Shop Class as Soulcraft

An Inquiry into the Value of Work

By: Matthew B. Crawford

Narrated by: Max Bloomquist

Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

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 best seller, attracting fans 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.

©2009 Matthew B. Crawford (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"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 that Shop Class is 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's Shop Class as Soulcraft is 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 reckoning, when the conventional wisdom that has long driven our wealthy, sophisticated culture is foundering amid an economic and spiritual tempest, Crawford's liberating volume appears like a lifeboat on the horizon." (Rod Dreher, author of Crunchy Cons: The New Conservative Counterculture and Its Return to Roots)

Really enjoyed this

This book has caused me to reflect on how I approach my daily work and how I raise my kids. I’m generally pretty handy and do a lot of my own house projects which has rolled over to my kids. I’ve always struggled at depth though. I’m just good enough to do damage. But my knowledge and skill is only a few steps deep and not to a level of mastery outside of my work. I would love to instill a love of tools and self-reliance that this book preaches. Glad I found it.

Quite an analysis and deconstruction of modern management

While this is an interesting dissertation on the nature and goals of modern management and how it has enabled the destruction of craftsmanship, it really fails to directly instill any sense of “get into your shop and do stuff” like a book from Nick Offerman or Adam Savage.

a worthwhile read multiple times over

I've listened to this book 2-3 times and have been educated, validated, and entertained by it. I also find it very relatable in that I also have a college degree, but have chosen to work a trade as a painting contractor. So not only do I get to work with my hands and see the results of my work, I get to listen to audiobooks while I do it!

Could have been a short story

I couldn’t finish the book. Lost interest half way through as most of the chapters felt repetitive to some. Stories dragged on. All this said it was interesting in the beginning.

Had high hopes

Was this book well written? Yes. Is it better than much of the trash out there? Yes! Is it worth your credit? Not so fast. Clearly the author put a ton of work into this book. Unfortunately, it was too linear for my liking. I didn't find the wisdom that some of the other reviewers referred to. Wouldn't be my go-to title for this subject. I will have to put this one back on the shelf.

Corporate culture touched him inappropriately?

Ok let me start with the pros: His vocabulary and word usage is amazing. I love his writing style. I am a sucker for big words and sarcasm. He has a great understanding of what he personally didn't like about corporate culture and teamwork.

The cons: His entire premise is basically, the way large corporations work is intrinsically flawed or has become flawed over years of pushing the little man down away from his own agency and decision-making. This book entirely misses the point that sometimes people just have to work to make money. Jobs are not always going to be about filling a hole in your soul that you used to fill by changing your own damn oil!!

Also, the metaphor about some guy feeling defeated because he has to use an automatic paper towel dispenser? Really?! Give me a break.

so many quotable passages

as an HVAC Master, I have to keep one foot "in the field" and one foot in the office. Matthew Crawford peers into my soul and explains the tension (both internally and externally) I experience every day

sociology thesis with real world examples

far better book then others with a slight hint of motorcycles and a whole lot of sociological thesis.

An important take on the working world

This book really breaks down the way the world value of tangible work of the blue collar world and the intangible work of white collar. Really made me reconsider my position in the world.

Hands and brain: a matching set

A very good reasoning on how our education system, in its zeal to accredit the masses (in unwitting league with corporate America and its need for “Knowledge Workers”), has taken away the legitimacy of people having a career based on working with their minds through the use of their hands to repair and create.
Takeaway: Deal not in ambiguous abstractions of life; get your hands dirty