[ExI] Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

[Jef Allbright]

On 11/13/07, John K Clark <jonkc at att.net> wrote:

> I retain that flaw to this day, by page 50 I know the book sucks but I
> bought the damn thing so I feel I must finish reading the entire stupid
> thing.

In contrast, I abandon many more books than I complete -- it doesn't
take long to assess the intelligence and insightfulness of the writer
-- and I usually have a dozen or so books of value in my queue.

> The most horrible example is when I thought I should read the Lord of
> the Rings. I started the first book and learned that Clogknee, chief of the
> Bustalator people who come from across the Onrobonob river beyond the
> Dyphlesator mountains on the planes of Diplet in the land of Fustalator near
> the forest of Sphincter which in the elfin tongue is called Whogivesadamn
> wrote: ah, he wrote something but I can't recall exactly what. It was
> painful but I finished book 1. I was smart enough not to start book 2 or 3.

Arrrgh, I suffered similarly through the entire trilogy but it was for
an important cause -- the beautiful (and smart) girl who sat near me
in 11th grade History was fascinated by Tolkien, but not, as it later
turned out, by me.

Actually, reading Tolkien provided some (meta|pseudo)-cultural
enrichment and additional perspective, so it wasn't entirely in vain.

I'm sure there are many Tolkien fans in this forum, but suspect much
more enthusiastic support here for the even more unreal Hitchhiker
trilogy (composed of not three, but four books.)

What might that tell us about Quality?

- Jef