BOOK REVIEWS
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Títle: Zen & The Art Of
Motorcycle Maintenance
Writer: Robert M. Pirsig
Year: 1974
I
In Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Main-
tenance Pirsig explores the concepts of
Quality while living in a Romantic (here
and now) and Classical (prepare for
everything) approach to life.
In this fictional autobiography Pirsig
explores all sorts of philosophical di-
lemmas while travelling with his son
and two friends. While it is a motorcycle
journey it is more about life, and the ap-
proach taken.
The narrator presumably Pirsig, takes
a classical approach and wants to know
why things happen and what it means
for everything around it. He does so
while exploring his past life, the events
and the outcomes, some of which have
change him forever. The reader soon
understands that this is the Motorcycle
Maintenance of the title.
The Zen comes from living in the mo-
ment which, his friend John Sutherland,
seems to do. Sutherland is more about
enjoying the surroundings and his place
in it, rather than worrying what his be-
ing is doing to the surroundings. In this
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Into Africa With A Smile
It’s 1974, Linda Bootherstone is
back in the UK for personal rea-
sons, when she decides it’s time to
ride again, this time through Afri-
ca. Remember it’s 1974 and she has
a 17-year-old BMW. Riding Africa is
unheard of.
Forty years ago, Africa was a
very different place, and this comes
across very clearly in Into Africa
With A Smile. The plucky Boother-
stone fights the Saharan sands, the
muds of the central countries and
even a bout of malaria yet she comes
through it all with a smile.
Into Africa With A Smile is a great
Títle: Into Africa With A Smile reflective piece written many years
Writer: Linda Bootherstone
later, the passage of time has dimin-
Year: 2015
ished very little from the storytelling,
in fact it may’ve even embellished it a
TRAVERSE
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age of social media perhaps we could all
learn from this.
The narrator delves deeper, deciding
which approach works best and how
quality is affected by both, his aim is to
find something in the middle.
Pirsig aims to find the beauty in
everything and understands that to do so
you must be open minded and find inner
peace. Even motorcycle maintenance
can be beautiful if you allow yourself to
have the right attitude.
Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Mainte-
nance is often said to be the most impor-
tant and influential book written, a book
about life and how we live it, delving into
questions we fear to ask or even answer.
Is it a motorcycle book? No, Is it a trav-
el book? No. Yet, it does make you ques-
tion why we do such things on motor-
cycles and how can we make the world
a better place, and for that very reason
every overland motorcycle travel (or
perhaps just everyone) should read Zen
& the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
W
S
little. The reader is captivated by the
land, the wonderment of the jour-
ney, the excitement of the journey,
all fondly recalled by Bootherstone.
For anyone who has doubts about
solo motorcycle travel, read Into
Africa With A Smile, all doubts will
be erased when you realise Booth-
erstone did it over 40 years ago.
In many ways this is the perfect
companion story to Heather Ellis’
Ubuntu, and like Ubuntu you won’t
be able to put this down.
Bootherstone has a way of telling
a story that makes you want to say,
“Hey Linda, I’ll get another round,
you tell me another story”.
Read Into Africa With A Smile, you
won’t be disappointed.