Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly good
Review: Having finished Lila just minutes ago, I was motivated to check out the reviews. I "stumbled" across Lila in a bargain bin a few weeks after having re-read ZMM. From there it languished on my bookshelf for almost a year. Recently I was compelled to read it. I was prepared for a big let down, a "sequelitis". To my surprise this book is a GOOD book. Definitely a book to be read multiple times. It is much more than a novel.Once again Pirsig uses a plot as a device to unfold a new philosophy. This philosophy is very dynamic, and thought provoking. I cannot help but incorporate elements of it immediately into my life. However, it is incomplete. I am thankful for the incompleteness since I'm not looking for an author to give me the "whole answer". Hopefully this incompleteness will motivate the reader to fill in the gaps for themselves. While there are many philosophical threads discussed in the book that a person can spend hours traveling, the limited space here can only justify one teaser: Good is a noun.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Zen in so many ways
Review: I read this book before I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and was actually disapointed wiht it after reading Lila. Zen I felt had too much boring naration. Lila had a more intriguing and encompassing plot and I felt it was much more intellectually stimulating. It is a loss that Lila hasn't gained as much fame. But before I go overboard in praise, I must say that it is not an easy book to read. The first few chapters were very difficult for me, but after I got into the book, it became easier. This is a book to be read many many times. The first few just for comprehension and the rest for real in-depth interpretation.
Rating:
Summary: My perspective of Robert M. Pirsig's "Lila."
Review:
Robert M. Pirsig's "Lila" is one of the finest and most challenging books in print today. For those of you who have read his, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," (ZMM) and enjoyed the philosophical and mystical challenges there, "Lila" offers even more.
I have read "Lila" multiple times. I only recently discovered that lila in Hindu mythology means the never-ending dance of the Divine in an ongoing alternation between the World and the Divine and back again. It is like sacrifice of the Divine to create the World and then sacrifice of the World to create the Divine. Lila is this continual dance. I found the dance a strong metaphor of the main female character in "Lila" and her relationship to Phaedrus. I am unsure Pirsig intended this metaphor, but I suspect he did.
In both ZMM and Lila, Pirsig's prime pursuit is the definition and philosophy of quality. He conjoins the epic struggle of mankind to intuit and rationalize the mind-body, subject-object dichotomies. Note that Pirsig would emphasize intuition here and de-emphasize rational thought.
In "Lila" he accomplishes three major feats:
1) a non-dichotomous and holistic view of subject-object,
2) a moral value framework for sentient beings, and
3) rules for static and dynamic balance.
Holistically, he shows that reality is composed of three things: subject (mind), object (matter), and Quality. He says that objects precede subjects, subjects emerge from objects, and quality occurs where and when subjects become aware of objects. He develops this prescient philosophy while weaving a powerful human story of his quality events with Lila as he pushes his sailing vessel through the waters of the great northeastern US.
Second, he develops a beautiful framework consisting of four value layers: intellect, social, biological, and organic. Intellect is his highest value layer and organic is the lowest. He breaks the four layers into two groups: subject and object. The top two layers correspond to subject and the bottom two layers correspond to object. Each layer in the hierarchy has moral precedence over the other. Intellect has the highest moral precedence followed by social, biological, then organic. It is moral for the higher of two layers to dominate the other. It is immoral for a lower layer to dominate a higher layer. This is a profound discovery and for me it is the new value ethics. I see world legal structures eventually adopting this ethical system.
Finally, he unifies the static versus dynamic dichotomy. He shows that the world is both static and dynamic and if long-term dynamic world patterns are to work, good static patterns must latch to permit the next dynamic emergence. He does not say so, but I infer that just like his value framework, he sees a static and dynamic framework that scales from zero to infinite space-time intervals.
A careful read of "Lila" for those of you who know of quantum theory shows significant correlation to the concepts of the new physics. Many prominent folk have seen this correlation and Pirsig has presented on the subject in Brussels Belgium at the conference entitled, "Einstein Meets Magritte." Some of us see quantum mechanics as the layer just below the organic layer, and we infer more layers above intellect.
I suggest further reading for very interesting connections to "Lila:" Eugen Herrigel ("Zen in the Art of Archery"), Gary Zukav ("The Dancing Wu Li Masters"), Fritjof Capra ("The Tao of Physics"), Heinz Pagels ("The Dreams of Reason"), and Dana Zohar & Ian Marshal ("The Quantum Society").
Pirsig, among his peers and antecedents, in my opinion, has come closest to defining a new philosophical reality. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Yet another lesson from Pirsig for universal application
Review: A novel with another buried lesson by the author of the widely read "Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance." A lesson buried deep in a story that inquiries into the essence of quality in a person. The lesson is about the way stability in the form of structure complements dynamic growth. For me the lesson explains why the structured asynchronous computer conference is such a dynamic incubator of insight and new ideas. When you get it, the lesson helps explain why the collaborative filtration of differentiated minds in computer enabled virtual assembly integrates into such powerful displays of complexity capable of producing extraordinary outcomes. Read this great story after you have experienced asynchronous conferencing, and see if you don't make the same connection. - Dick Canfield
Rating:
Summary: An unforgettable jouney, just don't ignore the rough spots.
Review: "Lila" is by far a book worthy of reading, re-reading, contemplation, and study... but it's not the "Grail". Although Pirsig creates a new method of rational thought as he narrates another remarkable story of physical and spiritual travel, Pirsig's second book creates more problems (philosophically) than it solves. Pirsig states that the death penalty is immoral as it snuffs out the most dynamic source of Quality on Earth: humanity, but neglects the obvious pro-life implications of his argument. He also ignores years of research into STD's by stating that Lila's only true immoral act was lying, while ignoring her (and his own) promiscuity. Using Pirig's own reasoning and assumptions, it is hardly moral to engage in an act that spreads diseases which end living deposits of Quality in greater numbers than the electric chair.
So why do I give this book a nine out of ten if there are so many flaws? Because there is nine times as much insight and development of his concept of Quality in this book than flaws. Pirsig's deft, almost angellic hand, rewrites and refines Western thought, disposing of many philosophical roadblocks that we have dealt with for so long. If this book were fiction, Pirsig's achievements would seem incredible. But Pirsig's work is not fakery... his ideas are ideas to live by or argue strongly against, as they case may be. "Lila" is like a 1998 Ferrari with unbelievable new features and a few knocks in the motor. Don't miss the chance of an unforgetable journey in this vehicle, but don't ignore that knocking sound too long either.
Rating:
Summary: Alternative Thinking - Read this book.
Review: This is one book we all must read to learn about more alternatives in
thinking.
Despite controversial arguments about Europeans and Victorian people,they are absolute facts, in Phaedrus own sense.We must appreciate that.
While Zen And the Art of MotorCycle Maintanenance entices you with arguments about romantism/ classical
,Lila is more practical and is probably more convincing than the Zen And the Art of MotorCycle Maintanenance.
An example how an author could convincingly shatter his opponents is demonstrated amply in the initial pages of his book.
(Concluding that Rigel has those same Victorian characteristics that are bad in phaedrus own sense).
Rating:
Summary: Guy and girl meet in bar and sail down river...
Review: I rate the book "10" because in a very human way it puts the computer into context with the human. I first read LILA in 1992, after stumbling onto the title in the reference section of a computer history book. The Metaphysics of Quality is exemplified in the guy/girl interactions and in the mind-presentations of the author. Read again in 1994, again in 1997, and 4th reading in early 1998. In 1995, read ZEN, THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE. Good philosophy, plot was not as interesting as LILA. Afterward on death of his son was chilling. Your other reviews are superb so instead I will give some chapter events that grabbed my attention. Chapter 1. Phaedrus meets Lila in a bar and begin their journey down the river. Chapter 2. The card catalog, using slips of paper to record throughts. Organizing, reviewing, saving, discarding. The perfect tool for random access. I have used this system throughtout my life, and I was astounded to read an account of my system in a book. Chapter 3. Americans are the amalgam of American-Indians and Europeans. This concept is expanded thoughout the book. Chapter 6, 11. Does Lila have Quality? Expansion on Metaphysics of Quality. Chapter 8. The Platypus does not fit anthropological structure. Platypus analogy is used throughout the book. Chapter 11. The "...jungle of evolutionary patterns..." Patterns. Quantum theory. Chapter 12. Patterns. I love the hardware and software analogies....the guy who designs the hardware is independent of the guy who designs the software. Chapter 13. The world is full of static and dynamic patterns. The dynamic patterns build onto the static patterns and if accepted by a critical mass of people then the dynamic pattern becomes static, building on or replacing old static patterns. Phaedrus gives examples that are obvious to the reader. Chapter 17. The giant moth and the light globe. Chapter 19. You are reading along, enthralled with Lila and Phaedrus and MOQ, and all of a sudd! en Robert Redford walks into Phaedrus' motel room... Chapter 20. Celebrity. Social pattern devours intellectual pattern. OJ and verdict comes to mind. Chapter 24. Does Lila have quality? (Again.) The price of dynamic quality is instability. The Professor in the black neighborhood...a short lesson on racism. Chapter 25. Insanity. Phaedrus reveals his earlier life in an insane asylum...hmmm. And discourses on the experience. Chapter 26. Insanity. Language. Philosophology. More. Chapter 32 (last chapter). "Good is a noun. That was it..." Well, the author concludes that the Metaphysics of Quality defies precise definition due to the lack of precision in language..."but if you had to reduce whole MOQ to a single sentence, that would be it." The fact that Pirsig is not well-known, not LarryKing material, speaks volumes for public interest in philosphy. The internet, bless the Internet, is a forum for hidden treasures such as Pirsig. And this review is intended as a contribution to those who seach for such treasure.
Rating: 
Summary: An obvious Rehash
Review: When I was in junior college, Pirsig's "Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" was required reading for an intro to philosophy class. The professor informed us that Pirisig's ideas were simply a rehash of those of G.E. Moore's, but insisted that we read "Zen" anyway. After reading many of the literary classics, I found Pirsig's style unerringly pedestrian. After reading "Lila", I must say that he is indeed a one book author. Nothing is new here. He begins the novel with the protagonist making continual references to a disco song, and from there the author's use of plot is hastily scribbled so that he may continue to hammer his theme of quality, and what constitutes quality. Again, there is the continual rehashing of what constitutes right and wrong. As an author of ideas, he is never on par with Ayn Rand, Hermann Hesse, or Dostoievski. Pirsig would have done better to write as an essayist, because he shows little or no concern with plot, setting, or character development. I do not take issue with his philosophical ideas, but as an author, he should show some concern for the structure of the novel.
Rating:
Summary: warm explosion
Review: Pirsig's genius with Zenandtheartofmotorcyclemaintenance is his ability to tie down an almost clinical analysis of life from the busy interactions of sub-atomic particles, to the mystical interactions between humans and their environment. He distils the essence of our own collective, and disparate experiences, to a floating essence of truth. This is not a truth which excludes debate, but like each core physical reaction within us, allows for each individual and new perspective to be considered, and have it's place in the sun. It is an outwardly clinical, but ultimately enriching journey, allowing every reader to interact, react, and leave a better person for it.
Nature repeats its structure from the finite to the infinite, and for me, Pirsig's writing reinforces an idea of humanity which can only encourage hope, and promise
Rating:
Summary: A must read if you are always wondering Why?
Review: The great thing about Pirsig's writing is that he takes apart and analyzes many beliefs that we take for granted in our every day lives. Then he resassembles them into a logical mapping that literally provides an explanation for everything, from the behavior of cells, bacteria, animals, trees, humans, societies. Granted, the structure of the 'story' makes it such that it is more of a doctrine on morals and values rather than a page-turning novel. But that is what makes it great. We don't have to put up with unnecessary story fluff if it were a true novel, and we also don't have to deal with dry philosophical incantations with equations and symbols etc. This book will only really be enjoyed by those who liked the first book for its philosphical analysis, because he picks up the discussion and takes it many steps further. For those of us interested in understanding our lives and our behaviors, of why we do what we do, how we got to where we are today, and what it is each of us individually and collectively value, he offers some very amazing and compelling arguments. And he backs each of his theories up with quite rigorous logical explanations. This is one of the main reasons I enjoy his work; he doesn't just throw something esoteric idea out there and wait for someone to prove him wrong; he follows every argument up with logical analysis. Bottom line, if you are into the philosophy of it, you will come out of each chapter of this book with a different outlook on your everyday life. You will see things in a different light, and that is what makes this book great for me. There are very few other books out there that successfully do this.
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