Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work [Paperback]

A philosopher/mechanic's wise (and sometimes funny) look at the challenges and pleasures of working with one's hands 

Called the sleeper hit of the publishing season by The Boston Globe, Shop Class as Soulcraft became an instant bestseller, attracting readers with its radical (and timely) reappraisal of the merits of skilled manual labor. On both economic and psychological grounds, author Matthew B. Crawford questions the educational imperative of turning everyone into a knowledge worker, based on a misguided separation of thinking from doing. Using his own experience as an electrician and mechanic, Crawford presents a wonderfully articulated call for self-reliance and a moving reflection on how we can live concretely in an ever more abstract world. It's appropriate that [Shop Class as Soulcraft] arrives in May, the month when college seniors commence real life. Skip Dr. Seuss, or a tie from Vineyard Vines, and give them a copy for graduation.... It's not an insult to say thatShop Classis the best self-help book that I've ever read. Almost all works in the genre skip the self part and jump straight to the help. Crawford rightly asks whether today's cubicle dweller even has a respectable self....It's kind of like Heidegger and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
-Slate

Matt Crawford's remarkable book on the morality and metaphysics of the repairman looks into the reality of practical activity. It is a superb combination of testimony and reflection, and you can't put it down.
-Harvey Mansfield, Professor of Government, Harvard University

Every once in a great while, a book will come along that's brilliant and true and perfect for its time. Matthew B. Crawford'sShop Class as Soulcraftis that kind of book, a prophetic and searching examination of what we've lost by ceasing to work with our hands-and how we can get it back. During this time of cultural anxiety and l£ª