A Guide to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

A Guide to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. It's a peculiar book, especially for a bestseller. Not a lot of it is actually about zen or motorcycle maintenance, it combines a travelogue, a father/son story, and philosophical musings, and the structure of its narration makes it hard to follow. Thus, it's the kind of book people often buy, start, and then put down without finishing.

That's initially what happened to Mark Richardson, an author and automotive journalist who was born in the UK but has lived most of his life in Canada. But when the book finally clicked for Mark, he was so inspired by it that he actually undertook Pirsig's motorcycle pilgrimage himself. Mark shares that story in Zen and Now, which intersperses stories from his own road trip with an exploration of Pirsig's life and famous book.

If you've wanted to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, but haven't been able to get into it, today Mark will offer an introduction to what it's all about. We discuss Pirsig's ideas on the metaphysics of quality and our relationship to technology, and how he tried to combine the ethos of Eastern and Western thought into a unified philosophy of living. We also get into why Mark wanted to recreate Pirsig's road trip, the joys of traveling by motorcycle, and what Mark learned along the way.

Resources Related to the PodcastConnect With Mark Richardson

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Avsnitt(1159)

#608: How Caffeine Hooks, Hurts, and Helps Us

#608: How Caffeine Hooks, Hurts, and Helps Us

More than 80% of the world's population consumes the same psychostimulant every single day. Yet few of us know very much about our favorite daily drug . . . caffeine. My guest today will shed some li...

6 Maj 202046min

#607: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

#607: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

It's been 30 years since the landmark self-management book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was published. It's been called the most influential business book of the 20th century and the princi...

4 Maj 202048min

#606: How to Activate Your Brain's Happy Chemicals

#606: How to Activate Your Brain's Happy Chemicals

Everyone has experienced the way our feelings fluctuate day by day, and even hour by hour. Sometimes we're feeling up and sometimes we're feeling down.My guest today says these oscillations are a resu...

29 Apr 202044min

#605: The Money Moves You Should Make Right Now

#605: The Money Moves You Should Make Right Now

The shutdowns that have accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic have wreaked havoc on the global economy. Millions of people are out of work, businesses are cratering, and the stock market has tanked. Wheth...

27 Apr 202049min

#604: The Boring Decadence of Modern Society

#604: The Boring Decadence of Modern Society

On the surface, it can feel like we've made a lot of technological, economic, and cultural progress during the past 30 years. But if you look closer, you start to notice that in a lot of ways, we've b...

22 Apr 202045min

#603: The Physical Keys to Human Resilience

#603: The Physical Keys to Human Resilience

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl said that "between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response." Frankl was talking about our ability to choose our mental resp...

20 Apr 202052min

#602: The Case for Being Unproductive

#602: The Case for Being Unproductive

Decades ago, economists thought that thanks to advances in technology, in the 21st century we'd only work a few hours a week and enjoy loads of leisure time. Yet here we are in the modern age, still w...

15 Apr 202042min

#601: How to Get Jailhouse Strong

#601: How to Get Jailhouse Strong

When you're in prison, you've got a lot of time on your hands, and a lot of inmates spend this time exercising. With little or no equipment and sometimes just the space available in their cells, priso...

13 Apr 202044min

Populärt inom Utbildning

historiepodden-se
rss-bara-en-till-om-missbruk-medberoende-2
det-skaver
alska-oss
nu-blir-det-historia
johannes-hansen-podcast
harrisons-dramatiska-historia
not-fanny-anymore
sektledare
rss-viktmedicinpodden
roda-vita-rosen
rss-foraldramotet-bring-lagercrantz
i-vantan-pa-katastrofen
sa-in-i-sjalen
allt-du-velat-veta
rikatillsammans-om-privatekonomi-rikedom-i-livet
rss-max-tant-med-max-villman
rss-sjalsligt-avkladd
rss-psykoterapipodden
rss-basta-livet