The Case for Working with Your Hands, or Why Office Life is Bad for Us and Fixing Things Feels Good

by Matthew B. Crawford

First published 2009

Matthew Crawford challenges the modern push to transform everyone into knowledge workers. The author draws from his personal journey as both electrician and mechanic to make his case. Crawford argues that our educational system wrongly separates mental work from physical work. He questions this division on both economic and psychological levels. The book examines why skilled manual labor deserves more respect than it currently receives. Crawford uses concrete examples from his hands-on experience to support his arguments. He calls for greater self-reliance in an increasingly abstract world. The work offers readers a fresh perspective on the satisfaction that comes from fixing and building things. Crawford shows how manual work can provide meaning that office jobs often lack.

Genres: non-fiction, biography-memoir, academic, american-history

Vibes: intimate, thought-provoking

Tropes: personal-journey

Hardcover · Viking

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