Worth A Read

[Old Michael]

Please forgive. I hate being one of those knobs who recommends books,

but thought this might be of interest to some ...and it's motorbike-related!

Shop Class as Soulcraft

 

[Khunajawdge]

Please forgive. I hate being one of those knobs who recommends books,but thought this might be of interest to some ...and it's motorbike-related!

Shop Class as Soulcraft

Yep, was mentioned here: Re-Visit

post #9

I recommend it as suggested reading in my classroom.

 

[FJRBluesman]

Is it anything like this classic?

Zen and the Art of Motorycle Maintenance

 

[Crash Cash]

I bought it, but it's written as if it was a thinktank paper, and is way too academic and dry for my tastes. I was hoping it would be something I could give my non-motorcyclist friends as a "here's why I wrench/ride after dealing with computers all day" but it's not. It takes a dedicated reader to get through it. I hope he does a rewrite some day, because his basic underlying concept is excellent and needs to be shared.

 

[FjrVfr]

I bought it, but it's written as if it was a thinktank paper, and is way too academic and dry for my tastes.

I'm glad I'm not the only one to think that. It really takes a quiet environment and some serious concentration to get through it. I do like what he has to say though.

 

[happyPuppy]

Sounds like a good book, I am as analytical as one can get. I also have lived in Dilbert's cubeville for way to long of a time.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

I bought it, but it's written as if it was a thinktank paper, and is way too academic and dry for my tastes.

I'm glad I'm not the only one to think that. ...

You're not... I don't think I'd recco the book for any motorcycle-related value?

It's written by a PHD and comes-off that way (alot like Pirsig's tome...).

I also think he's wrong in his premise that working with your hands (and getting paid poorly for it...) is a good thing.

He might as well try to bring back the family farm, too...!

Our current society doesn't want or need what he's idealizing and promoting. In a TV interview with GM's CEO, he lamented that the annual 'crush rate' was down to about 10 million vehicles -- he said, "We've got to get the crush rate up to about 13 million to be viable." That whole (modern) concept of manufacturing and consumerism flies in the face of what Crawford's trying to promote in his book.

I admit I'm only part-way through it (too difficult...) -- if I change my mind later-on, I'll report back...

 

[Khunajawdge]

Our current society doesn't want or need what he's idealizing and promoting. In a TV interview with GM's CEO, he lamented that the annual 'crush rate' was down to about 10 million vehicles -- he said, "We've got to get the crush rate up to about 13 million to be viable." That whole (modern) concept of manufacturing and consumerism flies in the face of what Crawford's trying to promote in his book.I admit I'm only part-way through it (too difficult...) -- if I change my mind later-on, I'll report back...

Oh man! You are crunching it down to the Shit! This IS GOOD! I hope you read it to the end!

 

[drc32-0]

I also think he's wrong in his premise that working with your hands (and getting paid poorly for it...) is a good thing.

He might as well try to bring back the family farm, too...

Maybe I missed it, but I thought the premise for his book is that our society wrongly de-values working with your hands and he builds a case for the virtues of working with your hands.

As for bringing back the family farm...have you ever had a steak from a beef raised on a small farm and processed at a local butcher shop?Throw in some tomatoes and corn fresh from the garden and I've got a feeling that you'd be lobbying for the return of the family farm also.

 

[Old Michael]

...I also think he's wrong in his premise that working with your hands(and getting paid poorly for it...) is a good thing.

Well then. I guess that's fucking settled. Pretty black and white, huh?

 

[exskibum]

...I also think he's wrong in his premise that working with your hands(and getting paid poorly for it...) is a good thing.

Well then. I guess that's fucking settled. Pretty black and white, huh?

Oh, c'mon, now, OM -- that snark read as pretty narrow minded -- it IS black and white.

Don't you think it's been pretty definitively decided in the last decade that the tiller for our modern economic engine is the creation and trade of opaque financial instruments with which to fleece service the masses? And surely your facetiousness fails re: the also mentioned family farm. Why, just today, it was reported that the wealthiest 10% of farmers (clearly not "family" farms) receive more than 75% of all federal Ag subsidies. Heck, even our federal legislators are growing subsidies for their estates. Now, that's bringing home the bacon.

Sorry, but manual labor and family farms cannot compete for economic rewards in our modern economy, and therefore, ain't good! Adapt or perish, OM.

 

[Old Michael]

Oh, c'mon, now, OM ...

Damnit, Rich! DON'T try to un-grumpy me with your shit. :lol:

 

[user 6393]

...I also think he's wrong in his premise that working with your hands(and getting paid poorly for it...) is a good thing.

Well then. I guess that's fucking settled. Pretty black and white, huh?

Oh, c'mon, now, OM -- that snark read as pretty narrow minded -- it IS black and white.

Don't you think it's been pretty definitively decided in the last decade that the tiller for our modern economic engine is the creation and trade of opaque financial instruments with which to fleece service the masses? And surely your facetiousness fails re: the also mentioned family farm. Why, just today, it was reported that the top 10% wealthiest farmers receive more than 75% of all federal Ag subsidies. Heck, even our federal legislators are growing subsidies for their estates. Now, that's bringing home the bacon.

Sorry, but manual labor and family farms cannot compete for economic rewards in our modern economy, and therefore, ain't good!

Hey! You!............no politics!

Don't make me put you over my knee! :evilsmiley:

 

[exskibum]

Hey! You!............no politics!

Yer right, I forgot to add: "and FJRs ain't affordable on family farms."

Don't make me put you over my knee! :evilsmiley:

uhhhhmmm, whaddidyousay? I keep getting distracted by that seductive come hither avatar while reading something about being naughty, and the knee thing threw me.

 

[user 6393]

Hey! You!............no politics!

Yer right, I forgot to add: "and FJRs ain't affordable on family farms."

Don't make me put you over my knee! :evilsmiley:

uhhhhmmm, whaddidyousay? I keep getting distracted by that seductive come hither avatar while reading something about being naughty, and the knee thing threw me.

I'll "throw" ya, allright...*L* :blushsmiley:

 

[Khunajawdge]

Farmers?

Oh I'm gonna suffer for this. But here's last Spring's lamb (no, it was Not my dog!)

 

[Dr. Rich]

There is an old saying that pretty much sums it up relative to the American attitude towards Vocational Education....

"You will trust your life to an airline mechanic, but you won't let your daughter marry one!"

The premise of the book is accurate even if you don't like the "Ph. D." way the message was delivered!

 

[Khunajawdge]

"If" you have the time, and a dime (??) have a breeze at this at Amazon; Hands at Work by Summer Moon Scriver and Iris Graville (five stars *****)

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_13?url...x=Hands+at+Work

 

[Khunajawdge]

Here's an easier to read version of "the premise" of Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matt Crawford

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html