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Sorry you feel that way. I feel it’s a work of genius, the regular structure of which reflects Pirsig’s obsession with quality.

whalesalad 7y ago
You keep arguing that the author is obsessed with quality, and therefore the book is imbued with an abundance of it. Quality is totally subjective. Taking four years to write a book and obsessing over quality is really not a badge of honor in and of itself.
- ep103 7y ago
  You misunderstand defined's post. He's not saying that ZATAOMM is a high quality book, because the author was obsessed with ensuring that his book was of high quality. If that was the case, you would be (mostly) right, as there is a subjective aspect to determining quality. No. ZATAOMM is a book about the philosophical concept of "Quality". What is "Quality"? What do we mean when we say the word "quality"? How does that understanding, or lack thereof, impact our life, sciences, and society? That is what defined meant. Read with that understanding, defined's statement reads: I believe ZATAOMM is a work of genius, that was only possible due to the author's obsession with learning everything he could about the topic of the book before writing it.
  - defined 7y ago
    Thank you for explaining that. You are exactly right. I really should have spelled it Quality, to show that I meant the philosophy of Quality rather than its more mundane interpretation. At the same time, in an interview with Pirsig that I read somewhere, IIRC he did rather archly claim something to the effect that the book had better be high quality, considering its subject matter. I tried to find that interview, but could only come up with this piece [1]. [1]: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/nov/19/fiction https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/nov/19/fiction
- coldtea 7y ago
  >Quality is totally subjective. No, it's not. That's just an American prejudice about it, because the individual there is always king, even if they are as crude as they go...

whalesalad 7y ago

You keep arguing that the author is obsessed with quality, and therefore the book is imbued with an abundance of it. Quality is totally subjective. Taking four years to write a book and obsessing over quality is really not a badge of honor in and of itself.

ep103 7y ago
You misunderstand defined's post. He's not saying that ZATAOMM is a high quality book, because the author was obsessed with ensuring that his book was of high quality. If that was the case, you would be (mostly) right, as there is a subjective aspect to determining quality. No. ZATAOMM is a book about the philosophical concept of "Quality". What is "Quality"? What do we mean when we say the word "quality"? How does that understanding, or lack thereof, impact our life, sciences, and society? That is what defined meant. Read with that understanding, defined's statement reads: I believe ZATAOMM is a work of genius, that was only possible due to the author's obsession with learning everything he could about the topic of the book before writing it.
- defined 7y ago
  Thank you for explaining that. You are exactly right. I really should have spelled it Quality, to show that I meant the philosophy of Quality rather than its more mundane interpretation. At the same time, in an interview with Pirsig that I read somewhere, IIRC he did rather archly claim something to the effect that the book had better be high quality, considering its subject matter. I tried to find that interview, but could only come up with this piece [1]. [1]: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/nov/19/fiction https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/nov/19/fiction
coldtea 7y ago
>Quality is totally subjective. No, it's not. That's just an American prejudice about it, because the individual there is always king, even if they are as crude as they go...