Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I don't really know that I have much to say about this book that hasn't been said by someone else. I did notice that I seemed to enjoy the "socially unacceptable thinking = insanity" trope like I did in the film The Ruling Class. I'm not sure if that always works for me, but I'll have to keep an eye out for more stuff about how insane people are really not the ones who need help.

I liked a lot of what Pirsig had to say about "Quality" and our relationship to others, our environment, our occupations, and ourselves. I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that the only way to effect social change is through personal transformation, but I suppose I have heard worse ideas. I didn't agree with his demonization of cities and urbanity, particularly since it's not really sustainable to have everybody living in a house with a big yard and whatnot, but I guess it wasn't out of line with his ideology in general as espoused in the book.

I don't know if I'll bother with the sequel, but it did present a lot of ideas that I'd like to explore further, so I'm glad my edition had a sort of reading list in the back. There are a lot of subjects I'd like to read about in the near future, but both Eastern and Western philosophy rank pretty high. I'm not sure whether I'll hold off on non-fiction until the summer; I guess I'll just have to see where my whims take me.