Despite the book's disclaimer - that it will teach you nothing about either Zen or motorcycle maintenance - the bits on repairing motorcycles - whether or not they are intended as a metaphor - do actually contain quite a lot of useful perceptions regarding mechanical work in general (e.g. the coverage of stuckness and the general idea that you are better going off to get a coffee than taking out your frustrations on the machine), and I think that it helped considerably with a number of the minor technical skills I possess. On the other hand, I hold the book's lengthy discursions on quality largely responsible for that unholy plague on our society, Total Quality Assurance, and for that alone I must condemn it.