{"id":30488,"date":"2021-03-23T13:10:06","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T17:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=30488"},"modified":"2021-04-01T21:29:19","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T01:29:19","slug":"zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Quality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/a><\/em> quality about? Why is the idea of quality so important?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>, quality is the idea that your life is what you make of it, and can be made better by pursuing your best self. Pirsig talks about cultivating and discovering quality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>, quality, and what it means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Quality in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The hikers have stopped at a water source and are eating lunch. They\u2019re descending the ridge along a different trail, into a different canyon. Although Chris is disappointed that they won\u2019t be summiting the mountain, he offers to carry some of the heavy stuff Pirsig transferred to his pack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back on the trail, the going is relatively rough\u2014the slope is steep, and Pirsig has to hack through the overgrown brush with his machete\u2014but eventually the hikers make it to a road. Some fellow campers give them a ride back into Bozeman; it\u2019s late by the time they arrive, and Pirsig decides to check them into a hotel rather than wake the DeWeeses. They\u2019re asleep almost as soon as they lie down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the morning, Pirsig and Chris return to the DeWeeses\u2019 to say their goodbyes, then they\u2019re back on Pirsig\u2019s cycle, heading West. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chautauqua: Coming Down the Mountain<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pirsig wants to effect a change in emphasis, from the abstract to the practical. His final judgment is mixed on whether Phaedrus advanced human knowledge either of the Tao<\/a> or Quality, but what he did achieve was an expansion of our notion of reason<\/em>. Although he was a dyed-in-the-wool classical thinker, Phaedrus used the tools of rational argument to reach beyond what we typically consider rational or logical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step down from Phaedrus\u2019s abstraction to Pirsig\u2019s practical use is to recognize that if Quality is indeed the Buddha<\/a> (or the Tao)\u2014the entity from which all other entities spring\u2014then it unites three key areas of human experience: Art, Religion, and Science.Quality\u2019s relation to Science is Pirsig\u2019s primary concern, and he begins his discussion with the 19th-century French scientist and philosopher Jules Henri Poincar\u00e9\u2014who, in his scientific researches, reached the same impasse that Phaedrus did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poincar\u00e9 was active during a time of crisis in the physical sciences, one wrought by the appearance of the Theory of Relativity<\/a>, which undermined the laws of physics as they\u2019d been understood for years. The seeds for this crisis, as Poincar\u00e9 showed in his book Foundations of Science<\/em>, were actually sewn decades earlier, when mathematicians were able to propose internally consistent geometries that were incompatible both with Euclidean geometry (the standard) and each other. What this meant was that a canny mathematician could create geometries that were equally as accurate and logically sound as the one taken for granted as \u201ctrue.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The riders coast through a series of towns\u2014Butte, Anaconda, Phillipsburg\u2014and eventually stop at church to take a rest. Pirsig notes how lonely it is on the road without the Sutherlands. He returns to the Chautauqua to occupy his mind. In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>, quality is next up on the list of ideas to examine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chautauqua: Poincar\u00e9\u2019s Truth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poincar\u00e9\u2019s analysis of non-Euclidean geometries yielded this insight: that a given geometry was simply a set of conventions that was either more or less convenient <\/em>for a given task; that is, no particular geometry was true <\/em>but rather advantageous<\/em><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This observation led Poincar\u00e9 to critique further foundational scientific concepts, space and time in particular. He found again that there is no \u201ctrue\u201d measure for space or time, only more or less useful conventions created by human beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The usefulness of a given convention is decided by the \u201cfacts\u201d\u2014observable objects and phenomena. But what Poincar\u00e9 realized is that there are simply too many facts to choose from. For example, if one wants to study human life, where does one start? With the \u201cfact\u201d of human consciousness<\/a>? The \u201cfact\u201d of the nervous system? The \u201cfact\u201d of DNA?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poincar\u00e9 sketched how a typical scientist chooses facts to concentrate on. The most important trait of a fact was its generality<\/em>. If the study of a particular fact would yield knowledge of an array of related facts, then that was a better fact to explore than one that would only yield knowledge of itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how can one know, before one begins experimenting, which facts are general and which are specific? Poincar\u00e9 examined his own mathematical process and found that his breakthroughs came to him suddenly and inexplicably, as if out of thin air. His conclusion was that a \u201csubliminal self\u201d selects the proper facts based on their \u201cbeauty\u201d and \u201charmony\u201d with preexisting facts\u2014in short, that facts are selected by an aesthetic <\/em>sense rather than a strictly scientific <\/em>one<\/strong>.  This is one of the most interesting Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em> quality ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: In his exposition of Poincar\u00e9, Pirsig at times conflates two distinct senses of the word \u201cfact.\u201d Sometimes he uses \u201cfact\u201d to mean \u201cobservable phenomena\u201d; other times, he uses it to denote a \u201ctrue statement\u201d or \u201crule.\u201d) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poincar\u00e9\u2019s ideas, like Phaedrus\u2019s, met with stout resistance. He, like Phaedrus, was accused of touting a radical subjectivism, a theory that turned scientific facts into \u201cjust what you like.\u201d Poincar\u00e9 didn\u2019t refute this possibility. But what he didn\u2019t consider was the existence of a third entity<\/em> that preceded the encounter of the scientist with the fact and that drew the scientist to <\/em>the fact: Quality<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Pirsig discovered the writings of Poincar\u00e9, he became emotional, because it was clear that Phaedrus and Poincar\u00e9 were struggling with the same troubling questions and coming up with similar answers. (Poincar\u00e9\u2019s \u201csubliminal self\u201d corresponded with Phaedrus\u2019s \u201cpreconscious awareness,\u201d and the \u201charmony\u201d of Poincar\u00e9\u2019s system resembled Quality.) Phaedrus, however, went one step further than Poincar\u00e9. He proposed an all-encompassing force that organized scientists\u2019 choices. Scientists weren\u2019t selecting facts willy-nilly; they were being guided by a sense of Quality<\/em>. In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>, quality is transcendental and spiritual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<\/em>, quality is one of the most consistent ideas and one that fascinates the narrator. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance quality about? Why is the idea of quality so important? In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, quality is the idea that your life is what you make of it, and can be made better by pursuing your best self. Pirsig talks about cultivating and discovering quality. Read more about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, quality, and what it means.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":30764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,42,21],"tags":[242],"class_list":["post-30488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-motivation","category-philosophy","tag-zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Quality - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, quality is the idea that when you do something well, you become part of it. Read more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Quality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, quality is the idea that when you do something well, you become part of it. Read more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-23T17:10:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-02T01:29:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/woman-motorcycle-mountains-road-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\"},\"headline\":\"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Quality\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-23T17:10:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-02T01:29:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/\"},\"wordCount\":1077,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/woman-motorcycle-mountains-road-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\",\"Motivation\",\"Philosophy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/\",\"name\":\"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Quality - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/woman-motorcycle-mountains-road-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-23T17:10:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-02T01:29:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, quality is the idea that when you do something well, you become part of it. Read more.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/woman-motorcycle-mountains-road-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/woman-motorcycle-mountains-road-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Quality\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\",\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Carrie Cabral\"},\"description\":\"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Quality - Shortform Books","description":"In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, quality is the idea that when you do something well, you become part of it. Read more.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Quality","og_description":"In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, quality is the idea that when you do something well, you become part of it. Read more.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-03-23T17:10:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-04-02T01:29:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/woman-motorcycle-mountains-road-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carrie Cabral","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carrie Cabral","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/"},"author":{"name":"Carrie Cabral","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56"},"headline":"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Quality","datePublished":"2021-03-23T17:10:06+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-02T01:29:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/"},"wordCount":1077,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/woman-motorcycle-mountains-road-scaled.jpg","keywords":["Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"],"articleSection":["Lifestyle","Motivation","Philosophy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/","name":"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Quality - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/woman-motorcycle-mountains-road-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2021-03-23T17:10:06+00:00","dateModified":"2021-04-02T01:29:19+00:00","description":"In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, quality is the idea that when you do something well, you become part of it. Read more.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/woman-motorcycle-mountains-road-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/woman-motorcycle-mountains-road-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/zen-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-quality\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: Quality"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56","name":"Carrie Cabral","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Carrie Cabral"},"description":"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/woman-motorcycle-mountains-road-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30488"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31071,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30488\/revisions\/31071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}