Richard Sennett

[Carl S]

Anyone here ever read any of his stuff? I just read an interview with him in this month’s issue of "American Craft". He has a three part series in the works of which the first book, "The Craftsman" is available. It really looks to be very relevant to what we do.

[JFW]

I'm reading the Craftsman right now. Great stuff. Sennett is one of the great sociologists of our time. The Fall of Public Man and to a certain degree The Corrosion of Character are the other works he is most famous for. Worth checking out as well.

Truls

[Carl S]

Thanks, I bought "The Craftsman" from Amazon and am waiting for it now. I'm looking forward to reading it. Another book I'll be reading as soon as my friend is done with it is "Shop Class as Soulcraft" which looks like it will be pretty interesting.

[JFW]

Yeah, "Shop class.." is sitting in the bookshelf here. You know that the essay it's based on is available here: http://www.thenewatlantis.com/public...s-as-soulcraft ? It's a good read, and from the interviews I've read with Crawford he takes the thoughts presented in the essay a step further in a more provocating way. Looking forward to read it. I was actually interviewed related to "Shop class" by the leading biz newspaper here in Norway this summer, and I managed to get the journalist to read the Sennett book as well. The reason for contacting me was that I'm a part time researcher (head) having my own workshop (hands), and according to Sennett and Crawford the combination of head and hands are long gone in both the educational system and worklife (a very strong simplification done by me, before I head off for a much needed shower after acting as a gardener for 12 hours). A couple of quick and dirty pdf-to-jpeg's can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/planetjohnsen/3754599907/ and here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/planetjohnsen/3754599801/

Truls (ethnologist/social scientist in a very large global telco and aspiring framebuilder)

[Tom Kellogg]

The man who works with his hands is a laborer ...

The man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman ...

The man who works with his hands, his brains and his heart is ... an artist ...

[Carl S]

Yeah, "Shop class.." is sitting in the bookshelf here. You know that the essay it's based on is available here: http://www.thenewatlantis.com/public...s-as-soulcraft ? It's a good read, and from the interviews I've read with Crawford he takes the thoughts presented in the essay a step further in a more provocating way. Looking forward to read it. I was actually interviewed related to "Shop class" by the leading biz newspaper here in Norway this summer, and I managed to get the journalist to read the Sennett book as well. The reason for contacting me was that I'm a part time researcher (head) having my own workshop (hands), and according to Sennett and Crawford the combination of head and hands are long gone in both the educational system and worklife (a very strong simplification done by me, before I head off for a much needed shower after acting as a gardener for 12 hours). A couple of quick and dirty pdf-to-jpeg's can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/planetjohnsen/3754599907/ and here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/planetjohnsen/3754599801/

Truls (ethnologist/social scientist in a very large global telco and aspiring framebuilder)

Thanks for the links. I saw an interview with Crawford which is what got me looking around. Then Sennett fell into my lap. I should see the Sennett book today and just added a few more to my list to buy. I find this subject very interesting. I consider myself both head (business owner) and hands (Framebuilder) as well. I'm looking forward to learning more about the relationship of craft to capitalism as well as to social structure.

[Jason Musgrave]

TK--My father had that quote done in Chinese calligraphy on a huge scroll hung at the shop where he taught industrial arts classes as a missionary (Taiwan) when I was a wee tike...

[cement shoes]

If you like books in this vein, you might also enjoy "Post-American World: Rise of the Rest" by Fareed Zakaria or "Hot, Flat, Crowded" by Thomas Friedman. These are more geo-politics and have a much broader scope, but I think they delve into a lot of issues that drive/caused the things written about in "Shop Class as Soulcraft."