Zen and Now by Mark Richardson

Zen and Now by Mark Richardson

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 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 legions 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.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780307390691
ISBN 10	0307390691
Title	Zen and Now
Author	Mark Richardson
Series	Vintage Departures
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	2009-09-08
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.