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Book

Shop Class as Soulcraft

by Matthew B. Crawfod

See its constellation

Published
2009
Genre
Nonfiction
Pages
241
URL
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6261332-shop-class-as-soulcraft?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_23

Reading measures

Suggested reading age
ages 17–18
Ambleside year
Year 12 onwards · ages 17–20

An Ambleside year is a year of the Ambleside Online programme, not a reader's age. Year 0 is its first year, and a book used over several years shows the span. The ages beside it are that band offered two grades up and none down, which is how we offer a band; they are a placement, not a reading measure.

Called "the sleeper hit of the publishing season" (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.

Tags

EducationSchoolScience-Philosophy