The Kibitzer

I’ve been reading about work lately. It all began with this list of essential life skills and my decision to learn a few of them, beginning with basic auto maintenance. The author of the list may have had in mind the simpler sorts of things like changing the oil but I decided I needed to learn a bit more than that. Not that I think I’ll ever be a qualified mechanic; I’d just like to be able to do some of the basics myself. As I continued to think about it I decided I’d better start with simpler small engines. My weed eater offered itself up as my first experiment when it died while trimming the fence row. It mocks my efforts to revive it.

Along the way I was thrilled to hear about Matthew Crawford’s book Shop Class as Soulcraft. I had read the original New Atlantis essay upon which it is based back when it first appeared. After dropping a few huge hints Rachel gave me a copy as an early Father’s Day present. I think my expectations were too high. Perhaps I was hoping it would be a landmark book in my life, like Wendell Berry’s What Are People For?, Matthew Scully’s Dominion, or Rod Dreher’s Crunchy Cons. It wasn’t that, but it’s great nonetheless. Francis Fukuyama does a good job summarizing it in this NYT review. Perhaps the best thing it did for me was assure me that I am not alone in feeling less than useful as an office worker with no practical skills. But more than that, it positively asserts the goodness in itself of manual work.

I’ve read enough articles by cultural trendwatchers to know that the plural of anecdote is not data. Nevertheless it is interesting to note the appearance of Crawford’s book at the same time we’re beginning to read stories like this one about a young professional who gave up the cubicle for farming. Or this one about Yale graduates wanting to get into sustainable agriculture work. I sincerely hope an increasing number of young people begin to value all kinds of good work and abandon the false promises and prejudices about “professional” work.

I’m currently reading The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, wherein Alain de Botton, in spectacular prose, tries to penetrate to the emotional core of work. How does it add to our happiness and increase our misery? How does the rise of specialization contribute to feelings of alienation? It even has a chapter on accountancy, for which I broke my longstanding front-to-back reading rule. Salon has reviewed the book favorably here.

I have my eye on other promising books on work. Two by Richard Sennett: The Craftsman and The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism. And one by Barbara Ehrenreich: Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.

Truth be told it’s easier for me to read about work than to actually get off the couch and do it.