Robert M. Pirsig on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and quality, Minneapolis, 1974 

This man is a legend. No other ways to put it. I'm in awe of him and his mind, and I'm so glad that there exists some recordings of him speaking like this. Just priceless.

Also, if anyone's interested, I just became aware of this link to a 1974 interview by CBC's Tim Wilson. The interview starts at 6:50. www.cbc.ca/player/play/2623057085

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance changed my life. I've given away at least 20 copies to friends and family in the 10 or so years since I've read it. If this is really Ted's account - I hope you know how much your dad meant to everyone. Cheers to one of the greatest philosophers of all time!!

I read this in my early 20's and then forgot his words. Im 76 now, going to get another copy and re-read It. This opportunity to hear him in person rounds out the picture and brings closure in a sense. Thank you so much for posting it!

Not only did he survive his own mental health issues, he also survived the harmful "treatments" they gave him, and then he went on to leave us books that help us deal with the trauma-inducing world of today. Thank you Bob.

Thanks, his book,is my all time favoute book, it saved my live.

I first read the book in the mid 2000s, I never thought I’d see the author give a talk - thanks for uploading!

Brilliant Ted, thanks for sharing this with us all. This book did what it said on the cover for me. It changed my life and the way I thought about things. The dog eared old paperback copy I have is one of my treasured possessions.

Thanks Ted for posting this. I wrote a letter to your Dad in the 90’s and he wrote me back. He sounds like a Minnesotan.

Great that this lecture exists.

I simply can't describe what Robert Pirsig and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance mean to me. It's the highest compliment I can pay him and the book.

That is the authentic unique Bob Pirsig I knew. This is a treasure.

After the 50s and 60s when bikes and those who rode them were either outlaws or clowns, this book was such a breath of good air. I read it before long trips, last one around lake superior.

Thank you for posting this Ted

what a beautiful session and video. Many thanks for posting!

This 56 yr old is a wee late to the party. I read Zen for the first time 4-5 years ago… then Lila… then both of them again recently🤯 My humble philosophical interests started with Hess-Glass Bead Game. But Pirsig/Zen/Lila ❤️ Truly grateful to see/hear Robert speak. I have spoken a great truth😌 Thank you so much for posting!👊🏻❤️🫵🏼

I actually corresponded with Robert in 1999, he reviewed my thesis on knowledge, and wrote back on a postcard, 'D, I didn't define quality as the interdependence of opposites, you did.' A great man, I followed his work very closely.

I first read this book when I was in my teens - more than 45 years ago - maybe about the time this video was shot. I honestly believe it changed my life. I’ve read it again countless times.This is the first time I’ve seen him speak. He gave so few interviews.

The first copy of this book that I had (and still have) had the phrase "This book will change the way you think and feel about your life". That was the understatement of the year: in my life there are the Before ZMM times and then the After ZMM times. This interview was so amazing. RMP tries to keep it low-key at the beginning, not get too emotional or involved with anything. And then the Q&A starts! Usually Q&A in these things is dreadful, but you can see RMP get really fired up about the subject, debating with his audience, and really showing his mind and how it thinks. It's in those moments that, for me, it was so clear where the book and its message came from. An amazing man, hugely undervalued by the world.

First read this book as a 12 year old. I was attracted by the cover: A work-scarred, wrench with a flower growing out of one end of it. The opening first chapters completely captivated me: Road trips, motorcycles; internals moving parts within an engine or within ones mind; camping in the bush (woods) or beside a lonely road. Fantastic! After this it became very heavy going; like knee-deep mud that one wades through to get that big mud-crab you just know is lurking beyond the next mangrove tree. However, like the author intoned, I stuck at it, and so to this very day, I still see, vividly, the very kernel of what he was trying to drill down upon. I see it in many things; and because of my way of thinking, also feel the discomfort he went through to unearth it. "Some times it is better to journey than to arrive". I would have loved to shared a few rums with Mr. Pirsig around a campfire. Oh the world problems we could solve, eh?

I was always different. Around 1982 at 14 yrs old I heard about this book from the cocaine snorting, pot growing, highly successful sales rep with a sexy wife who my mom worked with and we house sat for. In his house I found this book. I was obsessed with motocross riding, rode daily. Read this book intensely. Highlighted parts. My older cousin who was an early pioneer in computers and had a deep connection to Christ loved the book too. I went on to get 3 college degrees, raise highly successful kids, and now ride a Moto Guzzi. I think about this book often. Thank you.

I made a ritual out of it. I knew this video was going to be an experience. I went to my favourite cigar bar. Sat in a quiet space. Lit my cigar and just heard him speak, and felt his voice to be intellectually nourishing and generous. I read both ZMM and Lila last year and have been swept away by his words and vision(s). I cannot imagine a life without his voice anymore. Like other folks have said, this video was a gift, and is a gift to those who have read and learnt with Pirsig. Thank you for uploading it.

Thank you very much indeed, mr Pirsig: your father changed the lives of many occidental people who read his books and I feel honoured to be able to express to you my infinite admiration for his effort (his ART).

Thank you Ted, for sharing this talk. As a Software Quality professional, a biker and a father, I find his writings to be inspiring. Your father had quite a life, and he left a legacy for anyone bothering to read a good book. This is more than many men will accomplish in a lifetime.

Wow. I finally have a face for the book I've underlined and dog eared and taken notes so many times over. Wow.

So great to hear him speak in person. Also wonderful to hear the foreshadowing for Lila, with talk of the ‘slips’ and the dynamic/static differentiation… What a gift Pirsig was. Two of my desert island books for sure. 🙏🏻

i thought i was in a rush to get out the house and do things and I came upon this talk, I am still here.

Totally changed my life , read it when I was 16 did philosophy and after did medicine and became a psychiatrist , nearly 60 and still ride a bike

I read this book in my early twenties. I've worked my whole life as an artist ( and motorcycle nut ) and now 40 years later this lecture seems to make perfect and absolute sense of most of my life hahaha .

Here's a 2008 interview with John Sutherland that just went up on youtube recently: www.youtube.com/@artofmotorcyclemaintenance111

When I read this book fifty years ago I had no idea what it was about. I'm currently reading his book Lila a second time. This video is a treasure.

my brother gifted his book to me and i have only recently read it; truly one of the greatest texts i'm sure i will ever read

I read ZAMM some 10 times - a life changer indeed. Thank you for sharing.

Just finished reading 'Zen' about an hour ago. What a truly wonderful book.

Bobs famous book is about QUALITY and I urge everyone to read it d e e p l y !

The book is life changing.

Thank you for this wonderful gift.

Bob really is a GREAT american/world treasure (imho)

Thanks for posting this video. I've only read the book once, around the time the video was made, but it made an indelible impression. He's a really affecting character, so direct and no-nonsense and wonderfully honest about the creative struggles he went through.

I have a few things in common with Mr. Pirsig, sadly genius is not one of them. But I recognized his. The truth knocks on the door....and What is good Phaedrus...are two of my favorite quotes.

Thank you for making this video available.

a copy of ZAMM came my way whilst riding around northern India on an Enfield Bullet back in '95. Ive read it many times , there is so much meat in there and its a pleasure to read again and again ...as with Lila. How amazing to see him like this at this time in his story. Thanks Ted.

I finished reading Lila today for the first time and then found this video. Nice day for me

This is great. It's also cool that some of the snapshots from that 1968 trip with his son and friends are online. (I wonder if that 8mm home movie footage of them taken by the couple with the very white legs at Yellowstone still exists? That would be something to see!).

thank you so much for posting this!

This is amazing. Thank you so much.

The Best Gift Video Ever !!!

This is spectacular! Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for sharing, Ted.

Awesome upload, thanks. Hope there's more!

正在阅读您写的书，中国版《禅与摩托车维修艺术》

Impressive work on human transformation!!!

Comes out of a mental hospital and they don't give him a teaching job. Rofl. These days if you get out of one, you'd be in Congress and the WEF in no time

Touching to hear the emotion in his voice when he said he was trying "to be a useful person" at 12:44. I'll have books done this year that talk about excellence: one is for individuals and will be my life's work, and the other is looking at US government policy could be looking through that lense.

Incredible.

fabulous to see this . was reading a passage from Lila to a friend last night... and suddenly this came around . thanks for uploading it .

I got the book when i was about 22.. completely absorbed in it, read it seven times and it opened the door for an interest in Philosofie for life! Very nice to hear the writer speak, so neutral and completely clear in his message. One of the greats 😊

Real genius do and create. They don’t obsess over others creations.

Great to see the man behind the book I read on a motorcycle trip to Southern France about 20 years ago. It felt like a perfect balance between reading and riding...trip down memory lane seeing this!

wow , thanks for putting this up .,

His lesson about the pernicious v a l u e r i g i d i t y alone is a BIG gem !!!

Love ❤🧡💜💔❤‍🩹❤‍🔥🖤🤍

What a treasure - thank you so much. For all who came to these books late - when he wasn't an active public figure - this is immensely interesting. I would have loved to hear his answers about stuckness and gumption traps :) but want to thank you for what you've posted.

There's something said here that disturbed me and I wasn't expecting which seems to equate quality with "blind faith" and so I find myself questioning the premises put forwards. Most comments gush with praise "I was gifted this book" "It changed my life" blah blah, I was in the same camp until I listened carefully to the q&a and now I need to go back and review everything again. Thanks for putting this up so I have a reason to revisit this work. And what a work!

I've read Zen many times and for a number of years had my psychology students read it as part of the coursework. A classic, to be sure. How wonderful that this talk has been preserved and made available! If I were still teaching at the university, I would probably have my students watch this video.

12:36 Decades ago, suffering a dark period of unemployment, the sense of purpose that came from my re-engagement with the working world went beyond the paycheck. I'm sensing Mr. Pirsig is having his own moment of recollection in his intimate telling.

Great stuff. Thanks.

where is that lumber?!? I wanna build the pirsig boat...😅

Thanks for logging this on RU-vid Ted. Do you know of other lectures (or talks) that your father gave on AMM that you could likewise upload here?

I had heard that he used note cards to organize the structure of the book but i had mistakenly imagined such a system as just a fancier version of an outline necessitaed by the complexity of the work. Hearing him explain that i had it exactly wrong and that the notes were a method to allow for constant expansion and revision was a revelation. Thanks for uploading such a wonderful video

Jesus is the way. Quality comes from pleasing God.

How do authors and wriyers calculate how many words they have written? Just asking .🤔

I found the book in the mountains of California by chance in a cabin. I love how he says don’t cling to my words. Make them a glimpse in your time. Wonderful

Thanks a lot for the upload… I must admit I’m more into LILA… It’s his masterpiece imo

Love the “squareness” of the crowd.

I was assigned the book by George Nelson while a Grad Student at Architecture School. The rest was indeed all downhill.

Thank you so much for posting

Wish the rest of the talk was also captured, I guess they really did go on for 2 more hours

thank you🙏

Gold dust! Thank you 🙏

Thank you for sharing!

Now I am thrilled my son is an Edward

Thank the gods for JD Landis

Did he ever get on the Today Show? Thanks for putting this on by the way.

Thank You!

You have to find yourself in your situation b it’s an obstacle when you’re famous. Face up to technology.

like ALL the others THANKING YOU VERY MUCH !!!! he's so like his writing .. BTW, I don't think he'll be different in another interview in those days 👍👏

See the Gödel paradox. Meta quality is undefinable as all systems are incomplete.

Wonderful. Did you know that Robert Redford got an option to make a movie of ZMM?

Poignant open honest but also how the creative process is difficult and can perhaps destroy you unless you remain open

Fantastic

Gold

I've never seen someone thread the needle between ego and false modesty so well.

Doesn't quality mean good, it is an intelligible concept but you can't define it

There actually is an Indian guy who talks to crows. He starts cawing and then a huge swarm of crows show up out of nowhere. The film industry actually use his services. The guy says he understands em. Werd

36:17

57:00

So he re-invented Zettelkasten?

Thanks so much for posting this Ted. So helpful. I've read this first time in 1993 since it was recommended before medical school interview. But, read second time 2018 when trying to make sense of things. And reading third time now. Now, my sons reading. Truly amazing work.