Category: Culture

Swim Training Patterns books travel around the world

Swimming is much more fun in a community. We share a passion for the sport and I would like to give others the opportunity to enjoy my latest book, Swim Training Patterns. I sent the first two hardcover books I received on their way around the planet. One will travel predominantely westwards and the other eastwards.

Eric accepting the book travelling east.

The books can only travel by being given from person to person. It should not be send by mail or courier. Given that we are all only six degrees apart, it should not take long for the books to return to Christchurch. Both books contain a tracker, so I can roughly know where they are. Right now, both books are still in Christchurch, but I hope that this will change soon.

The location of both books.

If you receive the book, please sign the log and enjoy the book. Once you are done then please simply give it to the next person. This is not a race, so don’t worry if it takes a long time for the book to move forward. If you want to, please send me a photo of the book from where you are.

Breaking Math Interview

I had the pleasure of talking to Autumn at the Breaking Math podcast about Swim Training Patterns. You can also listen to the interview at Spotify and other podcast platforms. I am grateful for her praise: “An awesome book with amazing art and graphs that’s accessible for anybody, whether you are a mathematician, computer scientist or anyone who wants to learn more about swimming.”

Search for non-English editions of Robert Pirsig’s books

We have started a search for all non-English editions of Robert Pirsig’s books. That is:

  • Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
  • Lila: An Inquiry into Morals

The process is as follows:

  1. Check this spreadsheet to see if your non-English edition is already listed
  2. Use this form to add to the spreadsheet

We are interested in all editions. Meaning that a certain publisher might have released multiple editions over the years. Each edition should be added. In 2024, for example, two new English editions were published.

Editions show significant differences in terms of design and content. An edition might, for example, feature a new cover and foreword. In most cases, a new edition also has a new International Standard Book Number (ISBN), but this is not always the case. The original 1974 edition of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, for example, shares its ISBN number with its 25th anniversary edition published in 1999.

Please add as much information as you can. It will help us to find an catalog them.

Zen Again

It has been 50 years since the first edition of Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance was published. I previously published a whole paper on the cover designs. Harper Collins in the US and Penguin Random House in the UK just published new editions. The UK edition is just a re-release with no new material.

The US edition has a new forward by Matthew B. Crawford. The interior also has a completely new layout. The cover itself features a photograph of Pirsig’s original Honda Super Hawk, which has been restored and brought to the Smithsonian (National Museum of American History).

Thanks to a kind donation from Ian Glendinning, I can now share more photos of the Easton Press edition. It is an amazingly beautiful book that includes a certificate of authenticity, a note on the author, and the authors’ signature.