It's a short excerpt from <i>Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance</i>.<p>I clicked the link thinking it wasn't that. Because I know and love that book. For those that haven't read the sequel <i>Lila</i>, I highly recommend it also. It goes into <i>what Quality actually is</i> in enormous detail, how it works, the different types and levels. While <i>ZAMM</i> is typically concerned with relatively simple systems (like a motorbike) and how humans interact with them, <i>Lila</i> is more the biological, social, societal systems humans are a part of, anthropology/anthropologists trying to study them, and how those systems work, how each has its own Quality.. (long story!)<p>A few years ago I read Thoreau's <i>A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers</i> (1849) and was immediately struck by, well, the form is <i>exactly</i> the same as Pirsig's books - nature/observation writing interspersed with slabs of philosophical/theoretical. <i>Lila</i> is even mostly set on a boat going down a river also. Thoreau probably does both styles better, but Pirsig has a focused theme - 'has something to say'. So if you like Pirsig, you'll love Thoreau's travel books.