The Case For Working with Your Hands, By Matthew Crawford

Work...and the art of motorcycle maintenance

Part memoir, part philosophical treatise, part pedagogical tool, Matthew Crawford's book explores the benefits to be derived from manual labour and celebrates the "rich cognitive challenges" afforded by the trades.

A professional philosopher, Crawford also runs a motorbike repair shop, and describes how hands-on activity has given him a deeper "psychic nourishment" that academia never could.

His case is persuasive and illuminating, and his withering critique of office-bound drudgery hits the mark. But I found the prescription for a new "yeoman aristocracy" less convincing. I would recommend Richard Sennett's superior The Craftsman, which covers similar ground with greater elegance and nuance.