I bought a book, Shop Class as Soulcraft, by Matthew Crawford, a while ago, a few months after it came out. At the time, I was teaching in G.E.D. and job-skills training program for at-risk youth in rural Alabama. At work, I was designing and building small pieces of architecture; at home, I was designing and building small pieces of furniture. I got about halfway through the book, letting it lull me to sleep right before bed each night. Worn out from the day's labors, digging fencepost holes and slinging around railroad ties and absorbing the resentment of angry teens, Crawford's words failed to penetrate too deeply. I eventually gave up on the book, finding it too abstract and philosophical to handle at that hour of the day.
I picked it up again recently, determined to wade through his arguments. It proved to be much easier this time, partly because I now deal with the metaphysical aspects of craft a little more directly in my daily work.
The book began life as an essay, published in 2006. Expanded into a book, and pushed into a wider, less academic realm, Crawford's carefully researched, highly personal story became a minor phenomenon. He landed everywhere from the New York Times to the Colbert Report, frequently accompanied by the photo of him from the book jacket wherein he leans casually against a doorframe, left hand tugging the dormant brake on a motorcycle, right hand holding a crescent wrench. His story was compelling; after completing a Ph.D in Political Philosophy at the University of Chicago, and landing a job at a prestigious D.C. think tank, Crawford abandoned it all and opened a motorcycle repair shop, Shockoe Moto, in a leaky warehouse in Richmond, Virginia. It had all the makings of a classic fish-out-of-water comedy, some hapless Woody Allen-type fumbling around in a garage, lighting grease fires and busting ass on dropped ball bearings.
I picked it up again recently, determined to wade through his arguments. It proved to be much easier this time, partly because I now deal with the metaphysical aspects of craft a little more directly in my daily work.
The book began life as an essay, published in 2006. Expanded into a book, and pushed into a wider, less academic realm, Crawford's carefully researched, highly personal story became a minor phenomenon. He landed everywhere from the New York Times to the Colbert Report, frequently accompanied by the photo of him from the book jacket wherein he leans casually against a doorframe, left hand tugging the dormant brake on a motorcycle, right hand holding a crescent wrench. His story was compelling; after completing a Ph.D in Political Philosophy at the University of Chicago, and landing a job at a prestigious D.C. think tank, Crawford abandoned it all and opened a motorcycle repair shop, Shockoe Moto, in a leaky warehouse in Richmond, Virginia. It had all the makings of a classic fish-out-of-water comedy, some hapless Woody Allen-type fumbling around in a garage, lighting grease fires and busting ass on dropped ball bearings.
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| Matthew Crawford, from the New York Times. |
