Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

The story is disarmingly simple: the author and his young son take a motorcycle trip across America. Their experiences become the springboard from which Robert Pirsig dives into his brilliant, often beautiful meditations on the concept of value -- and finally, on the author's own troubled past. Few books invite comparison with Moby Dick, but since Mr. Pirsig's book appeared nearly 20 years ago, critics have found the analogy unavoidable. Like Ishmael's voyage aboard the Pequot, Robert Pirsig's journey is both an exciting physical excursion and, more important, an intriguing exploration of the soul.