts were interesting and seemingly well-researched. Those parts were less than half the book, unfortunately. I may have expected too much from Zen and Now as writing anything even close to Zen and the Art... is a high bar indeed.

Take Your own trip

Customer Rating:

Hello, I really enjoyed this book, in fact it exceeded my expectations. I had been looking for some back story to ZMM that would include more information about the original trip and characters. With this book I found all that I was looking for and it's own story. Which I feel does a good job of adding to the original work. (Not the philosophy portions so much but more the narrative story.) I have been a fan of ZMM for 13 years and longed to take this trip myself. After reading this book much of the draw from the original has dissipated. It is not that I don't like ZMM anymore. But my view of the original ZMM is less romanticized in my mind. Furthermore the volume of research put into it's creation answers a lot of the questions that lingered in my mind. The author is a skilled writer and the book flows along well. If you enjoyed the original you will enjoy this too. Thanks, J P.S. In the end I might not want to take the same trip as Mark but it makes me want to take my own trip again.