Zen??

        Reading further into Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance has proven to be a difficult task. Persig's thoughts seem to be so far into the "high country" that he does not know how to organize them in a way that does not overwhelm the reader. I have to cut my reading down into short pieces in order to properly digest the thoughts that Persig spits out. Even then, when I continue reading, I have trouble continuing on the journey through his thoughts because my footing is already unsteady. When Persig started comparing Phaedrus to Jules Henri Poincare I got completely lost. The whole concept of theoretical mathematics and absolute mathematical certainty was way over my head. I did come away with a broad understanding of some of Persig's ideas; if you got rid of value-free thinking then you would have no basis for intellectual pride, which allows for Quality. Quality and intellectual pride cannot both be sustained at the same time. I am in the process of unfolding all of his other ideas... get back to me in about 10 years and I might have untangled a tenth of this book.