The Case for Working With Your Hands

October 13, 2010 4:15 AM

The Case for Working With Your Hands. Matthew B. Crawford, academic turned motorcycle mechanic, presents a case for the superiority of manual labour over more abstract toil.
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot (9 comments total)

Not this again. Please.
posted by dunkadunc at 4:32 AM on October 13, 2010

We made this with our hands before. On a keyboard.
posted by Happy Dave at 4:35 AM on October 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yeah, this is like a quadruple or quintuple at this point.
posted by ixohoxi at 4:52 AM on October 13, 2010

Ahhhh - - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by way of Dirty Jobs - - our devolution is progressing nicely!
posted by fairmettle at 5:04 AM on October 13, 2010

The writer is a very special snowflake.
posted by chavenet at 5:04 AM on October 13, 2010

Never having read a physical copy of the NYT, and having no real idea what social baggage it carries, I am starting to get a pretty good picture of this newspaper.

it's for rich wankers innit?
posted by wilful at 5:13 AM on October 13, 2010

I've done both, and well, work is work, and it's usually fairly dull. That's why they pay you. If it was fun, you'd be paying them.
posted by jonmc at 5:17 AM on October 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Everyone needs a hand job.
posted by Mister_A at 5:19 AM on October 13, 2010

I will give physical labor this: when I worked in bread factory, as opposed to when I worked as an editor at a media database company, it took a lot less time to explain what I did for a living.
posted by jonmc at 5:25 AM on October 13, 2010 [1 favorite]