Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work

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/