Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals

Lila is a brilliant book continuing Pirsig's journey concerning the Metaphysics of Quality in Philosophy.
This book is for those die hard Robert Pirsig fans,psychology majors like myself and true philosopher kings debating Quality.
Its a great book summarizing everything from shamanism to psychiatry to "dynamic quality." It's an interesting romance novel with a philosophical bent. It's all an examination of one woman's sanity and a pure philosophical inquiry into reality.
It's about a practical philosopher traveling in a boat through the Great Lakes region and how he's discovered The Meta Physics of Dynamic Quality. ZAMM was about Quality. This book is about the Meta Physics of Philosophy. It's refreshing as he lectures on Anthropology, Archaeology, Cowboys, Indians and Shamanism as he brilliantly weaves a story concerning unbonded relationships.

Review of "Lila" by Robert Pirsig.

I loved this thought provoking story.

It is an impressive and engrossing book.

This book surpasses the intensity of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in scope and in the development of the author's concepts of quality and value. It is a daring exposition on objective valuation and it offers a broad appeal. Pirsig shows his metaphysics of quality works in real situations and for life changing decisions.

Open up, expand your consciousness, read and enjoy this book.

I recommend this book.

Robert Pirsig returns with this work, which has interesting thoughts and perceptions on many things, including contemporary America. His perceptions of the American cities, and their (then and still) decline are something that many of us in United States are concerned about.
As for "Lila," people should not expect something of similar style, or as moving as Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. ZAMM was a moving piece of work, from a different time. And as the captions read, yes, ZAMM can make a difference in one's life. The basic way we think about things, needs to be constantly scrutinized so we don't become zombies (most of us are, including myself). Our "reality" is largely socially constructed.
"Lila" noted things such as the East Coast craftiness of the Hudson, and Lila, who was a direlect, who wasted his time, intellect, and energy.
It's great to hear from him again. I hope he and "Phaedrus" return, as well as his further inquiry into the Metaphysics of Quality.

I loved this book. I found its analysis of societal values and modern history to be positively brilliant, and I have incorporated one of is main points, coined Dynamic vs. Static Quality as played out in various tensions of opposing values (in pirsigs taxonomy they are the intellectual, the social, and the intellectual), in my religious theory. His elaboration of the concept of value as the central reality echoes religious mystical traditions that I was aware of previously but did not takes seriously until Pirsig showed it to be relevant to practical reality.
However, upon rereading this book, I am disturbed by a number of points:
Foremost; I am disturbed by the narcissm of the author. While this his character might seem incidental to his philosophy, it is not. It allows him to take credit, with no attribution, for all ideas expressed as his own, when in fact many of them are rephrasings of ideas expressed by earlier individuals, and their brilliance lies not in the ideas themselves, but by the weaving together of multiple disparate ideas into a coherent tapestry.
On reread, I am also disturbed by the fictional format of the book; this format allows him to dispense with attribution, and absolves him of the responsibility of backing up his contentions with solid evidence. This does not mean they are right or wrong; what it does mean is that a layperson such as myself will have difficulty spotting an argument based on faulty evidence. It also allows him to misrepresent opposing viewpoints, such as his analysis of the practice of psychiatry. Perhaps this plays into his narcissm- in a fictional/memoir format he may play the expert to a lay readership in a way he could not do in a more scholarly format.
However, I must admit, that not being a scholar, it is unlikely that I would have encountered these ideas in a more scholarly format, so ultimately I am grateful for the semi-fictional format despite its faults.
And I was disturbed by one last thing, which I guess is marginal to the premise of the book, but I feel compelled to include: And that is the authors sexual practices and mores. Throughout the book he insists on categorizing sex as biological quality and nothing more, and his behavior reflects that. The idea that sex includes social, intellectual, and spiritual quality, and that our sexual choices include all these realms, never occurs to him. But I guess to me that says less about the quality of his thesis, than about the apparently poor quality of his sex life.

Review of "Lila" by Robert Pirsig.

I loved this thought provoking story.

It is an impressive and engrossing book.

This book surpasses the intensity of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in scope and in the development of the author's concepts of quality and value. It is a daring exposition on objective valuation and it offers a broad appeal. Pirsig shows his metaphysics of quality works in real situations and for life changing decisions.

Open up, expand your consciousness, read and enjoy this book.

I recommend this book.

Once in the outskirts of Gothenburg, Sweden, an american journlist stumbled over the secret hideout of Robert M. Pirsig and knocked on his door and asked for a interview. Pirsig declined, but the journalist suposedly put a lot of pressure on him to get it. And it ended with Pirsig telling him to come back the following morning. Next morning the apartment was empty and Pirsig gone. Where to?
I almost discovered it myself one day in 1986 (87?). A farmer I was visiting for my work told me about this american with a big motorcycle, who just like me loved books and who was renting his little house just up the road; Why dont you go and visit him, he knows nobody here, he said. And I almost did, I almost knocked on that door and I almost got to say hello to Pirsig. In my pocket that day I was carrying Zen and the art of motorcycle maintainance, reareading it for the xth time on the long ferry runs I did every day. This was in inner Rogaland which is in southwestern Norway on the inside of the Finnøy Islands. I later found out who the mysterious man was when Pirsig gave an interview (many years later) with the newspaper Dagbladet.
I am not to fond of Lila, maybe because I didn't understand it (?), maybe because I liked Zen so much, so I had to big expectations. But mostly I do not like it because I feel this is Pirsig's way of running away from what he did and said in Zen, his way out from all the attacks (perceived or real, only Pirsig knows) on the essence of Zen. Because he really kills the whole idae of quality in the end, saying it is just another idea.
As the creator of Zen, that is his right. But as a reader I am still disapointed. Maybe I should reared Lila sometimes, but no, I also found the story itself inferiour to Zen (a bit to much down the river and the drain). I don't doubt the story about Redford, and I finished the book, to the bitter end. But the whole book reminds me to much of Jostein Gaarders; Sophies world. Interesting philosophy but uninteresting story (he wrote for children and not grownups, so that may explain why Gaarders book was so bland, even if the philosophy bit is brilliant).
If you have not read Zen...., do not do the mistake of reading Lila first. Thats my advice.

Review of "Lila" by Robert Pirsig.

I loved this thought provoking story.

It is an impressive and engrossing book.

This book surpasses the intensity of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in scope and in the development of the author's concepts of quality and value. It is a daring exposition on objective valuation and it offers a broad appeal. Pirsig shows his metaphysics of quality works in real situations and for life changing decisions.

Open up, expand your consciousness, read and enjoy this book.

I recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this book the first time I read it and the second and third time too. I love Pirsig's writing style. I love how he weaves so much interesting information and new points of view into a story, giving your brain a break once in awhile. There is a lot of food for thought here. I still have a lot of digesting to do. I'm the author of the book, Self-Help Stuff That Works, and although Pirsig's book isn't directly self-help, it isn't merely philosophical either. He's got a new way to look at the same things we've been looking at all along, and the new perspective would naturally lead to new actions. Will those new actions improve the quality of your own life or the lives of others? I don't know. The organization of levels of quality: biological, social, etc., and the distinction of static vs. dynamic quality are very fundamental concepts and any benefit that might come out of it might not be as apparent as you'd think. But whatever you can say about this book, it is thought-provoking. The reviews below are very much FOR the book or AGAINST it. To me that's a sign of a book that has the potential to shake things up, in this case, I think for the better.

Many years after his more famous work, the Zen master is still very, very, good. In Lila he continues to explore his new metaphysics of value, morals, and quality. Although he definitely stretches in places, there is some very solid work attempting to create a more accurate way of describing the universe and our place in it. It ties very solidly with the modern understanding of quantum physics, and fits with absolute perfection the philosophies of the seminal work "The Structure of Scientific Revolution" by Thomas S. Kuhn. This novel is more straight philosophy than Motorcycle Maintenance, less balanced with an interwoven plot. The plot is there though, and it gives us an even more immediate sense of the author's own precarious mental balance. Many critics call the story bleak and depressing, which may be accurate, but is about as salient as calling Moby Dick a fishing story.

Written as a response to criticism about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pirsig attempts, in 400+ pages, to define the main idea of Zen, the Metaphysics of Quality. Pirsig does not achieve this definition. The book is part psychological novel and part philosophical lecture. The transitions are unnerving. Pirsig does bring up important points about how we see only the facts we want to see and disregard those facts that do not fit into our world view. Also presented are well thought out arguments about how academic disciplines limit thinking through the creation of rules that discourage inquiry outside of defined boundaries. Quote: "Phaedrus saw with disbelief at first and then with growing anger that the whole field of anthropology was rigged and stacked in such a way that everything he had to say about Indians would be unacceptable."

I'm well due for a rereading, but if ZMM's reprise is any indication, it won't smack the same way twice.

Lila is a heavy one, and Pirsig is exploring a number of wounds, probing carefully at his and his "patient's" pasts amidst a voyage to the sea and through encounters along the way.

Stoking the coals generated by Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance regarding his Metaphysics of Quality (MoQ), Lila is a portrayal of philosophy come to life, with anecdote and analysis existing suspended together.

Highly recommended and I could not give high enough praise to the two books together. Pirsig has woven his Chautauqua and my hope is that history will remember it.

Review of "Lila" by Robert Pirsig.

I loved this thought provoking story.

It is an impressive and engrossing book.

This book surpasses the intensity of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in scope and in the development of the author's concepts of quality and value. It is a daring exposition on objective valuation and it offers a broad appeal. Pirsig shows his metaphysics of quality works in real situations and for life changing decisions.

Open up, expand your consciousness, read and enjoy this book.

I recommend this book.

Phaedrus is back. Not satisfied with naming the unameable, he now must subdivide that which cannot be subdivided. The thrust of this book is a devlopment of a 'metaphysics of Quality." Quality is that nameless indirectly percievable reality Pirsig went to great lengths to show us in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM)." Without ZAMM under your belt, "Lila" will be meaningless babble to you. So if you have not read ZAMM, stop reading this review, and go directly to ZAMM page. It also is a good read; you will not be disappointed.
I am not the intellectual giant that Pirsig is. Before reading Lila, I didn't even know what a metaphysics was; so don't let that stop you. Like ZAMM, "Lila" is a full blown book on philosophy intertwined with a novella, the plot of which serves to drive the orations of the author, and provide case study-like material for the reader.
Phaedrus, having abandoned his motorcycle for a sailboat, is sailing for Mexico and pondering his next book which will be a "metaphysics of Quality" or maybe about Indians. At any rate, at a port bar he picks up a woman that you and I would not consider exactly a "high class" individual. Between Lila and her acquantances, Pirsig offers us an illustration of the different types of Quality. Dynamic versus Static patterns, social versus biological versus intellectual. He weaves a metaphysics that if not true, at least throws everything from quantum mechanics and artificial intelligence to social reform and madness into a strange new light. A light which on the surface seems to illuminate things very clearly. The downside is that the path to this illumination is a bit harder to follow than in his previous book. Consequently, I had to "just accept" some points as opposed to "really digging" them. And that has left a feeling that maybe something is missing in this philosophy. But my gut says it's me that is broke, not the book. Probably just means I need to read it again, which I intend to do.
Pirsig's writting is still beautiful. Can't describe why. It just feels good in your brain when you read his words. They flow together, and he has a talent with developing characters you can really feel. After finishing the book I carried it around for a couple of days, thinking it was kind of like an old friend.
So, in conclusion I must say that Lila is very good. It carries a grand concept that ties love, quarks, and madness with the same strings. So important is this book, that I have added it to my list of required reading for total cosmic understanding. Other members of that list are, "A Brief History of Time"-Hawking, "Chaos-A Foundation of a New Science"-Glieck, and "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maitenance"-Pirsig's first contribution. This pool of literature is guaranteed to put you in your place in the universe. What you might find however, is that "getting drunk, picking up bar girls, and writing books about metaphysics" are all just a part of life.

Several instances during my reading of this book I put it down for good. At times, it was so awful I couldn't waste another minute of my life on it. It would sit on the table for a few days, then I would be compelled to pick it up again. Eventually the book rose out of these doldrums and grew into a book of decent quality. Towards then end, it picked up so much steam I made it my primary book, as opposed to a book I read when I had the chance. Overall, the book is a 3 star read for me, based on the fact that half of it is absolutely awful and half of it is quite entertaining.

The parts of the book I found most indigestible were his introductory series of philosophical thought in what I suppose is an attempt to properly set up his further philosophical arguments later on. For me, this doesn't work. Too often he fuses the insecurities of his own life into the narrative instead of properly setting up later discussion. His passages are often rantings of a proverbial madman, unfocused and bent on addressing various incidents he has endured since the writing of his first work, the brilliant Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

While reading these initial chapters I found myself thinking this book could only hinder the legacy of Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It's like a baseball player hitting a grand slam on the first at bat of his career, only to strike out every time he comes to the plate after that. As the narrative wears on, he stops striking out. But it becomes apparent he will never again hit the long ball, instead producing more like a singles and doubles hitter.

Later in the book, when we have gotten past the long-winded philosophical setups, the baggage from his life, and the absolutely awful story, Pirsig ventures into various philosophical discussions I started to find fascinating. By the end of the book, I was hoping Pirsig had more books I could pick up. Sadly, this is it. At this point in time it seems unlikely he will produce anything else. So we're left to distill what we can out of this and his first offering.

I can't claim Pirsig is a modern day philosophical genius. He is no such thing. What he is, ironically, is someone who can convey his philosophical ideas to the common reader in a clear and concise manner...sometimes. Try reading Hume or Kant, and soon you'll find yourself asleep in the middle of the day. Pirsig, while assuredly not concise enough for modern philosophical inquiry, is nonetheless easy to read. More importantly, he speaks to a real reader, not someone who needs to be steeped in classical philosophy. I found these qualities more prevalent as we approach the end of the book.

This doesn't mean I find the book outstanding, or worthy of the apparent online community that exists for this work - not at all. In fact, I still find this work solidly mediocre when taken as a whole. It's certainly worth the read as long as you're willing to push your way through the first 150 pages or more. Assuming you can get that far, the book is rich and rewarding at times. However, if you're looking for a brilliant sequel to Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, this isn't going to cut the mustard.

What a tortured book. I can no longer remember the details of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," but it influenced me greatly, not only because of its orientation towards meditation, of which I knew nothing when I read it, but also because it helped launch me into working with my hands and I eventually became a skill mechanic, electrician, house builder, organic gardener etc., lending most of my skills to building friends' homesteads, co-ops, and meditation centers, along with keeping my many vehicles and those of old lady's and of many others living on my street running. I know well what it means to have life simple and clear when there are tools in my hands. I also remember being touched by the relationship between the protagonist and his son.

Whatever it was that so influenced me I find little of in Pirsig's sequel. The most telling point is the hero, Phaedrus', inability to carry on simple conversations with the Native Americans he so puts on a philosophic pedestal. Phaedrus, the protagonist, talks of quality and substance but the radical empiricism of Wm James that he so idolizes would hold him at fault because he seems incapable of simple human intercourse where, in my understanding, real quality lies. Quality and substance then merely become the rationalizations of a man who does not know how to interact with others. That failing was an aspect of the culture of the College of the University of Chicago in the later Hutchins' period. Pirsig proceeded me by about a half a dozen years. In those intellectual salad days we related via Socrates and sat in awe of Richard McKeon's transcendence of Aristotle. I can still mouth the words although I am not now sure of their meanings. That life was an interpersonal dead end for me and my fellow students whose minds were turned on but who did not know how to live in a world that was getting more and more conventional and was soon to become revolutionary. Pirsig's new book epitomizes our failings and rails against the world we did not have the personal resources to negotiate. Thus woven through the book's narrative is a morphing of Pirsig's own limitations into caustic criticism of the people and society around him. The lack of quality he attributes to others is merely a rationale for someone who would rather live in his analysis than in the reality around him. If you can't talk to the natives you will never understand what their lives are and what they mean. So then you can either praise or demonize them. It is all in your head and, I suppose, makes you feel better.

I don't know what the author's experiences were in the nut house. If his being there was real and not a narrative device, then I have sympathy for him. Mumbling mad folk who Reagan drove out onto the streets have it all worked out in their heads---but unfortunately it is both painful and sometimes self destructive. Although I have never been able to shake the influence of the University of Chicago, I have worked hard at overcoming its shortfalls. I still use my mind---in fact made my living teaching, but in the class room, I needed to discover love and connection in order to make the wonderful creations of my mind meaningful to my students. Without that teaching was sterile. Pirsig seems stuck back in the dialogue that made the Hutchins College work. He never seems to have developed the connection with others which is needed to bring that dialogue into life. The interesting parts of "Lila" are Lila and I wished more of her and less internal dialogue. The hero does take comfort in nature but at the end his freedom is the false freedom of solipsism. With no obligations there is little humanity. It is sad and certainly misses what meditation aims toward.

Charlie Fisher, author of
Dismantling Discontent: Buddha's Way Through Darwin's World

Much expectation approaching this book. Took me several years to read it as I was afraid to be disappointed. To read this, leave any and all expectations at the door pertaining to his previous book. Read it fresh.
While the tone is somewhat melancholy, there is a sense of spirit bursting free (if only he'd let it!). But the journey, the inquiries, the cultural notes are brilliant. As for the title of the review, it's at the end and it sums up the book.
Highly recommended.
(This is an old review under an old email address.)

All right - first off, I love Pirsig, not only his philosophy but his tangential insights into things that have plagued me all my life. In this book I especially like his view society (NYC, in his example) as a sentient, intelligent life form. His description of this idea helped me understand dozens of irritating, seemingly unrelated ideas of my own.
The Metaphysics of Quality is fascinating, of course - a helpful framework that will shed lots of light on a variety of topics. He does seem to use it as a panacea, however... "I forgot where I left my lighter - what does the Metaphysics of Quality say about this...?" and half a page later the lighter is found. I actually got tired of the phrase Metaphysics of Quality, not because I think it's bogus, but because he seemed to stretch it a bit.
As for the story dealing with Lila herself... COME ON! "Phaedrus" was a complete knothead in the way he treated her. And the story had a supremely unsatisfying ending PRECISELY because his sacred Metaphysics of Quality couldn't provide any practical solution to a real-life problem. Someone who reviewed "Zen & The Art Of..." on the store.com said he/she felt frustrated because Pirsig was unable to use his fantastic brain to improve the quality of his own earthly condition, and I think that went double in this story. And, if I understand correctly, this story was entirely fictitious, not based on actual events, as was "Zen..." Maybe I'm just missing something.
However, I would read 1,000 pages of Pirsig's thoughts, even without a story line tying them together. I really do love the guy. It's just that this book drove me nuts!

Well, this is certainly not as easy a read as Zen. While the first book cleverly drew the reader into philosophical debate, gently revealing the background and views of the author almost stealthily, in this new volume Pirsig clearly expects the reader to have already cleared any psycholoigical block that might require such intellectual massage.
Twenty years on Pirsig is far more forthright in his attempts to explain his highly original and complex world view, to the extent that the 'story' becomes something of an irritating interuption. What plot there is (a couple of days on a boat), is so clearly autobiographical, that the use of the 'character' name Phaedrus would be highy pretentious were it not for a need for continuity from the previous book.
Even more that Zen, this is little more than an attempt by the author to convince the audience of his very personal philoshophical standpoint, and in this he is evangelical to the point of arrogance. But this detracts only a little from the undeniable fact that his socio-metaphysical standpoint is indeed highly self-consistant and quite staggeringly original. That he falls into the trap of proving his points using an internal logic that pre-assumes the veracity of his system is no more or less a problem here than in conventional philosophy.
All in all, the writer is more mature and cynical after the intervening years, and this book lacks the sense of revelation to be found in Zen, but it has to be recognised that this follow up is refining a concept first espoused in the earlier book, and it's hard to imagine how it could have been presented differently.
What Pirsig has to say definitely deserves to be heard, and it is to his credit that he delayed following up a previous smash hit until he had something concrete to add.

After ten years or so, all that stayed with me was the main character barely being able to wait for Lila to leave, then once she does, he fantasizes about the wonderful life they would have had together, and how he could have "helped" her. This is a perfect example of what is popularly referred to as "commitment phobia."

Also the name "Lila Blewitt" sounded like something out of a Thomas Pynchon novel. She had potential but she blew it?

Like Persig's earlier book 'Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance' this book uses the same technique as Plato's dialogues to discuss philosophical ideas.

The basic idea in all three works is to use an actual event (like fixing a motorcycle) as an example to discuss a general principle of philosophy. I always found Plato strange because he argued that specific cases should be deduced from abstract principles, not the other way around (idealism) but used the opposite technique (nominalism) in his writings. At least Persig uses nominalist techniques to argue for a nominalist position. I interpret one of the previous reviews as saying that Persig should have used idealist techniques..............

'Zen...' asked deep questions, and sometimes said there was no definite answer. Seventeen years later, Persig thinks he has some new answers. I agree. I often find myself using the ideas he taught me, to understand myself and the world. What more could I ask?

There's something about reading Robert Pirsig's Lila that reminds me of listening to Steely Dan records. Everything seems to be mastered, the writing is tight and it allows Pirsig to zone off into what can either be described as self-indulgent tengents or brilliant essays on metaphysics - just like those extended solos and cryptic lyrics on albums like Aja. But like Steely Dan, there's also a cold, almost clinical atmosphere to Pirsig's character Phaedrus. If you're like me you can indulge Pirsig a bit just as much as you can put on a Steely Dan record.
There really isn't any other author I've encountered quite like Pirsig, and that's a good thing. On the surface this is the story of Phaedrus, a man who's written a novel - Zen and the Art, it seems - that has given him fame but also turned him into a recluse. He's traveling alone down a river in upstate New York when he ends up picking up a woman. That woman, Lila, becomes the focus of his wandering search for a more inclusive system of thinking. He calls this system the Metaphysics of Quality and it resembles a computer program in its design. The book then alternates between the story of Phaedrus and Lila (who increasingly is revealed to be mentally ill) and Phaedrus's (sometimes ingenious) musings.
Sleek, well-written, fascinating but also cold and indulgent, I'd recommend Lila to those who aren't bloody-well annoyed when a Steely Dan record comes on.

I rate the book "10" because in a very human way it puts the computer into context with the human.
I first read LILA in 1992, after stumbling onto the title in the reference section of a computer history book. The Metaphysics of Quality is exemplified in the guy/girl interactions and in the mind-presentations of the author.
Read again in 1994, again in 1997, and 4th reading in early 1998. In 1995, read ZEN, THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE. Good philosophy, plot was not as interesting as LILA. Afterward on death of his son was chilling.
Your other reviews are superb so instead I will give some chapter events that grabbed my attention.
Chapter 1. Phaedrus meets Lila in a bar and begin their journey down the river.
Chapter 2. The card catalog, using slips of paper to record throughts. Organizing, reviewing, saving, discarding. The perfect tool for random access. I have used this system throughtout my life, and I was astounded to read an account of my system in a book.
Chapter 3. Americans are the amalgam of American-Indians and Europeans. This concept is expanded thoughout the book.
Chapter 6, 11. Does Lila have Quality? Expansion on Metaphysics of Quality.
Chapter 8. The Platypus does not fit anthropological structure. Platypus analogy is used throughout the book.
Chapter 11. The "...jungle of evolutionary patterns..." Patterns. Quantum theory.
Chapter 12. Patterns. I love the hardware and software analogies....the guy who designs the hardware is independent of the guy who designs the software.
Chapter 13. The world is full of static and dynamic patterns. The dynamic patterns build onto the static patterns and if accepted by a critical mass of people then the dynamic pattern becomes static, building on or replacing old static patterns. Phaedrus gives examples that are obvious to the reader.
Chapter 17. The giant moth and the light globe.
Chapter 19. You are reading along, enthralled with Lila and Phaedrus and MOQ, and all of a sudd! en Robert Redford walks into Phaedrus' motel room...
Chapter 20. Celebrity. Social pattern devours intellectual pattern. OJ and verdict comes to mind.
Chapter 24. Does Lila have quality? (Again.) The price of dynamic quality is instability. The Professor in the black neighborhood...a short lesson on racism.
Chapter 25. Insanity. Phaedrus reveals his earlier life in an insane asylum...hmmm. And discourses on the experience.
Chapter 26. Insanity. Language. Philosophology. More.
Chapter 32 (last chapter). "Good is a noun. That was it..." Well, the author concludes that the Metaphysics of Quality defies precise definition due to the lack of precision in language..."but if you had to reduce whole MOQ to a single sentence, that would be it."
The fact that Pirsig is not well-known, not LarryKing material, speaks volumes for public interest in philosphy. The internet, bless the Internet, is a forum for hidden treasures such as Pirsig. And this review is intended as a contribution to those who seach for such treasure.

After ZAMM Lila is a different flavour, but just as interesting and inspiring. For me Pirsig fights for the under dog, and sometimes in this world, thats all you need to do. Put your hand up and say, "wait wait that's not right". There's a few reviewers vehemently ripping into Pirsig, it's great, he love's it I'm sure. Pirsig says that his MOQ deals with things better than the standard dualistic metaphysics, he draws a few conclusions that are quesionable, but all conclusions on ethics and morals are questionable, it's doesn't stop the fact that his MOQ is fundamentally more useful than western dualism in some situations. Try explaining a city to a child in terms of Subjects and Objects, and then try with Patterns of Value. The MOQ doesn't create the conclusions its another useful tool available to the open minded, Pirsig's not forcing anyone to use it.
I guess people are reading this like a text book, one reviewer even complained that there's no foot notes, the book is not a textbook. Pirsig has to shoot down his opponents to make his point, it's unfair maybe but it's life. If you make a point and then say, "of course this could all be rubbish, it's just an idea", people won't have confidence in what you're saying and won't publish your book. The one star mob and the academics wanted Pirsig to right a text book so they could burn it. He didn't he wrote a book about one mans ideas and most people including myself think it's another brilliant book.
Wright or wrong Pirsig is dynamic, he's trying to push philosophy either upward toward further evolution or accidentally into degeneracy, but without people like Pirsig life would be very boring. The one star mob should concentrate on their own books.

The great thing about Pirsig's writing is that he takes apart and analyzes many beliefs that we take for granted in our every day lives. Then he resassembles them into a logical mapping that literally provides an explanation for everything, from the behavior of cells, bacteria, animals, trees, humans, societies.
Granted, the structure of the 'story' makes it such that it is more of a doctrine on morals and values rather than a page-turning novel. But that is what makes it great. We don't have to put up with unnecessary story fluff if it were a true novel, and we also don't have to deal with dry philosophical incantations with equations and symbols etc.
This book will only really be enjoyed by those who liked the first book for its philosphical analysis, because he picks up the discussion and takes it many steps further. For those of us interested in understanding our lives and our behaviors, of why we do what we do, how we got to where we are today, and what it is each of us individually and collectively value, he offers some very amazing and compelling arguments. And he backs each of his theories up with quite rigorous logical explanations. This is one of the main reasons I enjoy his work; he doesn't just throw something esoteric idea out there and wait for someone to prove him wrong; he follows every argument up with logical analysis.
Bottom line, if you are into the philosophy of it, you will come out of each chapter of this book with a different outlook on your everyday life. You will see things in a different light, and that is what makes this book great for me. There are very few other books out there that successfully do this.

While Lila may not be on par to those who call the area of literature home, I found those areas between the storyline far more absorbing. I think perhaps readers may find it more useful to look at the storyline as more of a demonstration of the ideas that are being presented, and to try not to get too absorbed therein. I get the impression that Phaedrus' encounter with the character of Lila was simply an ample background for what he was attempting to relate.. in some ways the two were exactly the same and in others there could have been no greater gulf between them.
For those "Zen" fans, try to overlook comparison expectations and get to the matter of the philosophy itself, because it is in many ways more concise and useful, though perhaps not as emotionally charging.
What I personally believe is really fantastic about Pirsig's foray into developing a Metaphysics of Quality is the attempt to bridge the gap between various paradigms, and doing as well as it was done. As he stated, there is no perfect chessgame, but I am willing to bet that he created an incredible Opening game in LILA that will be used by many in the years to come.

"Lila" is by far a book worthy of reading, re-reading, contemplation, and study... but it's not the "Grail". Although Pirsig creates a new method of rational thought as he narrates another remarkable story of physical and spiritual travel, Pirsig's second book creates more problems (philosophically) than it solves. Pirsig states that the death penalty is immoral as it snuffs out the most dynamic source of Quality on Earth: humanity, but neglects the obvious pro-life implications of his argument. He also ignores years of research into STD's by stating that Lila's only true immoral act was lying, while ignoring her (and his own) promiscuity. Using Pirig's own reasoning and assumptions, it is hardly moral to engage in an act that spreads diseases which end living deposits of Quality in greater numbers than the electric chair.

So why do I give this book a nine out of ten if there are so many flaws? Because there is nine times as much insight and development of his concept of Quality in this book than flaws. Pirsig's deft, almost angellic hand, rewrites and refines Western thought, disposing of many philosophical roadblocks that we have dealt with for so long. If this book were fiction, Pirsig's achievements would seem incredible. But Pirsig's work is not fakery... his ideas are ideas to live by or argue strongly against, as they case may be. "Lila" is like a 1998 Ferrari with unbelievable new features and a few knocks in the motor. Don't miss the chance of an unforgetable journey in this vehicle, but don't ignore that knocking sound too long either.

I loved ZAMM, and was really looking forward to Lila. To say that I was extremely disappointed is a gross understatement. Lila has none of the characteristics that made ZAMM charming and compelling. Everybody wants to head out on a motorcycle with his son, exploring the West and musing on the meaning of existence. Nobody wants to be stuck on a boat with a nasty drunk who also happens to be a crazy slut, no matter what you're thinking about. The switch from a single narrator in ZAMM to an omniscient narrator in Lila just doesn't work. The "unreliable narrator" as a literary device is great when it's well executed, but Pirsig handles it badly when he switches POV from Phaedrus to Rigel. Who can you believe? Who cares. Worst of all, the "metaphysics" of Lila are poorly constructed. Essentially, Pirsig assumes that "everybody knows Victorian morals are stupid and outdated", without proving any such thing. Combining tiresome rants, with poorly written philosophy and unlikable characters is not exactly a recipe for success. Pirsig manages to put all of that together in such a way as to not only produce an unplesant read, but also to seriously undermine his fine work in ZAMM. If you want to preserve your positive memories of the first book, leave this one on the shelf.

Although Lila was translated into Turkish I preferred the original since the way the author treated the ideas are as important as the ideas themselves. One thing on his style; even the book was written in third person omniscient, I could not get used to it and always think it should be first person because Phaedrus is the one who had the relation with Lila and who asks the questions to think and comment on the happenings. I haven't read ZMM so the philosophy of Pirsig was new to me but while I was reading I understood that it is what I think generally, in written form. I found Plato's Theory of Ideas in the effort for the pursuit of truth and good in mystic ways and what is called Dynamic Quality reminded me an anarchist behaviour without degenerating human morality. These two may seem very distant but the novel carried me from one idea to another so my ideas were directed from one side to another and I found that mind is not a rootless vagabond but a system of connections between quite seperate experiences.
In another rewiev it is said that the book is incomplete. It is true and I think this is both because of the author's not finding true visions of his hypothesis or because of the dynamic quality of his novel that it still evolves. But I believe that if we can't answer if Lila has the quality or not? or if it was dynamic for her to turn back or not? then it is not finished.

What a great book. This book will some day be looked on and cherished for its ideas and teachings! It has really expanded my mind and answered a lot of questions that my subject-object mind was never able to answer. MoQ says it all. It answered such questions why a highly educated person like me is unable to fit within my society because latently I always felt it was inferior�.but society is the cousin of intellect. The reason why I never like weddings, and parties and social gatherings was because I always felt they where irrational, devoid of any need for their existence�I always used to look around for the odd Freudian part crasher to talk to about the stupidity of these social animals with all there cake and candles and funerals and birthdays and Sunday church�boy was that shallow thinking!!! And it also answered why some of my "biologically" trapped friends where social outcasts, with low social and intellectual quality...simply their values where not developed or up to the value �standard� of the higher levels, and they where immorally always wrong. The book has also taught me that value, and morality exist everywhere and in everything, but with different patterns, evolution and value rigidity. The story however, doesn�t have the same feel as Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. However, the philosophy in Lila is more developed and more mature. A word of warning�.don�t be fooled and think you can read this book without reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance first. You will have a hell of time understanding Lila because it literally picks up from where Pirsig left off in ZAMM. I also suggest that you read the Tao Te Ching to get a better feel of what this Dynamic Quality is like (if you can define it in the first place!!!!). Also read the Tao of Physics (Capra) because it fits perfectly as a bridge between ZAMM and Lila. Mr. Pirsig we await your next book�

Pirsig is one of the rare philosophers (along with Plato and Nietzsche) who can write as well as he can reason. It's such a joy to read a metaphysics presented within the framework of a well-told story.
First, I'll utter the ultimate heresy: This book is in many ways supperior to "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." Although the third-person narrative lacks something compared to the unique first-person writing voice that "Zen" uses, the metaphysics of quality is much better thought out and explained in "Lila." Although Pirsig still sometimes leaves himself open to misinterpretation, compared to "Zen," in which he often presents his ideas too obliquely, in "Lila" he makes definitive, philosophic statements.
That said, I do have a few problems with the book. The character Lila is too much of a charicature, albeit an interesting one. Too often, she seems to be simply there and behaving badly so Pirsig's Phaedrus can sagely philosophize about her. Second, Pirsig's creation of a moral hierarchy makes me a little uncomfortable (is intellectual morality really always superior to social morality?).
Nevertheless, "Lila" is a highly enjoyable and thought-provoking novel. Pirsig is one of the few popular voices working on a metaphysics that's both timeless and uniquely American.

Review of "Lila" by Robert Pirsig.

I loved this thought provoking story.

It is an impressive and engrossing book.

This book surpasses the intensity of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in scope and in the development of the author's concepts of quality and value. It is a daring exposition on objective valuation and it offers a broad appeal. Pirsig shows his metaphysics of quality works in real situations and for life changing decisions.

Open up, expand your consciousness, read and enjoy this book.

I recommend this book.

Pirsig's follow-up novel to his famous Z.A.M.M. is a book worth reading due to its wealth of ideas and lucid expression, which are an indication of the unusual intelligence of its author. For these reasons, I would recommend it. It is not as tightly knit from the perspective of plot or philosophical examination as "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", and at places may have benefited from some editing (a difficult task for such a unique work). One feels a sense of sympathy for the central character (author), and some of the others in the book. Dusenberry jumps off the pages as he is depicted, and the author's sense of loss at his death is felt if not spoken.
It is curious that Pirsig, an American, would attempt to characterize the foundations of metaphysics from a moral perspective. This may be related to the strong moral orientation of the culture, with its puritan origins. Evolution, which Pirsig discusses, is driven simply by modification by descent. Greater sophistication is not a measure of evolutionary success. From this perspective, his concept of quality as the driving life force is as misplaced as LaMarck's will to power. Although one might question the basic premises of some aspects of his philosophy, it is nonetheless rich and worthy of exploration.

Pirsig outstrides his previous book in clarity of written thought and accessibility to his thought process. That is to say, whereas in ZatAoMM he summarised large, abstract philosophical ideas as a means of forwarding the expression of his thought, in Lila he builds up to his ideas using sources (such as popular films and anthropological abstracts) which are more easily accessible to the casual reader.
The best parts were the final chapters in which he discussed insanity. By far, it seems, this section is the most personal portion of the Discourse Novel, and beautifully describes the social crime committed against non-conformists within a country bent upon quick-fix solutions.
I recommend Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" as a companion to the ideas in these final chapters.

The 'story' of Lila is less interesting than Zen. This book mostly deals with the insanity of someone else. The philosophical parts however are just as interesting, mostly about how we use our own value system and language to observe the world. As a novel not as interesting, but great as a philosophy book.

In LILA the Phædrus figure (from 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance') reappears, this time as a sailing philosopher underway from the Great Lakes, by way of canals and Hudson River, to the ocean. The distinction between him and Robert Pirsig is - as in ZMM - a bit interactive so from now on I will mostly use the Kafkaesque P. as a common denominator. Being held up in a small up- state lock station, he and the crews of some other boats spend the evenings in a local cafe. A sailing groupie named Lila of obscure age and unclear former relationship with P, enters his boat after a row with her Canadian friend. Richard Rigel - the skipper of the boat he is berthed alongside, and also a former aquaintance of Lila - has got the author and his quality idea up to his throat, and the next morning over breakfast table in the cafe, he takes it all out and ends with launching a crucial question at P.: "Does Lila have Quality?" At the spur of the moment P. cannot come up with an answer, and on his - and Lila's - journey down the river to New York City he ponders this dilemma which bears a faint resemblance to the one put to him by his teacher colleagues in Bozeman ('Zen and the Art..'). His claim is that there is nothing except value, but Lila is obviously not a very valuable social member. She has a difficult relationship with Rigel (who was her attorney in a divorce case), and she even accidently killed her child due to carelessness. Nor does she have much of an intellectual prowess, and has simply ended up as a bitter and irritably sailing hooker, fetching a ride with her still useful - but also on the brink of going bad - body. Where is her Quality? The trip goes along river banks with Victorian mansions placed in the distance on top of the bluffs. Like Lila they are a bit worn, and their effort to try to keep up their former grandeur is doomed. They demonstrate this age's emphasis on curlicued language and buildings; it was the crowning time of social values, when appearance was the only virtue that counted. The boat is not provisioned for sailing in the style Lila is used to. For lunch she only finds some dry biscuits and a jar of old peanut butter but the skipper promises her a good meal when they reach their harbour for the night. A bad mood develops over a show of Lila's travel mementos - among them a picture of a Florida paddle wheeler that P. dismisses as a "head-boat" - its fake smokestacks and gingerbread ornaments being there only for selling tickets to romantic tourists. She is on edge over his rebuke and gets another jolt when they see the floating carcass of a dead dog. On reaching Nyack they go ashore to buy food and drinks. In the store Lila has a row with the attendant and becomes even more edgy, but back on the boat they prepare a king size meal that is described in mouth-watering detail. They eat and drink and talk into the night. She tells about a friend who may sign on for the trip south along the storm-prone east coast. In New York City things develop in unexpected directions as P. meets the prospective deckhand and later the film actor/director Robert Redford for talks about filming ZMM. Meanwhile Lila has a series of mishaps on her way to the boat and this, together with memories of childhood abuse and misery, finally breaks her; she ends up in the bow bunk in a cataleptic state. The next morning he flees the pier with the deckhand left ashore bleeding from a knife attack by Lila, and heads out toward the Atlantic Ocean with a psychotic Lila clutching a doll that she fished up from the river the previous night and pronounces is her baby girl. In a cove near Sandy Hook where P. makes his first stop, Rigel in his boat eventually turns up and another chain of events unfolds until the book ends (in a just as unexpected and happy way as ZMM). In parallel with all this P. unfolds the final version of his Quality idea that he coins "The Metaphysics of Quality". A development that may appear like just another theory to a shallow reader, but - as I see it - will ring down through the ages as the first stirring of a quake that will end an epoch and start another. And, by the way, it also answers the question about Lila's quality.
---------------------------

Review of "Lila" by Robert Pirsig.

I loved this thought provoking story.

It is an impressive and engrossing book.

This book surpasses the intensity of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in scope and in the development of the author's concepts of quality and value. It is a daring exposition on objective valuation and it offers a broad appeal. Pirsig shows his metaphysics of quality works in real situations and for life changing decisions.

Open up, expand your consciousness, read and enjoy this book.

I recommend this book.

[Companion 'pre-quel' book: "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is a prerequisite.] Having read the works of all writers (and some that exist only through oral histories eventually described in writing) on the subjects of Philosophy/Morality/Values, i can state that this is the all encompassing work of a man very much un-appreciated in his lifetime. It truly does encompass Everything, by breaking all of our knowledge/assumptions apart, tracing them through History, and presenting "it all" Logically (a subject that the author even states/explains could not be written about logically). If/when you understand Pirsig's work, you will be at peace with this existence. It does take a lot of effort, re-reading, and re-thinking. NOT EASY (what is?). Robert was last known to be living somewhere in Scandinavia, in a new life. His life producing these works was truly phenomenal. [Did you know Robert Redford had the rights to produce a movie about these works? See the books for info.] email: [email protected]

A novel with another buried lesson by the author
of the widely read "Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle
Maintenance." A lesson buried deep in a story
that inquiries into the essence of quality in a
person. The lesson is about the way stability in
the form of structure complements dynamic growth.
For me the lesson explains why the structured
asynchronous computer conference is such a dynamic
incubator of insight and new ideas. When you get
it, the lesson helps explain why the collaborative
filtration of differentiated minds in computer
enabled virtual assembly integrates into such
powerful displays of complexity capable of
producing extraordinary outcomes. Read this great
story after you have experienced asynchronous
conferencing, and see if you don't make the same
connection. - Dick Canfield

I ended up not caring for this book for several
reasons.
1) Pirsig is not a very nice or likeable
person. Certainly it is not a requirement
to be likeable, but it helps you get through 400+ pages.
He knows this, but doesn't seem to mind enough to
change.
2) Everyone and everything is a foil for his own ego.
He never learns any thing from anyone that doesn't
groove with what he already wants to think.
3) What is his philosophy? There are numerous interesting
observations on indians and victorians, but
his philosophy reminds me of utility theory.
If you are sufficiently clever you can argue for anything.
In these reviews people are saying how great is his
thinking, but if you had to tell someone what his
thinking is, what would you say?

I thought Pirsig's first book was one of the great intellectual achievements of the 20th Century.
Lila is a worthy successor.
If you stick it out through the first chapter,which I did not like, and are a fan of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, you will be very richly rewarded.

All right - first off, I love Pirsig, not only his philosophy but his tangential insights into things that have plagued me all my life. In this book I especially like his view society (NYC, in his example) as a sentient, intelligent life form. His description of this idea helped me understand dozens of irritating, seemingly unrelated ideas of my own.
The Metaphysics of Quality is fascinating, of course - a helpful framework that will shed lots of light on a variety of topics. He does seem to use it as a panacea, however... "I forgot where I left my lighter - what does the Metaphysics of Quality say about this...?" and half a page later the lighter is found. I actually got tired of the phrase Metaphysics of Quality, not because I think it's bogus, but because he seemed to stretch it a bit.
As for the story dealing with Lila herself... COME ON! "Phaedrus" was a complete knothead in the way he treated her. And the story had a supremely unsatisfying ending PRECISELY because his sacred Metaphysics of Quality couldn't provide any practical solution to a real-life problem. Someone who reviewed "Zen & The Art Of..." on the store.com said he/she felt frustrated because Pirsig was unable to use his fantastic brain to improve the quality of his own earthly condition, and I think that went double in this story. And, if I understand correctly, this story was entirely fictitious, not based on actual events, as was "Zen..." Maybe I'm just missing something.
However, I would read 1,000 pages of Pirsig's thoughts, even without a story line tying them together. I really do love the guy. It's just that this book drove me nuts!

Like Persig's earlier book 'Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance' this book uses the same technique as Plato's dialogues to discuss philosophical ideas.

The basic idea in all three works is to use an actual event (like fixing a motorcycle) as an example to discuss a general principle of philosophy. I always found Plato strange because he argued that specific cases should be deduced from abstract principles, not the other way around (idealism) but used the opposite technique (nominalism) in his writings. At least Persig uses nominalist techniques to argue for a nominalist position. I interpret one of the previous reviews as saying that Persig should have used idealist techniques..............

'Zen...' asked deep questions, and sometimes said there was no definite answer. Seventeen years later, Persig thinks he has some new answers. I agree. I often find myself using the ideas he taught me, to understand myself and the world. What more could I ask?

I expected to be disappointed by "Lila" after ZAAMM. Who could follow an act like that?

And at first I was. The plot took awhile for me to sink into and the characters stayed rather sketchy until the end.

But by then, none of that mattered. The ideas are so interesting, the writing so clear and compelling, that you accept it on its own terms.

In his way, Pirsig invites comparison to the very best of literary philosophers - people like Nietzsche, Rand, Lawrence, and a few others.

What an original talent. And what a pity so many readers want to criticize him for not writing the book they think he ought to have written instead of the one he actually wrote. And wrote brilliantly.

The 'story' of Lila is less interesting than Zen. This book mostly deals with the insanity of someone else. The philosophical parts however are just as interesting, mostly about how we use our own value system and language to observe the world. As a novel not as interesting, but great as a philosophy book.

I thought this was a really interesting book! Unfortunately, it is built out of a magnificent house of concepts...uh huh, mere words. This is how virtually all philosophy is done. It is an illusion. I wonder if mankind will ever figure out the Universe but I have a very strong feeling it can't be done. I have a feeling that the mind is truly incapable of grasping the true nature of reality, but of course people will go on trying. I admire these people in a funny way - or perhaps a sad way is closer to the truth. I found Robert's books about quality and the good to be fascinating, but that's about it. For those inquiring minds I found Stephen Wolinsky's books (like "The Nirvana Sutras...")even more wonderful (he goes even deeper into the nature of Reality, if that's even possible)...now if we could only get these two fellows together.....very cool indeed!

Many years after his more famous work, the Zen master is still very, very, good. In Lila he continues to explore his new metaphysics of value, morals, and quality. Although he definitely stretches in places, there is some very solid work attempting to create a more accurate way of describing the universe and our place in it. It ties very solidly with the modern understanding of quantum physics, and fits with absolute perfection the philosophies of the seminal work "The Structure of Scientific Revolution" by Thomas S. Kuhn. This novel is more straight philosophy than Motorcycle Maintenance, less balanced with an interwoven plot. The plot is there though, and it gives us an even more immediate sense of the author's own precarious mental balance. Many critics call the story bleak and depressing, which may be accurate, but is about as salient as calling Moby Dick a fishing story.

Review of "Lila" by Robert Pirsig.

I loved this thought provoking story.

It is an impressive and engrossing book.

This book surpasses the intensity of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in scope and in the development of the author's concepts of quality and value. It is a daring exposition on objective valuation and it offers a broad appeal. Pirsig shows his metaphysics of quality works in real situations and for life changing decisions.

Open up, expand your consciousness, read and enjoy this book.

I recommend this book.

See also:

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Review of "Lila" by Robert Pirsig.

I loved this thought provoking story.

It is an impressive and engrossing book.

This book surpasses the intensity of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" in scope and in the development of the author's concepts of quality and value. It is a daring exposition on objective valuation and it offers a broad appeal. Pirsig shows his metaphysics of quality works in real situations and for life changing decisions.

Open up, expand your consciousness, read and enjoy this book.

I recommend this book.

See also:

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

I really enjoyed this book the first time I read it and the second and third time too. I love Pirsig's writing style. I love how he weaves so much interesting information and new points of view into a story, giving your brain a break once in awhile. There is a lot of food for thought here. I still have a lot of digesting to do. I'm the author of the book, Self-Help Stuff That Works, and although Pirsig's book isn't directly self-help, it isn't merely philosophical either. He's got a new way to look at the same things we've been looking at all along, and the new perspective would naturally lead to new actions. Will those new actions improve the quality of your own life or the lives of others? I don't know. The organization of levels of quality: biological, social, etc., and the distinction of static vs. dynamic quality are very fundamental concepts and any benefit that might come out of it might not be as apparent as you'd think. But whatever you can say about this book, it is thought-provoking. The reviews below are very much FOR the book or AGAINST it. To me that's a sign of a book that has the potential to shake things up, in this case, I think for the better.

While Lila may not be on par to those who call the area of literature home, I found those areas between the storyline far more absorbing. I think perhaps readers may find it more useful to look at the storyline as more of a demonstration of the ideas that are being presented, and to try not to get too absorbed therein. I get the impression that Phaedrus' encounter with the character of Lila was simply an ample background for what he was attempting to relate.. in some ways the two were exactly the same and in others there could have been no greater gulf between them.
For those "Zen" fans, try to overlook comparison expectations and get to the matter of the philosophy itself, because it is in many ways more concise and useful, though perhaps not as emotionally charging.
What I personally believe is really fantastic about Pirsig's foray into developing a Metaphysics of Quality is the attempt to bridge the gap between various paradigms, and doing as well as it was done. As he stated, there is no perfect chessgame, but I am willing to bet that he created an incredible Opening game in LILA that will be used by many in the years to come.

Pirsig is one of the rare philosophers (along with Plato and Nietzsche) who can write as well as he can reason. It's such a joy to read a metaphysics presented within the framework of a well-told story.
First, I'll utter the ultimate heresy: This book is in many ways supperior to "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." Although the third-person narrative lacks something compared to the unique first-person writing voice that "Zen" uses, the metaphysics of quality is much better thought out and explained in "Lila." Although Pirsig still sometimes leaves himself open to misinterpretation, compared to "Zen," in which he often presents his ideas too obliquely, in "Lila" he makes definitive, philosophic statements.
That said, I do have a few problems with the book. The character Lila is too much of a charicature, albeit an interesting one. Too often, she seems to be simply there and behaving badly so Pirsig's Phaedrus can sagely philosophize about her. Second, Pirsig's creation of a moral hierarchy makes me a little uncomfortable (is intellectual morality really always superior to social morality?).
Nevertheless, "Lila" is a highly enjoyable and thought-provoking novel. Pirsig is one of the few popular voices working on a metaphysics that's both timeless and uniquely American.

Pirsig's Theory of Almost Everything. He divides reality into four levels: the most primitive Inorganic, on top of which sits the more advanced Biological, on top of which sits the even more advanced Societal...and on top of that is the Intellectual. Each level has its own morality, which is mostly opposed to the one above it. For example, the murder and theft that animals routinely engage in is moral for them, since they couldn't survive without it (and we couldn't survive without them). But for humans it is immoral and destructive, since we are on a different, higher moral level. (Interestingly, the Ten Commandmants are prohibitions against our animal natures, and when they are followed what springs up is a peaceful, prosperous, free-market society). One of the purposes of society (and this is not original with Pirsig) is to hold down our animal, biological natures. There are a lot of gems in this book, such as his discussion of William James Sidis (considered to have had the highest known IQ), of the purpose of celebrity (including his own) and his belief that the fundamental division of reality is into Static and Dynamic. Probably the culmination of a lifetime of his thought.

Pirsig's genius with Zenandtheartofmotorcyclemaintenance is his ability to tie down an almost clinical analysis of life from the busy interactions of sub-atomic particles, to the mystical interactions between humans and their environment. He distils the essence of our own collective, and disparate experiences, to a floating essence of truth. This is not a truth which excludes debate, but like each core physical reaction within us, allows for each individual and new perspective to be considered, and have it's place in the sun. It is an outwardly clinical, but ultimately enriching journey, allowing every reader to interact, react, and leave a better person for it.

Nature repeats its structure from the finite to the infinite, and for me, Pirsig's writing reinforces an idea of humanity which can only encourage hope, and promise

I loved "Zen and", it's one of my favorite books, but I really did not care for Lila at all. It had none of the economy, and very little of the grace of his previous book.
I'm sure that both books are more-or-less autobiographical, and it's interesting to see what happens to Pirsig after the astonishing success of Zen -- but it's incredibly depressing as well.
Zen is all about striving, about devotion -- and Lila is, too me, about failure. Now, failure is important...but I'd just as soon not have read it.

I gave this book to my brother back when it first came out. He is a conservative newspaper columnist and I am somewhat liberal. We used to argue no end about politics and philosphy.
This book provided a framework which we could both agree on, and allowed us to get past our old used-up rhetoric and discuss issues more thoughtfully.
What better recommendation can I give than that?

I loved "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", but I firmly believe that Pirsig should have not written Lila. It's like so many athletes coming out of retirement. Was he hurting for money?

Pirsig was never a great writer. He had interesting ideas which made Zen readable and interesting, but with Lila he has many fewer original ideas and relies heavily on his junior varsity writing abilities. Reading Lila felt like I was eating warmed over left-overs of Zen.

Mind you, Pirsig does have some tolerably stimulating ideas, but the intellectual content one could glean from this book could almost fill a slim pamphlet. It's like a near empty bottle of philosophy which is filled with water and shaken up. Now the patron is asked to pay dollar for a penny's worth of ideas.

And what's with the prurient sexual content?

If you’ve never outgrown your interest in sophomore philosophy and Freshman logic you’ll love this book. A quarter of the way through it became apparent that many of the thought processes and psychiatric difficulties described in his first book that sidelined this author, were still alive and active in the writing of this book. His peculiar thought style and residual symptoms for me, overcame any other value or message he was trying to convey. The obsessive and repetitive way his interests were tirelessly presented were just too much. In terms of content, the author is a one trick pony and the second attempt is a total failure.

All my life people have told me about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I could never get into that book. This book gripped me from the start. I immediately felt a kinship with Phaedrus and hope someday to be able to claim half the knowledge he holds. I originally had borrowed this book from the library and have now added it to my permanent collection

Of course it would be nearly impossible for him to live up to the first book, so I'll try not to compare it, but unfortunately I only bought this one because I liked "Zen" so much. It was a bit harder to get into, but Pirsig manages to bring up a very interesting topic for discussion, and analyzes it as only he can. It's not the same thing, but it's great work on it's own.

Pirsig extends the analysis laid out in Zen And The Art... effectivly. The analysis is quite similar to one of Pirsigs contemporaries : Ken Wilber. Wilber calls it nothingness, Pirsig calls it Quality. At the end of the book Pirsig realizes, however, that his Theory is a model not actual reality.

If you can get through the first 70 or 80 pages, the rest of the book will pull you in and blow your mind. You won't be able to put it down.

In my opinion, Lila is better and easier to get through than Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, but ZAMM is required reading before reading Lila.

One of the best books I have ever read (and I've read a few!). This book will change the way you view the world.Be warned, however, for me it's tough to read another book that lives up to this one! If you find one,

If you liked Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance don't read this, it'll put you off Pirsig forever. A disasterous attempt to prove that his first attempt at writing wasn't a fluke, which ironically proves the precise opposite.
Most of this is just barmy - worthy of a self-published no-hoper. There's a hapless attempt at building a philosophy, pretentiously titled the Metaphysics of Quality, which makes no sense from beginning to end. Other than that he spends most of his time trying to prove that what he says is what everybody already thinks anyway - his metaphysics is consistent with free will, evolution, the American constitution etc - so it MUST be right.
The story part of the book falls flat, the characters never come alive and are too obviously put in to illustrate aspects of his oh-so-precious theory. He borrows from ancient religions under the pretext that he is the first person to dig up these ideas and the only person who has ever really understood them. (Gosh aren't we lucky he was born!) In fact he seems not to even understand what he is writing, because he contradicts himself all over the place. It's as if he just copied bits and pieces from other texts that he fancied without really knowing what they meant. There are no footnotes, no references, nothing, we're supposed to believe that this all came from him. Basically it's all about proving that he's the greatest genius who ever lived and if you don't believe him well that's because you're just too blind to see it.

The other gem by Robert Pirsig, Lila captures the reader on the first page and demands attention to the end. It inspires introspection and a focus on the larger issues of life. Like Zen, a must-read for those of us who would live beyond the mundane.