Shop Class A Soulcraft
“To live well is to reconcile ourselves to it [our human situation], and try to realize whatever excellence we can.” That could have been said by Aristotle, or perhaps Freud, but instead it was written in a recent book by Richmond resident Matthew B. Crawford. As owner and chief mechanic at Shockoe Moto as well as a Fellow at UVA’s Institute for Advanced Cultural Studies, Crawford has been able to reach that rare balance between thinking and doing. His new book, Shop Class As Soulcraft, shows the rest of us how we can achieve the same equilibrium.
First, a word about what this book is not. It is not re-imagined version of another famous book about motorcycles and philosophy (though that author, Pirsig, does get a mention in Shop Class). Nor is it one man’s homage to all things Harley Davidson. Instead, it takes the real life examples of a working mechanic and applies them to the canon of Big Ideas from a philosopher. In this case they both happen to be the same person.
Crawford got an early start in the trades as an electrician’s apprentice and, later, alongside a colorful and masterful speed shop mechanic named Chas. All of this gave him a strong foundation for being a full-time mechanic, but it would take a detour into the world of academia for him to realize that hands-on work was how he wanted to make a living. Not just any hands-on work, but motorcycle repair. Grimy, grueling, and infinitely more rewarding. This was not a fallback plan because the tenure track didn’t work out, but rather a true love for the craft. His love for bringing a bike back to life will make the heart of other ‘gearheads’ soar.
All of his experiences have coalesced nicely into a highly readable book that should make use all pay closer attention to our chosen professions. To be fair, there are some weighty passages that take time to digest as well as motorcycle jargon that few of us would understand. Still, it is a book worth reading. It also could not be more timely. Reading the book, one can see that Crawford is not, nor aspires to be, an economist. Yet, his daily work—both with his hands and his head—gave him a keen intuition into what could be the only possible outcome of a country full of workers without enough skilled trade laborers. It is an outcome we are living through right now.
While his primary thesis is that trade work brings a satisfaction that the average desk job can’t, he has serendipitously tapped into exactly what has gone wrong with our country’s own economic system. In talking about how he approaches his craft he says, “the repairman has to begin each job by getting outside his own head and noticing things; he has to look carefully and listen to the ailing machine.” Quite by accident, Crawford’s book does exactly that for a much bigger, much scarier machine: the American Economy. Philosophers, mechanics, and anyone who needs to work in this life will be wise to listen to his advice.
Shop Class as Soulcraft
By Matthew B. Crawford
246 pp. The Penguin Press. $25.95
Please sign in to respond | | Register