Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

This is the third time I've re-read this book, and I liked it the least this time. This book has a few important points, some of which I haven't found other books that talk about — in particular, the ideas about the tautological nature of "rationality" and "science" are important and unique, and the ideas about the nuances of what about the relationship of people to technology causes unhappiness and strife is well-considered. Unfortunately, much of the book is discussion of the novel philosophical concept that the author calls "Quality", a concept which I think is ill-considered and ill-argued. Frustrating, since the disagreements the author assumes a reader might have with his arguments are not the ones that I have.

I still do love this book, and I certainly would still recommend it in many circumstances, but I was sad to return to it and find it not quite as lovely as I'd remembered. Then again, this book has somewhat of a reputation as being a book that's attractive to younger people, so perhaps that's natural.