Ride On

Robert M. Pirsig is a fascinating human being. In his bestseller, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values — which follows Pirsig and his son, Chris, on an epic 1968 journey by motorcycle toward a greater understanding of value and quality — the author struggled to reconcile the freewheeling, whimsical creative mind with the logical, dispassionate scientific mind, and he came up with an admirable balance. Pirsig has also had an interesting personal life, enduring unwanted celebrity, suffering from mental illness and losing Chris in a tragic mugging outside the San Francisco Zen Center in 1979.

It’s no surprise, then, that author Mark Richardson joined the ranks of the “Pirsig pilgrims” — readers moved by Pirsig’s masterwork who retrace his route from Minneapolis to San Francisco. Richardson describes his journey following Pirsig’s wheelprints in Zen and Now: On the Trail of Robert Pirsig and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. He revisits characters and scenes from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance while giving the reader an additional glimpse into Pirsig’s troubles, struggles and triumphs.

Richardson reads from and signs Zen and Now tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Highlands Ranch Tattered Cover, 9315 Dorchester Street. Visit www.tatteredcover.com or call 303-470-7050 for information; go to blogs.westword.com/latestword to read an interview with Richardson.

Fri., Sept. 12, 2008