Robert Pirsig, author of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", is born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" chronicles the 17-day motorcycle journey of the narrator, a former philosophy professor who underwent involuntary electric shock treatment for alleged insanity, across the country with his 11-year-old son. Along the way, the narrator ruminates on philosophical approaches to life, arguing that motorcycle maintenance is a metaphor for life. He demonstrates this by pointing out that maintenance may be dull and tedious drudgery or an enjoyable and pleasurable pastime; it all depends on attitude. Also along the way he succeeds in healing a deep emotional rift with his son.
The book was rejected by 121 publishing houses before it was published by William Morrow and Company in 1974. Pirsig received only a $3,000 advance and was warned that the book would probably bomb. It became a cult classic, selling nearly 5 million copies to date.
Tragically, in 1979, Pirsig's son Chris, who figured prominently in the book, was stabbed to death during a mugging outside the San Francisco Zen Center.
Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk
Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk
