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Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work |  | Author: Matthew B. Crawford
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $11.39
as of 3/13/2010 23:44 MST details
You Save: $14.56 (56%)
New (70) Used (40) from $11.37
Seller: NextstepBK
Rating:  120 reviews
Sales Rank: 2197
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9
ISBN: 1594202230
Dewey Decimal Number: 331
EAN: 9781594202230
ASIN: 1594202230
Publication Date: May 28, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9781594202230 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
A philosopher / mechanic destroys the pretensions of the high- prestige workplace and makes an irresistible case for working with one's hands
Shop Class as Soulcraft brings alive an experience that was once quite common, but now seems to be receding from society-the experience of making and fixing things with our hands. Those of us who sit in an office often feel a lack of connection to the material world, a sense of loss, and find it difficult to say exactly what we do all day. For anyone who felt hustled off to college, then to the cubicle, against their own inclinations and natural bents, Shop Class as Soulcraft seeks to restore the honor of the manual trades as a life worth choosing.
On both economic and psychological grounds, Crawford questions the educational imperative of turning everyone into a "knowledge worker," based on a misguided separation of thinking from doing, the work of the hand from that of the mind. Crawford shows us how such a partition, which began a century ago with the assembly line, degrades work for those on both sides of the divide.
But Crawford offers good news as well: the manual trades are very different from the assembly line, and from dumbed-down white collar work as well. They require careful thinking and are punctuated by 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 of manual work. The work of builders and mechanics is secure; it cannot be outsourced, and it cannot be made obsolete. Such work ties us to the local communities in which we live, and instills the pride that comes from doing work that is genuinely useful. A wholly original debut, Shop Class as Soulcraft offers a passionate call for self-reliance and a moving reflection on how we can live concretely in an ever more abstract world.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 100
 In Defense of Work March 5, 2010
part time sailor
One of the most profound sociological and philosophical discussions of the value of work I have ever read. The idea that everyone in our society needs a college education and must pursue a career as a "knowledge worker" is of course nonsense. Matthew Crawford, in an engaging and readable style, makes the case for working with ones hands, and "taking care of your own stuff."
Really good story and message March 3, 2010
D. Fruits
I really like this story. I think it should be required reading for 8th graders and guidance counselors. Smashes the idea that college is necessary for everyone.
Being connected to our stuff March 2, 2010
L. Stone (Minneapolis)
I loved the book myself. For me, the main theme was about maintaining connections to our stuff, i.e. caring for things and fixing them up ourselves and making them last, in contrast to the consumerist mentality of buy/use/discard/buy again/who cares how it works. The former has a fuller understanding and appreciation of the physical world, and thereby a joy, that the latter does not... the latter being trapped in wash-and-wear attitudes that really affect one's approach to human relationships as much as to physical objects. Having bought the book right as I was "moving out to the land," I guess it basically resonated with something I was already beginning to feel inside.
The only "problem" is, when I gave this book to my dad for Christmas, he complained that "he's using 100-dollar words on a 50-dollar reader." He gave up on the book because he was tired of looking up words in the dictionary. It never occured to me that the author was using overly fancy language, but I see that other reviewers are saying similar things.
A Professional Perspective February 17, 2010
Alan Kendall (Atlanta, GA, United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I connected with this book in several ways. First, while in Junior High (remember when it was called that) in the 60s I was told by my guidance counselor I couldn't take Shop II because I was on a college prep track and Shop 2 was for those kids who would be blue collar workers. The bias of those comments stuck with me all these years. Second, there is an option pursued by myself and many of my close friends. While I was a white collar worker my entire professional career my hobby was restoring and maintaining cars. I needed the satisfaction of that work so took it on as a hobby and developed mechanical proficiency many mechanical skills including engine and gearbox rebuilding. After reading this book I realized many of my close friends have the same approach. A teacher who built his own house. A doctor who hand builds kayaks. A CPA who welds, restores and works on cars. Somehow we all value working with our hands and while we don't do it to pay the bills we all do it to satisfy our souls to great success. Crawford explains why we all feel this way. All of these friends have now read the book and enjoyed it. Crawford nailed it.
Thinking Is Doing - Awesome Idea February 14, 2010
T. Krell (Seattle)
Our culture has tried to separate thinking and doing. That's impossible, really, and Crawford does an excellent job explaining why. Every educator should read this book. It's especially poignant for boys and offers alternatives to the drugs we use to settle them down in school. They aren't learning disabled; they are school disabled.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 100
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