Working With Your Hands

Alec Soth for the New York Times

Motorcycle mechanic and writer Matthew B. Crawford makes The Case for Working With Your Hands in a thoughtful New York Times essay.

Newly christened with a masters degree, Crawford entered the white collar economy in the early 1990s with a cubicle of his own and the task to write academic journal abstracts. After eventually earning a Ph.D. in political philosophy, he opened his own motorcycle repair shop. Through his work repairing vintage motorcycles, he finds fulfilling work which combines the intellectual rigors of problem solving with tangible results. Crawford's essay is based on his newly published book Shop Class as Soulcraft.

I am reminded of a great interview of Mr. Jalopy on Studio 360°.