Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance - A book on philosophy, can go as deep as you like. Was written over 25 years ago, but feels very fresh. My key take away from this book was that you should be humble enough to appreciate various models of the world - e.g. Science or Religion. Favorite quote: "When you have a Chatuahaha in your head, you can't resist inflicting it on innocent people". Still makes me smile :-) Life of Pi - Bought it following the buzz of the movie. Read the book first, then saw the movie. A good simple read. Sort of reinforces, the 'various models' idea of the…
There really aren't any must-read books, except for certain areas there are a bunch of must-read books, and none of them make a good entry point to the study and practice of philosophy. Like most mature fields, philosophy has a well developed body of theory, and jargon for discussing it, and understanding it often requires a decent knowledge of the history of philosophy (most philosophy is done in reaction to earlier philosophy). The person here suggesting Heidegger's Being and Time is suggesting the equivalent of "try doing brain surgery" to someone thinking about learning more about…
Firstly, well done because (if others accept your take) you've just explained the crux of ZAMM to me better than the book did. I never got that last line of yours from the book. Have another beer :) I still don't think it's right, though. Firstly we have a problem with defining subjective/objective. For example a decent hammer is a high quality tool for hammering in nails, but a low quality tool for screwing in screws. Does that make the quality of a hammer subjective (depending on the context in which it is used) or objective (independent of human perception provided we can accept an…
I’ve been drinking tonight, so I apologize if I fail, but I’m going to do my best. Is quality purely subjective? Everyone has their own version? No. There are levels of quality that we can all agree on, even if we don’t always understand why. Art. Writing. Photography. You know quality when you see it, but it defies a true definition. First instinct says it’s subjective, but universally pleasing forms and displays say otherwise. They suggest there is such a thing as objective beauty (quality). Faces that are perfectly symmetrical are objectively more appealing. They are quality. They invoke…
I read it just a few weeks ago because of a recommendation. I was surprised to read that this book became/was a bestseller in the category philosophy. I think its an interesting book, but its hard to read and i'm still curious why it resonated with so many people? Or what specifically. One thing he mentions in the book has bee then electroshock therapy which was not as sever as he described it. He did not forgot his old him. I also had the feeling to follow his illness with the obsession about quality. But more in a way you follow a schizophrenic. It becomes very unclear to me if he was a…
Yes, about hair splitting was a poor word choice, though hair-splitting remains a very frequent activity in philosophy. Fine gradations in distinction and meaning using the blunt tool of language is difficult. I've been digging into the "what is philosophy about" question on several fronts. The Stanford Online Encyclopedia of Philosophy (https://plato.stanford.edu) has a pretty good outline, as does the Basics of Philosophy ( https://www.philosophybasics.com/branch.html) I've also been partial to digging through various library classifications and subject headings (LCC / LCSH),…
> The bit about how when you strip a bolt it becomes your whole project and how you then need to pause and think through all the options before you before proceeding I am sure saved countless hours and dollars to a lot of people. The bolt here is just used as an analogy for how to address problems in life, balance importance you give to micro vs macro, the beauty and danger that scales up and down in anything, etc. Sure, it's a smart one, actually useful if taken literally as well, because the writer is very talented. > The bit about really understanding how the thing works before…
His handlebars had started slipping. Not badly, he said, just a little when you shoved hard on them. I warned him not to use his adjustable wrench on the tightening nuts. It was likely to damage the chrome and start small rust spots. He agreed to use my metric sockets and box-ends. When he brought his motorcycle over I got my wrenches out but then noticed that no amount of tightening would stop the slippage, because the ends of the collars were pinched shut. "You’re going to have to shim those out," I said. "What’s shim?" "It’s a thin, flat strip of metal. You just slip it around the…
Some quotes from a guy who went mad thinking about quality. In short, you don't want to stop talking about quality but learn how to move toward it. And no, quality is not a boolean value nor does it have to create fears of judgment. These are just effects of striving for idealism. “Care and Quality are internal and external aspects of the same thing. A person who sees Quality and feels it as he works is a person who cares. A person who cares about what he sees and does is a person who’s bound to have some characteristic of quality.” ― Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle…
Yes, I think, there are various takeaways at various levels in that book. The way I understood it, at the surface level, there is the lovely story of Father and Son on a road trip. At deeper levels a lot of things are left to the interpretation of the reader, as it is with most abstract things. He uses the word Quality in the most fundamental way. To me that word held the meaning for his life. Quality in the way in which he understands and reacts to the world. Before he learned to fix his motor cycle, he was at the mercy of various kinds of mechanics with varying skill levels and attitudes.…