I find it’s a challenge for me to write a comprehensive review on this book, because there are so many facets to it…biographical, philosophical, and maybe even spiritual to some. Robert Persig has written a book of layers and revelations that takes us on a journey across much of the United States on a motorcycle while at the same time, he takes us on another journey through the slowly disintegrating mind of the past and eventually extinguished aspect of his personality that he calls Phaedrus. 

His motorcycle trip is a journey in pursuit of mending the relationship between himself and his son, Chris.  The journey of Phaedrus is a winding, fascinating, and profound trek in search of the ultimate Truth.   As Persig and Chris make their way across country, the author tells us the story of Phaedrus and his obsessive drive to uncover the Truth. 

Phaedrus is a driven detective, sifting through the teachings of the old philosophers, and what he discovers about them and their impact on society yet today, is incredible to consider.  As Phaedrus unravels the mysteries that he is convinced hide Truth, his mind unravels as well. 

This was a book that at times was too deep and complex for me to grasp.  And, yet, I couldn’t put it down.  I have read it three times, one time again with my husband and me reading it together.  With each reading, I grasped and learned a little more.  There was always some point in the story of Phaedrus and his philosophical discoveries that I had missed in prior readings.

The story of his travel on the motorcycle and his descriptions of what that experience was like, caused my husband and I to get a motorcycle ourselves.  He talks of the freedom of riding a motorcycle and how being on one versus being enclosed in a car causes one to be “in” the experience of a trip rather than simply viewing it.

It is a book about complexities in life and he presents them to us with involving writing.

This is another of my favorite books of all time.  It has been reprinted many times due to its popularity.  If I had to rate it from 1-10, it’s a 10.  If you haven’t read it, you should do so.  Read. Ponder.  Enjoy.