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

Written by Matthew B. Crawford

Narrated by Max Bloomquist

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 those 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: May 28, 2009
• ISBN: 9781441800305

Matthew B. Crawford

Matthew B. Crawford is the author of Shop Class as Soulcraft and The World Beyond Your Head. He is a senior fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. He earned a PhD in Political Philosophy from the University of Chicago, specializing in ancient political thought; he majored in physics as an undergraduate at UC Santa Barbara. Crawford has been working on cars since the age of fifteen and currently drives a 1970 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. 

Reviews for Shop Class as Soulcraft

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Worth a read. Crawford was at one stage a square peg in a round hole, trying to use his degree in an office he found himself wanting more and the more was to work as a motorcycle mechanic, this is the job that sings to him, that makes him content. He philosophises about this, and comes to the conclusion that his education ill-prepared him for being content nor did it draw something out of him (which is the root of educate, to draw out) and that there is intellectual satisfaction to be found in working with your hands, in trying to get to the root of a problematic engine, an intellectual satisfaction that is misunderstood by many people.It is a case of people having to come to terms with the fact that what is now regarded as intellectual work has become diminished and offers as little as is seen in work with hands. I think the big thing that this book brought out for me is that you have to find ways of enjoyment in life and balance.It's an interesting read.

[gbsallery · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is not a successor to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, but draws heavily upon it and updates some of the themes. At times, it feels a little too much a plea for craft-focused elitism, but the book does articulate some useful ideas about the relationship between work and intrinsic value. Also, the anecdote about spinning a bearing whilst drying it with compressed air makes me doubt the degree of "machine empathy" actually present in the author (in that it was clearly a daft thing to do, but was presented as a mystical exercise).

[shawse_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The book was interesting and thought provoking. I enjoyed all the stories & vignettes and felt there could have been more.

[jazmsngr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There is a lot in this book I agreed with and quiet a bit I did not. I think Crawford is spot on when he writes about 'empowerment' and the ridiculousness that term has come to represent. As cynical as it sounded, I do believe there is truth in the notion that employers are draining any sort of human involvement with 'work' out of virtually every job. However, I didn't necessarily agree with his views on craftsman seeking employment prior to Ford's assembly line. I think the 'craftsman' of that age were simply under educated and the world around them much less complicated. Overall I enjoyed the book-- even though it left me to despair over my current employment situation. A lot of what Crawford wrote as problematic for organizations is precisely what is happening within my current employment. The point that has me despairing is I work in higher education.

[dmturner · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Bits of the book are quite good, especially when the author sticks to particulars of his own experience, to the history of management in America, and to summaries of the theses of certain philosophers. But he generalizes too much about other lines of work, valorizes aspect of motorcycle repair culture that strike me as not integral to the value of the work itself, and makes side comments that make him seem like a bit of a jerk. I saw some of the conclusions of Crawford's book cited in a much better book whose title escapes me now.

I liked his later book The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction much better.

[evenlake_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Many of the points he makes are good, but I’m not sure they weren’t already delivered better by someone else. There is also a tone of smug self-satisfaction that pervades the book, especially when talking about his own career path.

[pdcread · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Crawford is very highly qualified. Having got a PhD, he started a career in the creative industry writing abstracts of articles in academic journals, before moving onto other things. It was fairly wall paid, but ultimately he was getting no satisfaction from the position.

In this book he considers the commoditisation of the white collar jobs, where what used to be an interesting career choice has now been reduced to box ticking exercises, and looks at how choosing a job manual labour can bring greater psychological and intellectual satisfactions in your work. He argues that to physically make, or create or repair an item can offer challenges that the office creative no longer gets, and that in America this career choice can pay as well too. These philosophies that he develops are based around his alternative chosen careers, electrician and motorcycle repairer, and he goes to some length to flesh these out using examples.

Using his intellectual skills to bring the thoughts of Aristotle, Heidegger and Karl Marx into the debate, he offers sound arguments for changing you attitudes to work. With the rise of service economies in the UK, coupled with greater dissatisfaction with jobs and the rise of the number of graduates, this is a well thought through book on targeting your energies to bring personal job satisfaction.

[skybalon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As someone who has been a "knowledge worker" for all of his post-college life, this book resonated. It is a short worthwhile read that may not resonate on every page, but will at some point.

I've realized that working on something tangible (even if it is a hobby, like building/racing an RC car) is a missing piece of my life.

[ferthalangur · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I never got very far into it. It was a gift ... could potentially have been interesting based on the title, but it did not hold my interest.

[wordsampersand · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Liked it quite a bit, with a but. I agree with Crawford (for the most part) and liked his approach to the topic, but sometimes his language became frustratingly opaque. I'd read a sentence, re-read, re-read again and...what? I'll have to revisit this and adjust my expectations accordingly.

[jonathancrites · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A little bogged down in a few sections but overall an excellent, thought provoking piece on the nature of work. Crawford makes a case for work, specifically work that is not centralized and cutoff from its moral value. Good stuff, especially for where I am currently in my own career.

[benjaminhahn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have been meaning to read this short treatise on work for a while, so I was glad I found a used copy in Homer a month or so ago. In short, this is what I wish Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was more like. If you have read that book, you might agree with me that it takes a while for the point to be made. Crawford instead dives right in and gets to some of the meaty stuff right away. This is not a book about shop per say, but more about the quality of one's livlihood. He bemoans the loss of shop class programs because it takes away an avenue into a type of relationship with one's environment that is more engaging and rewarding. We are in a throw away culture. We do not bother to fix things anymore when they break. More so, we do not even have the desire to fix them or want to know how to fix our stuff. As a society we are more about consuming, which is inherently a path to emptiness. Crawford argues that by facing an obstacle, like a broken toaster, and being forced to tinker with it and hopefully fix it, one engages a critical thinking skill set that is becoming less and less common in our world today. Our default is get a new one. Things aren't built to last anymore, much less be worked on by the layman. Wastefulness ensues, corporate profits increase, dependency on an impersonal system is strengthened. He goes after colleges and universities a bit for being part of the problem, which I agree with to a point. I should know I work at one and sometimes the insides of academia leave a lot to be desired. But he is mainly upset with the false promise of the "degree = meaningful work" maxim which is strongly echoed throughout high schools today. The vocational paths are not available, much less celebrated, nor respected. My favorite part in the book is in a section entitled Learned Irresponsibility where Crawford is critiquing the role of managers in administrative careers. He writes:managers do no experience authority in an impersonal way. Rather, authority is embodied in the persons with whom one has working relationships, in part because the criteria of evaluation are ambiguous. As a result, managers have to spend a good part of the day managing what other people think of them. A good part of the job, then, consists of a constant interpretation and reinterpretation of events that constructs a reality in which i is difficult to pin blame on anyone, especially oneself. This gives rise to the art of talking in circles. This rings quite true for me and is one of the most frustrating things about my line of work. I think its something that most people know but it was refreshing to find it so clearly worded. There is a kernel of hard truth in there that I think is the seed for all those Dilbert cartoons and the fervor that self-employed libertarians express sometimes when ranting about corporate America. Anyway, as a father, the take away for me, was get your kids working on projects where they have to physically interact with tools and build something. Encourage college, but also encourage the trade skills. I like Crawford's idea of learning a trade skill in the summers, even in high school. After all, it's hard to outsource plumbing work. They aren't going to send your kitchen to China to get repaired.

[castiron_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The author had interesting points about how the skilled labor trades can offer more satisfaction than grunt white-collar jobs, what kinds of work are becoming more common in the United States, and similar topics. His comment towards the end of the book about how Americans were careful to avoid concentrations of political power but failed to do the same with concentrations of economic power -- that's a great way to summarize one of the problems with our current economy.However, I wonder how well Crawford's general argument about the value of hands-on reality-based work as the basis of careers that both pay a living wage and provide satisfaction would hold up if he had extended it to cover work that's more traditionally done by women. Home and family management; the care and teaching of children -- these jobs have the same reality-based qualities that motorcycle repair or electrical work have, and many women and some men find these jobs satisfying, so much so that they're willing to forgo paid work to do them if at all possible, but this work rarely provides an independent living wage. Traditionally female crafts such as sewing, knitting, or spinning can provide great satisfaction, but when machines or workers in poor countries can do the work well enough for cheap, it's difficult to pay the mortgage from one's piecework. In fifteen or twenty years, I'd be very curious to read Crawford's further thoughts on this as his daughters become working-aged adults.

[heradas · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was at times a bit idealistic, but the points that Crawford makes are more often than not valid and worthy of contemplation. He does seem prone to sweeping statements rather than simple conclusions, but aren't we all?

The main hypothesis is that thinking and doing are inseparable from each other. And our modern life is obsessed with attempting to separate them. This causes an unnecessary psychic distancing between ourselves and our work value, which in turn affects our fulfillment.

I greatly enjoyed his personal account of working as an electrician and mechanic. The notes in the back, marked throughout the book, were both useful references and contained great anecdotal stories that enhanced the overall book. I would recommend reading them in-line with the main text.

[atimco-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work is one of the most thought-provoking books I’ve ever read. Author, thinker, and motorcycle mechanic Matthew B. Crawford tackles the sweeping subject of work in America and how it has changed dramatically over the past century, covering such broad topics as technology, vocational education, car and motorcycle repair, business management, the degradation of blue-collar work, and many other ideas and institutions we take for granted. Crawford challenges the easy assumptions of what he calls our “throwaway culture” to make a compelling case for the cognitive rigor, objective standards, and personal dignity inherent to skilled manual labor.I was hooked from the start when he began talking about the pervasive ways technology has helped us not to help ourselves. He calls it “the hood beneath the hood,” when you open up your car to fix something yourself and are confronted with a more aesthetically pleasing view that precludes the possibility of your getting at the actual problem itself. Or when you’re confronted with a water faucet that you can’t turn on manually but must activate by inanely waving your hands before it to coax a short stream of water out. I’ve experienced this frustration myself with our DVD player that, presumably to make things “easier,” has no buttons on it but is instead controlled solely by the remote (which often doesn’t work).The rather sobering point is that as technology becomes more complex to increase our convenience, it also increases our dependence as we become passive users rather than active problem-solvers.Crawford explains the evolution of vocational education and why it took on the stigma it still carries, even today when its cognitive and practical value has been demonstrated. He compares today’s knowledge worker and office environment to the fast-disappearing skilled craftsman, to the detriment of the former. Knowledge work is subject to offshoring to an extent unprecedented among the trades which require a person to be on site, pounding a nail or fixing a drain. Also under critical examination are the nebulous rules and qualifications which the office worker (and management) must navigate and often make up as they go along, as opposed to the carpenter who faces merely “the accusation of his level” (that is, an objective and unchanging standard).Crawford is uniquely qualified to write a book like this, having lived on both sides of the knowledge worker/skilled craftsman divide. After college he worked for several months at a think tank, coming up with what he calls “the best arguments money could buy.” The work was extremely well paid but lacked the tactile satisfaction inherent to physical labor. He soon quit to start a motorcycle repair shop where he wrestles with the innards of recalcitrant bikes (and loves it).Not only is it thought-provoking, but this book is also skillfully written. Crawford has a keen sense of phrasing and doesn’t waste a word. I found Shop Class as Soulcraft to be well worth the read, fascinating as well as slightly disturbing where our culture’s shortcomings and weaknesses are exposed. Still, there is hope for the next generation of workers. The skilled trades aren’t going away; people will always need houses built and healthcare provided and services skillfully performed. And today we are seeing a national shift toward career preparation that is broader than the traditional college-to-career path. The key is to find what you’re passionate about, what you’re good at, what challenges and stretches and becomes part of you somehow — and do it, regardless of what the larger culture thinks.As a defense of hands-on, skilled labor, this book is convincing. As a confrontation of the fallacious and empty ideals we’ve inherited about knowledge work versus blue-collar jobs, it’s more important than ever. Recommended!

[klburnside · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I heard an interview with this author on the Diane Rehm show sometime last fall or summer and was so impressed that I immediately put the book on hold at the library. I anxiously anticipated its arrival for so many months. It turned out to be one of the most disappointing books I have read in quite a while.

I love the premise of the book. Our society puts too much emphasis on academia and book learning which often leads individuals to soul-sucking careers in cubicles. We fail to appreciate the intelligence it takes to work with one’s hands and the personal rewards associated with such a profession. We’ve forgotten how to do things with our hands and thus are becoming more and more detached from our world and everything in it.

The author of this book has a Ph.D. in political philosophy and currently runs a motorcycle repair shop. The tone of this book made the author seem to be an out-of-touch philosopher, even when he was talking about the hands on work of motorcycle repair. This led to a lack of congruency which seemed to defeat his point. By the end of the book, it seemed like the author was trying to make a case for his lifestyle, rather than addressing the big picture.

I already agreed with much of the author was saying in this book. His arguments were too philosophical and not that convincing.

[wjmcomposer · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This book irritated me to no end. Where one word would suffice, Two were used, and at least one would be a word chosen to impress the reader that this was no ordinary grease monkey, but some kind of warrior-poet....Or, a pretentious twit.

In general the book attempts to make both a philosophical and economic case for the applied arts, mainly being some kind of mechanic. I begin the book already firmly on the author's side, but by midway though, I'm through. This smacks to me of a feeling of cultural and educational inferiority, not that he IS, but that he feels as though he is, and thus must dress up his point (which he must also make over..and over...and over) with bonus vocab words which really just make it sound silly, instead of noble. Really, although I completely agree with the point he tries to make, the entire thing is so pompous I couldn't manage to read another word of it. In the spirit of the book, I close with a non-haiku:

the arrow, never tried harder.
the target, never missed more.
the failure, never more earnest.

[nmele_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A short but profound reflection on the nature and meaning of work, integration of vocation and joy, and other rarely considered but critical things like ethics and morals. Along the way, Crawford offers a very insightful comment on the state of our financial system.

[auntieknickers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Philosopher and motorcycle mechanic Crawford wants more people to learn a trade -- electrician, plumber, mechanic, carpenter -- and fewer people to go to college just to work in a cubicle for 40 years. He makes a pretty convincing case for it both pragmatically and metaphysically. I wouldn't mind discussing this book with other people who read it, but I won't try to summarize; it might be a book I'll have to read again. On the other hand, it's too late for me anyway and my aptitudes do not lie in the direction of anything mechanical. In that sense this book was a little depressing. I'd definitely recommend it to just about anyone, though.

[ddrysdale-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Crawford, who left academia and a think tank to open his own motorcycle repair shop meditates on alienated labour in the age of the knowledge worker. It starts stronger than it finishes, at its best when it is considering the evolution of the blue collar / white collar divide and the construction of manual labour as being anti-intellectual when it is often anything but. It lags a bit toward the end but is well worth the read, especially for anyone who finds themselves working but not really producing anything tangible. Crawford makes a strong case for the importance of learning "shop"-type skills, even occasionally gesturing toward their worth as a subversive act. An interesting read.

[librarianbryan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The premise is pretty much summed up in the title. Escape Dilbert-land. Learn a craft. Make a living from your craft. I get it. Pirsig-lite.

[fiadhiglas · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The author has many interesting and thought-provoking ideas, but a lot of them are misguided, at best. Also, the book reads like his real point is, "I'm smarter and better-educated than you!" For that reason alone, I won't be recommending it to my husband, who I originally thought might like it.Also, the author holds many misogynistic attitudes that he doesn't even seem to notice he is displaying -- 95/100 pronouns are male, as if women don't work; he calls corporate culture a "nanny state" and his contempt for diversity and emotional intelligence, among other things, is crystal clear; his assertion that "telling dirty jokes" at work is a *benefit* of jobs in the trades that office workers, those poor saps, don't get to enjoy.He is apparently married with small daughters. I hope he eventually learns that women are fully human, just like men are -- before his daughters read this book.

[chrisod_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to love this book, but I just couldn't. I agree with the author thesis, but unfortunately the book reads too much like a master's thesis. It just wasn't fun to read, even though I mostly agree with everything he was saying.

[sullijo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Crawford offers an insightful critique of our modern notions of "knowledge" and a profound treatise on how the "useful arts" -- work that requires real skill and practice to master -- combines the best of both manual and intellectual engagement. This book has made me want to learn some manual skills, starting with some basic woodworking.

[bkinetic_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoy books like this that explore topics that are not a part of conventional mainstream discussion. The author makes very good points that are not being made elsewhere. Unfortunately it reads like a master's thesis. It needs to be rewritten to get the message across more effectively and without the heavy academic style.

[motjebben · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Okay. One is not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I'll admit that the cover (with the motorcycle in front of the shop) is the first thing that attracted my attention.I'm certain that I'm primed by years of enjoying woodworking, metalworking, old engines and other hobbies, and even having had a motorcycle for a short period when younger, to being attracted to such images. I see a shop in the picture and think of building things and tinkering with gadgets (like, perhaps, the motorcycle).Though I'm certain that such priming can "go the other way", the imagery evoked in me is pleasant, perhaps, not only because I, too, sense the intrinsic worth and satisfaction of a "job" well done, but because I have also not had to suffer the potential realities of working in what Crawford explains is presently a devalued vocation.Therein lies the rub for me: I grew up thinking that I would be able to apply my engineering education in highly creative and "intellectual" ways (and often have been able to and have become accustomed to the pay!), but have become increasingly disillusioned by the efficiencies espoused by modern corporate and economic culture and increasing distancing from "touching the actual gadget" being engineered!.That is why, once I was captured by the cover, I was intrigued by the title of the book, and found myself purchasing it to discover more. And I am glad I did! It is stimulating to read Crawford's musings about the advantages of "craft work" and "working with one's hands", though he readily points out that more money can be made elsewhere. I wonder, if, as Crawford even briefly discusses was the case at one time for many, the answer for me is that I can attempt to enjoy my increasingly productivity-oriented and "remote" engineering work, and still make time for the more creatively indulging hobbies.Perhaps for others that are not already accustomed to a particular vocation and pay, or even more ideally, the pendulum swings back to valuing crafts in both an intrinsic and monetary way, an even more satisfying way can be had.The "Shop Class as Soulcraft" provokes such thoughts and imaginations - I recommend it!

[linedog1848 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There might not have been an entire book's worth of material in this subject, but it was well written and engaging. My gripes with the work are minimal, but worth mentioning: First, the unfortunate phrasing by the author from time-to-time suggesting his own internalization of the elitist judgment of labor on which the work ostensibly seeks to disprove. Second, that as a topic book of social forces, Crawford's best arguments derive from first principles--appealing to forces every reader has felt and therefore accepts on some level as intuitively true. The arguments are (I think) weakened when he transitions to evidence from social sciences and other such non-practical work that is generally passed as less valuable. There's not enough of it to present an empirical case, so what there is of empiricism gives the appearance of cherry-picking. Third, for me the narrative was not enhanced by his re-hashing of the spiritual aspects of mechanical maintenance from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Persig. These points were good from Crawford, and just as true, but are more poignant in their original context than as used here to give a narrative cohesion to this topic. Finally, Crawford seems very much on his game regarding social forces, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt that either A: His literary agent, B: his editor, or C: the publishing house are responsible for the framing context of the title and the cover art which seem shamelessly to seek to ride the coattails as the ideological progeny of Zen and the Art. . . though possibly better suited to a long article than a book, the intellectual impact of Crawford's thesis needed no assistance by aligning itself with another idea with established mass market appeal. That the content of this book is wrapped in emotion-evoking imagery and framed with covert association to works with which it has no natural connection seems ridiculously ironic. It kind of reminded me of the feeling I had walking into Costco one morning and seeing the part of the Pixar movie "Wall-E" that condemns Western Consumerism playing in sync on a hundred jumbo plasma-screen TVs.With all that said, I found the read very enjoyable, enriching, and it gave me a new perspective to examine my life, my behavior, and my world--and that is the sign of excellent writing.

[bikesandbooks_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The most intriguing and interesting chapter, chapter six, is entitled "The Contradictions of the Cubicle". For those who enjoy "The Office," this book is a more sober overview of the value of work with considerations to the value and goals of a college education as considered in light of what is necessary to succeed in professional life, i.e. occupations which require advanced degrees. The book, not surprisingly is fond of jobs that require working with you hands, or perhaps more so jobs which must be done locally. This is a 3.5 star book. The writings style is thoughtful and carefully footnoted if not also a bit dry, occasionally impenetrable and meticulously considered.end/some quotes I found interesting:p. 7 -- We often hear of the need for an "upskilling" of the workforce, to keep up with technological change. I find the more pertinent issue to be: What sort of personality does one need to have, as a twenty-first-century mechanic, to put up with the layers of electronic bullshit that get piled on top of machines. This quote is a musing upon the existence of a Mercedes sold without a dipstick making the driver completely dependent on "idiot lights" and the services of mechanics. For anyone who has ever change oil this insight is self-evident and unassailable.p. 197 -- My point, finally, isn't to recommend motorcycling in particular, nor to recommend the life of the mechanic. It is rather to suggest that if we follow the traces of our own actions to their source, they intimate some understanding of the good life. p. 209 -- It remains for others, better versed in public policy and shrewder about its intended consequences, to suggest ways in which the space for entrepreneurship can be protected. I would like to recommend a progressive-republican approach to the problem, which would be at once prickly and aspiring. Let us say that republicanism is a tribunal spirit that looks with active hostility on whatever erodes the stature of man. Progressivism entertains visions of a better world. A progressive-republican disposition would take its bearings from our shared potential to realize what is best in the human condition, and regard the conditions for its realization as a common weal that is not to be vandalized with impunity.

[debnance_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I had huge expectations for this book. After all, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is my all-time favorite read. Shop Class was a huge disappointment, probably due to my huge expectations. It reads with a mix of the stilted verbosity of academia and the incomprehensible (to me) vocabulary of mechanics. I kept reading, hoping to see why others liked it, but it did not happen for me. Love to know what others liked about this book. It is the rare read that I trudged through, flipping ahead on almost every page, hoping to reach the end.

[blacksheepdances · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was just released in May and it's fascinating. It espouses the return to good ol' manual labor! The author's conjecture: he likes to work on motorcycles and feels good when he does. But he takes that further and shows new studies regarding work that are surprising, especially considering what mainstream beliefs have been regarding blue collar work. He finds in his own work, as well as informal study and in tremendous research that hands-on workers, such as plumbers, painters, mechanics, and builders report more job satisfaction than a white collar, 'stuck in front of a computer monitor' executive. And, even more interesting is that in most cases, these workers end up making more money too, and their jobs are less fragile in a bad economic downturn. Common sense really, as we will get our toilets fixed and our cars running even if we are broke!The author has nothing against higher education, but he points out that most guidance counselors push students into colleges with loftier hopes than are generally realized; and in fact often sneer at students that take more humble ROP or trade classes. And he backs it all up with data that supports his belief.He then dips even further into the mind set of a manual worker: the joy from hard work, and the ability to see a project progress right in front of them, start to finish. To start a project and finish it within a few days and realize his goals on a tactile, personal level. The ability to make decisions that directly impact his work space and work goals by being more in charge of his time and resources. He also shows that the typical "ideal" employee graph would show a worker starting at an entry level position (hands on) and then working into management and further up, yet the rate of job satisfaction decreases the higher up they rise! So the "ideal" promoted by schools and colleges needs to change.He's not suggesting that an employee have no ambition or drive, but rather to excel in what they do and take pride in it, and not be pressed to promote himself at the expense of his craft. Even specialization, often looked upon as a negative, actually makes their work more valuable. He suggests that mechanics or other tradespeople develop within their skills even more specialized skills and focus on excellence rather than self promotion.All in all, a fabulous read. Sort of along the lines of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, but it actually discusses more about motorcycle maintenance and about the world of a mechanics shop (camaraderie, dirty jokes and all!).