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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
Not what i was expecting. Great except for when he goes into straight philosophy lectures.
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Eye-opening, but also exhausting at times. But worth it!
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this was biblical
This book wavered for me of sometimes being exceptionally insightful and then being exceptionally dense. I felt like the philosophical tangents were lost in the plot line, or maybe I missed something. I think I'm still bothered by the ending. I thought it would be this dramatic break though, that we would see he was in a mental hospital or that his dreams would make sense. But instead, you're left wondering if this bandaid over the entire thing is just another dream or a quick way to wrap everything up. Maybe if I took an English course with someone who has written their thesis on this book, I'd enjoy it, or look back on it with nostalgia. With that said, there were some quotes I really liked!
** “If you get careless or go romanticizing scientific information, giving it a flourish here and there, Nature will soon make a complete fool out of you.” **
- “The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling.”
- “You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.”
- “The real purpose of the scientific method is to make sure nature hasn’t misled you into thinking you know something you actually don’t know.”
- “The TV scientist who mutters sadly, "The experiment is a failure; we have failed to achieve what we had hoped for," is suffering mainly from a bad script writer. An experiment is never a failure solely because it fails to achieve predicted results. An experiment is a failure only when it also fails adequately to test the hypothesis in question, when the data it produces don't prove anything one way or another.”
** “If you get careless or go romanticizing scientific information, giving it a flourish here and there, Nature will soon make a complete fool out of you.” **
- “The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling.”
- “You are never dedicated to something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.”
- “The real purpose of the scientific method is to make sure nature hasn’t misled you into thinking you know something you actually don’t know.”
- “The TV scientist who mutters sadly, "The experiment is a failure; we have failed to achieve what we had hoped for," is suffering mainly from a bad script writer. An experiment is never a failure solely because it fails to achieve predicted results. An experiment is a failure only when it also fails adequately to test the hypothesis in question, when the data it produces don't prove anything one way or another.”
Honestly, I'm not sure the marketing text of this book actually has anything to do with the book. Here's what I see. In the 1960s, there was a growing sense the the post WWII civilization wasn't right. The experiences were too homogenized, too sterile, too stifling, even if you were white and male (and Heaven help you if you weren't.) The result was the 1960s, but in particular one result was this book. Persig is going after something quite specific, in a slow, carefully told story. What makes a thing "of quality?" The conclusion, as I understand it, is that it is a perception before abstraction, and once the experience is abstracted into memory, it is only the memory of quality, not the quality itself.
The story is about a man who's had psychiatric problems finally getting to know his son while they travel across the country. It's not an easy journey. Both of them have scars, and neither of them really talk about them, but the shared experience, the quality of the moments does what words have not been able to do.
The story is partially autobiographical.
There's an epilogue to the version I read that is, after the quiet healing of the story, crushing. I won't spoil it (if that's the word) because you can find it in the Wikipedia entry for Robert Persig. He does manage to find hope, even then.
It's a book that explores abstractions and experiences and how they fit together. That he developed the philosophical end before modern brain science essentially bore him out, that the first time you experience something it's far more strongly experienced and remembered than repeat experiences. He had no way of knowing that this is how our brains work, but he hit on the essential truth anyway.
Or I got lost along the journey and missed the essential truth he was after.
The story is about a man who's had psychiatric problems finally getting to know his son while they travel across the country. It's not an easy journey. Both of them have scars, and neither of them really talk about them, but the shared experience, the quality of the moments does what words have not been able to do.
The story is partially autobiographical.
There's an epilogue to the version I read that is, after the quiet healing of the story, crushing. I won't spoil it (if that's the word) because you can find it in the Wikipedia entry for Robert Persig. He does manage to find hope, even then.
It's a book that explores abstractions and experiences and how they fit together. That he developed the philosophical end before modern brain science essentially bore him out, that the first time you experience something it's far more strongly experienced and remembered than repeat experiences. He had no way of knowing that this is how our brains work, but he hit on the essential truth anyway.
Or I got lost along the journey and missed the essential truth he was after.
I had been meaning to read this book for many years, and I am glad I finally got to it. It has a truly fascinating dissection and discussion of quality. While the title focuses on "values," and the text does address this, I found that it did so mostly through lens of quality. I think I got most of it on the first read, but there are some specific explorations that I should probably re-read. The book reminds me of why I enjoyed my philosophy classes way back when.
I highly recommend it, but I think that you will get the most out of it if you are willing to commit a significant number of brain cycles to it in the appropriate points. (Don't worry about which ones. They will be obvious.)
I highly recommend it, but I think that you will get the most out of it if you are willing to commit a significant number of brain cycles to it in the appropriate points. (Don't worry about which ones. They will be obvious.)
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes