false 6261332 7 <B>In this wise and often funny book, a philosopher/mechanic systematically destroys the pretensions of the high-prestige workplace and makes an irresistible case for working with one’s hands</B><BR><BR><I>Shop Class as Soulcraft</I> brings alive an experience that was once quite ordinary, but now seems to be receding over the cultural horizon—the experience of making and fixing things. Working with your hands, as Mathew B. Crawford describes it, connects us to the world around us. Those of us who sit in an office often have intuitions of something gone amiss, a sense of unreality accompanied by feelings of impotence. What, after all, <I>do</I> we do all day? In this wholly original debut, Crawford offers a brief for self-reliance and a sustained reflection on this problem: how to live concretely in an ever more abstract world. <I>Shop Class as Soulcraft</I> seeks to restore the honor of the manual trades as a life worth choosing for anyone who felt hustled off to college, then to the cubicle, against their own inclinations and natural bents. On both economic and psychological grounds, Crawford questions the educational imperative of turning everyone into a “knowledge worker.” This imperative, he explains, is based on a misguided separation of thinking from doing, the work of the hand from that of the mind. Crawford shows in precise detail how such a partition, which began a century ago with the assembly line, degrades work for those on both sides of the divide.<BR><BR> But he offers good news as well: The manual trades are very different from factory work. They require a lot of thinking and may even give rise to moments of genuine pleasure. Based on his own experience as an electrician and mechanic, Crawford makes a case for the intrinsic satisfactions and cognitive challenges—the soulcraft—of manual work. The work of builders and mechanics cannot be outsourced. They tie us to the local communities in which we live and instill the pride that comes from doing work that is genuinely useful.<BR><BR> Speaking squarely to a culture that continues to grapple for a way to reconcile work and life and to find fulfilling work of all stripes, <I>Shop Class as Soulcraft</I> offers inspired social criticism and deep personal exploration. It will change your understanding of the value of work and the work of bringing value and meaning to your life, whatever you do now or hope to do one day. 6444549 book 28 5 2009 Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work total:283|5:64|4:102|3:91|2:20|1:6| 283 1047 1008 128 5 2 false false Tue Aug 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 09:59:27 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 11:12:59 -0700 2009 I found myself frequently laying the book down and staring out the window, contemplating how wonderful it is to work with one's hands, and more importantly, to learn from another human being, to learn things that cann...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Oct 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 10:32:26 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 10:41:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Oct 08 18:13:39 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 18:42:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 29 01:31:47 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 01:47:42 -0700 2009
--jobs that entail making or fixing things
--learning by doing and via apprenticeship
--procedural knowledge (knowing how)
--social communities that respect how much you know
--work with objective standards (e.g., he's an ele...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Sep 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 20:34:06 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 17:44:21 -0700 2009
"Shop Class as Soulcraft" takes on the notion that manual labor is somehow intellectually inferior to knowledge work, showing that manual labor that allows for ingenuity from the worker is often more intellectua...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Sep 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 03:36:54 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 03:46:06 -0700 2009
...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Aug 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 13:55:45 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 14:38:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Jul 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 09:54:25 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 10:04:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 1 false false Thu Nov 05 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 13:05:23 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 08:07:43 -0800 2009
In general terms, any book which can be summarized as "A treatise on the moral an intellectual virtues of this practice, which I happen to participate" is worthy of some skepticism, but when the subtext might further read "Justifying m...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Sep 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 16:55:52 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 15:22:53 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Aug 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 05:10:23 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 07 07:56:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Aug 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 15:21:24 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 27 15:59:51 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Jul 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 11:42:21 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 06:35:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 11:35:26 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 01 14:48:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 18 13:56:02 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 18 14:13:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat Jun 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 18 06:09:30 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 18 06:15:06 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jul 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 05:54:53 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 06:34:26 -0700 2009
After reading his article in the New York Times magazine, I was excited to get this book. The idea of tangible work in the information age is something I t...more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue May 19 19:57:39 -0700 2009 Tue May 19 19:57:39 -0700 2009 The Slate review: "Crawford rightly asks whether today's cubicle dweller even has a respectable self. Many of us work in jobs with no discernible products or measurable results. We manage brands and implement initiatives, all the while basing our self-esteem on the opinions of others... In Shop...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 05 21:31:18 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 06 13:40:39 -0700 2009
But he is also a philosophy professor and draws from his knowledge some great thoughts pulled from studies and the great thinkers on why phys...more...]]> 2 1 false false Tue Aug 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 15:27:39 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 20:12:18 -0700 2009 more...]]>