Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Dramatised)

3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars | 63 ratings

Price: 17.79

Last update: 04-06-2025


About this item

An odyssey into life’s challenging questions during an unforgettable summer motorcycle trip

Acclaimed as one of the most exciting books in the history of American letters, Robert M. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance became an instant bestseller upon its publication in 1974. A powerful examination of how we live, as well as a breath-taking meditation on how to live better, it tells the epic story of a father and son’s motorcycle trip across America’s Northwest in the 1960s.

Pirsig’s modern classic transformed a generation and continues to inspire millions of readers today. Dramatised for radio for the first time by Peter Flannery (Our Friends in the North, George Gently, The Devil’s Whore), this fantastic full-cast production stars James Purefoy (Rome, Injustice, Ironclad) and adds a new and original dimension to an iconic work. Following a father and his young son on their cross-country summer adventure from Minnesota to California, it is a story of love, fear, growth, discovery and acceptance. Both personal and philosophical, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is also a compelling study of relationships, values, enlightenment and meaning.

The maintenance of the motorcycle throughout the journey illustrates how to unify the cold, rational realm of technology with the warm, imaginative realm of artistry. Resonating with the confusions and the wonders of existence, the narrator wrestles with some of the most important philosophical questions of the 20th century. His need to also reconcile his past and present selves drives him and his son forward, to a point where all is either lost or won on the Chautauqua spiritual journey.

This audio edition includes a bonus 10 minutes of material that was not broadcast on the radio.

NB: the recording contains strong language.

Production credits
Author: Robert M. Pirsig
Dramatist: Peter Flannery
Original music: Jon Nicholls
Sound Design: Eloise Whitmore
Producer: Melanie Harris

A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4.


Top reviews from the United States

  • M. Woodco
    5.0 out of 5 stars A+ book, stay away from the single CD "audio book"!
    Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2016
    The book requires two reads. after the first read you can go back and with the knowledge gained from the back half of the book more completely soak in all of the knowledge from the first half. It's amazing how on a second read, all of the details stand out as having a significance well beyond their letters and words.

    BUT! Be warned: The CD currently listed here is NOT an audio book. It has a run time of just over an hour! It was just some episode on a talk radio show about the book. Steer clear from the single CD "Audio Book" currently listed as one of the options on the product page. The book is the real deal.
  • Jack O' Trades
    3.0 out of 5 stars I was thinking... is there another book with this title?
    Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2018
    So, crossing midlife, I've become more introspective and interested in philosophy. Being a Karateka, interested in pursuing Zen, and someone with mechanical aptitude, I decided that I should finally check out this renowned book for its application of transcendent philosophy to something mundane like maintenance of a machine. Also being someone who has more time to walk or drive and listen than to sit and read, I purchased the CD copy of this book. I did *not* realize that I'd be getting a dramatization or that there would be almost no Zen or Motorcycle Maintenance in this audio recording.

    As others have said in their reviews - this is very short. I think I completed it in only a couple.. maybe three... hours. I was left with a feeling of WTF? Why do people go on and on about this book? I should go back to Alan Watts and the I-Ching. I did a quick check with Wikipedia to make sure that this was actually the right plot for the much-lauded book. I was disappointed to learn that I did indeed have the right book with he right plot. So did all the people and authors, and movies, and TV shows that mention this book get it wrong? Well, not entirely.

    After reading many reviews I've now realized that this is greatly diminished version of the book. I have to assume that all of the Zen and Motorcycle Maintenance that I expected to find was cut from the audio version to fit a schedule.

    I *still* haven't had time to read the paper book, but now I know that this wasn't the version to start with.
  • Cathy A.
    4.0 out of 5 stars Worth the read, it makes you think.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2016
    It was an interesting perspective on life and how one lives. It took a bit of getting used to the multi voice and sound effects when you are used to one reader, just reading the book. It kind of reminded me of a radio program of yesteryear. Worth the read, it makes you think.
  • Steve Benner
    5.0 out of 5 stars On quality, madness and motorcycles
    Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2012
    Had I been asked whether or not I thought that Robert M. Pirsig's seminal, and partially auto-biographical, 70s novel "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" was suitable material for adaptation into a radio play, I would have had to express some very serious misgivings indeed. The book is so long and detailed, and operates on so many different levels, that I would have expected the simplifications necessary to render it into acceptable radio drama to have stripped it of much of its point. It was with some trepidation, therefore, that I came to this double CD recording of the BBC's full cast dramatisation of the book, broadcast on Radio 4 earlier this year. It took no more than 5 minutes' worth of Peter Flannery's masterful adaptation to win me over completely, however.

    James Purefoy does a more than credible job of carrying the bulk of the story, as narrator and motorcycling father of troubled teenager, Chris -- played by Max Cazier -- as they travel together on a road trip across America in the late 1960s. The book is also a treatise on the incompatibilities of Western and Eastern philosophical systems, as well as a meditation on values and the concept of "quality", and an exploration of mental illness and its impact on family relationships. To pack all of the book's themes and messages into just over an hour and a half of radio drama is an altogether impossible task although Peter Flannery has done an excellent job of making you believe that he has managed it, honing the text down to its most essential parts without, in the process, sacrificing very many of its threads. Original music by Jon Nicholls, and sensitive and atmospheric sound design by Eloise Witmore, also add greatly to the effectiveness of the adaptation and provide the finishing touches that truly bring this iconic story to life. All in all, this excellent production shows Pirsig's tale to be every bit as relevant today as it was when it was first penned almost 40 years ago.

    Containing an extra 10 minutes of material that had to be pruned from the radio transmission, this recording is highly recommended; especially for those who may feel over-faced tackling the book.
  • R. Morton
    3.0 out of 5 stars Heavily abridged & short
    Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2013
    I got part way through this CD and I started thinking of all the stuff, good and bad, that I wanted to say on amazon about this novel on CD. Then I realized that this was a heavily abridged if attractive multi-voice production, and my review wouldn't make much sense. I'll save my extended review for an unabridged CD version, if such exists. As it is, this is one really pricey selection for maybe 2 to 3 hours of listening.
    Heavy spoiler alert going forward. So what to say here? I don't know how much this CD is going to make sense to somebody who hasn't read the book. It's a nice reminder to those of us who read the actual, considerably lengthier novel 30+ years ago. Part mystery novel about the author - what did he do to get his brain zapped so long ago - how did he recover from that - what happened to his family in the meantime? Part story of father/son issues. Part philosophical discussion (the part I like least). On the one hand I'd like to say that this man's past sacrificed for his message to the rest of us. But a larger part of me says this guy is bonkers regardless of the message. Maybe both are right. I find a lot of the philosophical stuff mumbo jumbo. I find a lot else objectionable in the actual book, but it is memorable and thought-provoking just the same. I had no trouble remembering specific incidents from this book which I read 1978-ish in confirming how abridged this CD was, which says something about something. So at the minimum it's memorable.

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