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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
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.
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.
Surprisingly good read. I expected something full of quaint sentences on 'craftmanship' and De Bottonesque flourishes. Could not be further from the truth.
The book reads very well and he manages to shift between general observations and specific autobiographical examples rather well. He also avoids many pitfalls of generalizing some of his ideas and places them in broader context.
I disagree with some of his world views and outlook. He is bit too far right from me on the political spectrum and his brand of virulent nativism and tribalism is bit narrow for my taste. In fact, it verges on xenophobic, but that should not detract from the quality of the book.
Far bigger problem for my taste is his poignant willingness to deconstruct and dissect myths and stories of the knowledge work while not applying the same analytical rigour to the mythologies of his own tribe. He's also very willing to lump all 'knowledge work' together. While I identify with his IAC experience, he perhaps ought to acknowledge that you can work in the way he describes in less tangible endeavours. For example, I would argue that ethos of hackers and software developers is not at all far from the approach he argues for. But that's fine, his critique is what is useful in the book after all.
The book reads very well and he manages to shift between general observations and specific autobiographical examples rather well. He also avoids many pitfalls of generalizing some of his ideas and places them in broader context.
I disagree with some of his world views and outlook. He is bit too far right from me on the political spectrum and his brand of virulent nativism and tribalism is bit narrow for my taste. In fact, it verges on xenophobic, but that should not detract from the quality of the book.
Far bigger problem for my taste is his poignant willingness to deconstruct and dissect myths and stories of the knowledge work while not applying the same analytical rigour to the mythologies of his own tribe. He's also very willing to lump all 'knowledge work' together. While I identify with his IAC experience, he perhaps ought to acknowledge that you can work in the way he describes in less tangible endeavours. For example, I would argue that ethos of hackers and software developers is not at all far from the approach he argues for. But that's fine, his critique is what is useful in the book after all.
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
While he values physical hand's on work more than computer based work, the answer surely is that people can only find value in themselves if they see value in their work. That many people's work has become depersonalised and there is an emphasis on interchangeability of working units. We have also raised less physical work to a stage where we no longer look for work that feeds our souls but for work that has societal cachet and this is what we also encourage our children to think.
ایده‌ی اصلی کتاب اینه که اندیشیدن و کار کردن ربط خاصی به هم ندارند و قرار نیست مثل قرون گذشته و یونان باستان، یک عده بی‌کار بشینن یک گوشه، خیلی دراماتیک به افق خیره بشن، درباره‌ی همه چیز فکر و خیال‌پردازی کنند و بعد بهشون بگیم دانشمند و فیلسوف. یک نفر می‌تونه با دستان روغنی و وسط تعمیرگاه هم فکر کنه و اتفاقا بهتر از اون دوست گوشه‌نشینمون در یونان باستان موفق به کشف فلسفه‌ی کارکرد جهان بشه. هرکس هم این وسط زور بزنه که کار و اندیشه رو از هم جدا کنه بر عبث می‌پاید.
من کتاب رو دوست داشتم. ایده‌ی کلیش جالب و البته تاحدی بدیهیه (حداقل برای نسل ما و جهان امروز) ولی یک جاهایی احساس می‌کردم که بسیار ایده‌آل‌گرایانه به وقایع نگاه کرده.
خواندنش رو پیشنهاد می‌کنم اما انتظار نداشته باشید که وقتی به پایان رسید دنیاتون دگرگون شده باشه.
من کتاب رو دوست داشتم. ایده‌ی کلیش جالب و البته تاحدی بدیهیه (حداقل برای نسل ما و جهان امروز) ولی یک جاهایی احساس می‌کردم که بسیار ایده‌آل‌گرایانه به وقایع نگاه کرده.
خواندنش رو پیشنهاد می‌کنم اما انتظار نداشته باشید که وقتی به پایان رسید دنیاتون دگرگون شده باشه.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
A book that goes deep into the idea that doing things with your hands makes for a good life.Whether or not that is your job or just a pastime. As a teacher and gardener, I did my best to apply what I've learned in the book to my pedagogy and growing plants and I find a lot of useful stuff here.
Short review: This is an interesting look at the value of physical labor. Not as ditch digger, but the jobs that are manual but bring fulfillment in a particular way that "knowledge worker" jobs might not. Crawford has a PhD, was the head of a Washington Thinktank, but left it all to start his own motorcycle repair shop. He has also been a bunch of other things, from electrician to journal abstractor. The parts where he talked about his own relationship to work were the best. I appreciated the parts where he delved into the more philosophical aspects of our relationship to work and the employer, but I think that many people will check out of those portions. I think that Christians that have thought about a theology of work would probably benefit from his thoughts about work, but this is not a Christian reflection on work. Not a perfect book. I think there are several places where he over thinks or under-thinks his point, but he raises a lot of good questions and proposes some good answers as well. This would be an interesting book to read as a group.
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/shop-class/
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/shop-class/
Author is an entitled tool with a chip on his shoulder and an unresolved Oedipal complex. No useful research or commentary.