I struggled with that book. It took me too attempts before I finished it.
I enjoyed the travel log sections, but his musings on quality were largely lost on me.
I've refurbished a number of 'barn bikes' in the past. Even after being completely rebuilt, they always needed something.
After a long while I relented and bought a new Yamaha FZ6. It never needed anything other than scheduled maintenance.
Just being able to put the key in and go, worry free, was so much more rewarding to me than tinkering with an unreliable old crock.
It could be that my engineering background tainted my outlook. 🙂