“Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” by Robert Pirsig.
I read it when it first came out in 1974. I was a 22-year old paratrooper with less than a year to go before getting out of the Army. I knew I was going to go to college, but I really didn’t have any idea of what I wanted to study. Having gone to Woodstock and been highly influenced by the counterculture zeitgeist, I suppose I would have been an English major or something along those lines.
But ZAMM was a complete head slap. It opened my eyes to some stuff I had never thought about, and I ended up majoring in mathematics and philosophy when I finally got to college.
Although a degree in math and philosophy did not have any impact whatsoever in my future work or career paths or any other matter of consequence, it gave me a way of thinking and a foundation for exploring a variety of other intellectual paths in later years.
Many books influenced my life, but all things considered, ZAMM had the biggest influence.
“Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” by Robert Pirsig.
I read it when it first came out in 1974. I was a 22-year old paratrooper with less than a year to go before getting out of the Army. I knew I was going to go to college, but I really didn’t have any idea of what I wanted to study. Having gone to Woodstock and been highly influenced by the counterculture zeitgeist, I suppose I would have been an English major or something along those lines.
But ZAMM was a complete head slap. It opened my eyes to some stuff I had never thought about, and I ended up majoring in mathematics and philosophy when I finally got to college.
Although a degree in math and philosophy did not have any impact whatsoever in my future work or career paths or any other matter of consequence, it gave me a way of thinking and a foundation for exploring a variety of other intellectual paths in later years.
Many books influenced my life, but all things considered, ZAMM had the biggest influence.