Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

[In_The_Wind]

Poll question: Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

will keep me company while I'm driving over the next few days ~ what do you think will happen


discuss

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

1. You will fall asleep

long before you finish the first chapter.

[In_The_Wind]

3. That's just great!

any suggestions for 20 hours of listening ~ I still have time to shop

[Lilyhoney]

7. Joan,

Try "Friend of The Earth" by T.C. Boyle, or "Into The Forest" sorry I don't remember the author. I really enjoyed them both. I think you would like them.

Have a safe trip.

[In_The_Wind]

12. I'll look for both of those books on tape or CD.

I should be back home in 5 or 6 days but as usual I'll have my computer with me on the trip, hopefully I'll still be able to log on to DU. :) I'm addicted to my friends here too much to stay away for long.

[Lilyhoney]

17. I will be looking for you. nt

[villager]

2. gonna make "good time,"

with the emphasis on "good," rather than "time?"

[In_The_Wind]

25. the road less traveled by

will be beautiful as the journey unfolds

[Maddy McCall]

4. Changed my life.

Seriously. Made me see that overaccomplishment wasn't as important as being an in-touch parent.

Excellent book.

[In_The_Wind]

9. thanks Maddy

I don't read nearly as much as I once did but I was a type A personality so I fully understand the whip that moves us all forward.


on my drive down to the jersey shore last week I almost finished listening to the unabridged 19 hour version of Angels & Demons which I started earlier this year on my drive to Ohio ... it was quite enjoyable

[WCGreen]

38. I second that....

I read that book the summer between High School and College and it did change the way I looked at things...

But the effects have blossomed later as I grow older and realize what really is important.....

[rfranklin]

5. Nuttier than a can of Planter's....

Roasted and salted.

[In_The_Wind]

27. Roasted

& fried after a day of watching tailpipes, brake-lights & uncloudy skys

[existentialist]

6. I highly recommend Zen and the Art

It definitely helped me sort some things out a a crucial time in my life. (As a work of philosophy I put it right up there with Jenseits Gut und Böse.) (Which also helped me . . .)

[In_The_Wind]

28. I've nothing to work out at this time

but I've already listened to the first two of eleven tapes and I'm looking forward to this drive and completing the book

[MsAnthropy]

8. That book irritated me

just the way he treated his kid like a constant pain in the ass bugged the crap out of me.

[johnnie]

10. Great book

I guess it's not one that everyone will like, but I liked it. His son died a few years after he wrote that book.
I liked his other one a bit also. I believe it was called "Lydia"..or something like that..lol. It's been a while.

[MN ChimpH8R]

11. Agreed

Excellent book. It doesn't have all the answers but it makes you consider some pretty important questions.

Sequel was "Lila." :)

[johnnie]

13. Yes Lila

Thanks. I was going to re-read that one.

[Nay]

23. Wow. How did his son die? I didn't know that. I just recently reread

the book and still enjoyed it, even though he had a pretty rough relationship with the kid.

[existentialist]

34. his son's death

His son was stabbed and killed by a mugger in San Francisco.

I was sad when I found out. He has a note that discusses it in some of the later editions.

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. Hey! I mentioned that book in a short story of mine :^)

Of course, the heroine didn't know what the book was about so she didn't ahve much to say on it...

"He reached into the bag again and withdrew a battered paperback, so old and tattered it was all Lauren could do to make out the words, 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' splashed across its cover. She shrugged at that, figuring he had selected it for the motorcycle slant, as he looked more like a well-manicured Hell’s Angel than a benevolent Buddha."



http://tinyurl.com/9pcsz

[In_The_Wind]

29. and so it begins

my journey

and the tale about to unfold



Love at Large ... hmmm ... catchy title

[GreenPartyVoter]

33. Thank you. Seeing as how the stories are all about plus-size ladies

looking for love, it seemed to fit. ;)

[WeRQ4U]

15. Great book.

I still reread some of the passages I highlited.

[JitterbugPerfume]

16. I could not get into it

but at another time--another place-- in my life I might have



uhhhh does that make sense?

[WeRQ4U]

18. Possibly.

I didn't look at it so much as inspirational or anything, more just insightful and eerily relevant when I read it.

[WCGreen]

19. On the Road, Narrated by David Caradine....

It's like reading jazz, I told friends who never read the book...

But it's like listening to Jack himself the way Caradine animates the story.....

If you read it when you were younger, listen to it now...

Of course and any Elmore Leonard book, especially Get Shorty narrated by Joe Montagna

[In_The_Wind]

30. Kerouac was great

*beat*

[DS1]

20. I'll be reading that soon

But I have stacks of Zen stuff to get through beforehand

[In_The_Wind]

21. I'm gonna be very honest with you ~

for many years I've had more than a few people tell me that my behavior is very Zen ... so last week before my trip to the shore I purchased two books as part of my summer reading > >


if you get around to reading Zen ~ we'll have something more to talk about next time we meet.

[DS1]

22. Cool

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to run up the road for my philosophy class :-)

my last college class ever, I feel it necessary to add :D

[ghostsofgiants]

24. I read part of that for my psychology course in my first semester...

...of university. Don't remember much of it though.

[In_The_Wind]

31. interesting choice as part of a psychology course

do you remember the significance of the book to the course

[ghostsofgiants]

40. Haha, I don't remember actually

My memory is awful like that, haha.

[democracyindanger]

26. Will make you realize

how much you miss when you travel by cage.

[In_The_Wind]

32. could you explain a little more

about "travel by cage" ... I don't understand

[existentialist]

35. "by cage"

He discusses how different it is to be out in the air and in the environment, and needing to cope with the environment and its changes as opposed to being in a car (or plane, or bus) where the environment is pretty much controlled. Out on a bike, if there's a storm you have to deal with it, but you also experience fresh air and many rejuvenating experiences that you miss when you enclose yourself in an artificial environment.

[In_The_Wind]

37. I can clearly understand the metaphor

I'm sure I'll think of you, wicasa as I hear that part of the book. Thank you.

[democracyindanger]

36. Cars are cages

There's a great passage in the book about being able to see the pavement beneath your feet, and the insular nature of automobiles.

You'll see what I mean. ;)

[In_The_Wind]

39. tomorrow's car is a cage indeed

but the roads ahead are not meant for me on 3 wheels however I will be aware of the pavement beneath my wheels



BTW ~ hot asphalt stinks when you're riding a motorcycle